Outlook.com

George Hincapie · 29 Oct 2012 at 22:21

I decided to give it a whirl on Saturday and selected the option to change my e-mail from a hotmail.com to an outlook.com one. It said it might take a few days to switch over but when I try to log in using the outlook.com e-mail address it says the account doesn't exist?

Any ideas?

Arthur Hucksake · 29 Oct 2012 at 22:28

You should be able to still log into outlook.com with your hotmail address. May take awhile to fully switch.

George Hincapie · 29 Oct 2012 at 22:37

Arthur Hucksake said:
You should be able to still log into outlook.com with your hotmail address. May take awhile to fully switch.

Any idea how long 'a while' is? It's been a few days already, I mean how long does it take to substitute e-mail addresses? I would have thought an automated process should do it in seconds, but it's clearly far more complicated than that at their end.

George Hincapie · 31 Oct 2012 at 10:14

Right, still not updated and my patience is wearing out.

Is there a support e-mail address or number I can call to get this sorted out?

Kyzou · 31 Oct 2012 at 12:23

Have a read of this: http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft...8/03/upgrade-from-hotmail-to-outlook-com.aspx

Your account wont be switched, you need to create an @outlook.com alias as outlined on that site.

George Hincapie · 31 Oct 2012 at 13:04

Thanks for that.

I've already done this:

Rename your account to an @outlook.com account

You can rename your account to an @outlook.com account, and when you do, your old account becomes an alias, so you'll still receive email sent to the old account.

Fair warning: Renaming is a big deal. It changes the primary name of your account, which means that you will have to immediately start signing in with the new name (same password) on all your devices, such as your phone, PC, Xbox, etc.

Renaming an account is not something that you can easily "undo"; in fact, there are some cases where it's impossible to undo. So, please be very sure of your decision before following the steps below.

Also, there are some limitations of rename that you should be aware of:

If you use a Windows Phone, you will need to reset your Windows Phone to factory settings, and then set it back up with the new account name. You will lose all personal data on the Windows Phone when you do this, so make sure you have that data backed up. You will need to re-install all your applications on your phone, although you will not need to re-purchase them.
It is not easy (and in rare cases not possible) to "undo" a rename. For example, if you rename an MSN account, you can't rename it back, or if you created your account in one country and are renaming it in a different country, you won't be able to rename it back to your original account unless you travel back to your original country. Be very sure of your decision.
If your account has been blocked more than once because someone else was using your account, you will not be able to rename it. We're working to remove this limitation.
You can rename your account twice every 12 months. If you rename and then change your mind, renaming back into your old address doesn't count towards your yearly limit.

Here's how to rename your account:

First, sign-in to outlook at http://outlook.com using your Hotmail account. Now, click on the Options "cog" in the upper right-corner of the window, and click on "More mail settings." Now, click on "Rename your email address" which is the last link in the first column under the heading "Managing your account":

But it seems to not allow me to log in using that outlook.com address, which is what I want to be able to do. According to that I should be able to...am confused...