Make a Hotmail Outlook 2010 Connection - Putting the Outlook Hotmail Connector to Work for You

As someone who uses both Outlook 2010 and Hotmail, you may have heard of something called the Outlook Hotmail Connector. It is an add-in program that creates a simple and effective Hotmail Outlook 2010 connection. Would you like to learn more? Then keep reading.

Making this kind of connection makes lots of sense. If you can get your Hotmail stuff to appear in Outlook, you save yourself the hassle of checking some of your mail in one place (Outlook) and the rest in another (your Hotmail web page). Besides, Hotmail and Outlook are both Microsoft products, so they should work together well, right?

That's what the Outlook Hotmail Connector is all about. This Outlook add-in replaces the previous methods of connecting the two with a powerful synchronized interface. With the connector installed, you get all sorts of super powers. It can:

Send and receive Hotmail messages

Manage your Hotmail contacts

Block junk mail that would otherwise find its way over to Outlook

Ensure that both Hotmail and Outlook are using the same safe and blocked lists

Manage your Windows Live Calendar from within Outlook

Apply Outlook's mail handling rules to your Hotmail account

Monitor your Hotmail status

How to Make the Connection with the Outlook Hotmail Connector

Getting the Outlook Hotmail Connector installed and running isn't. But before you can start, you have to figure out which version of the connector to use.

Microsoft has released two: one for the 32-bit version of Outlook 2010, and one for the 64-bit version. You need to figure out which version of Outlook 2010 (32-bit or 64-bit) you are running so you know which version of the connector you need.

Unsure whether you are running the 32-bit or the 64-bit version of Outlook 2010? Here's how you find out.

In Outlook, click the File tab on the ribbon. On the file page that appears, click Help. The right-hand pane of the Help page that appears contains detailed information about your copy of Outlook. This includes a version number. At the end of the version number the page tells whether Outlook is the 32-bit version or the 64-bit version.

With that out of the way, you are ready to start hotmail account login installing the Outlook Hotmail Connector. But Microsoft is continuing to update the connector, and the instructions for downloading and installing the latest version may change.

Your best bet is to go online and find detailed instructions, ideally with screen shots for important steps, that will walk you through the process for the most current version of the Outlook Hotmail Connector.