Situation: You have a Gmail account and want to switch over to a Hotmail account – or – you want to do the exact reverse and switch from Hotmail to Gmail – and you want to keep all your existing mail.
This article will show you in detail how to do this – and you will be able to import all your existing mail with timestamps, sent mail and so on.
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To perform the migration from Gmail to Hotmail or Hotmail to Gmail, you need four things:
- A Microsoft Windows operating system (XP or Vista).
- Windows Live Mail
- A Gmail e-mail account
- A Hotmail account
The reason you need Windows to do the migration is because Windows Live Mail only runs on Windows.
The reason you need Windows Live Mail is because it’s the only client that has full support for the Live Mail (i.e. Hotmail) service.
1. Download and install Windows Live Mail.
2. Set up a Hotmail account in Windows Live Mail.
Click “Add an e-mail account” on the left sidebar in Windows Live Mail. Enter in your Hotmail e-mail address, password and name you want to use, then click OK. That’s it. Super easy.
3. Set up your Gmail account in Windows Live Mail.
Detailed directions on how to do this are here.
4. Your Windows Live Mail should look similar to this when completed.
You should have both your Gmail (setup via IMAP per the directions linked above) and your Hotmail/Live account right on top of each other.
5. What to do from here?
All you have to do is start dragging/dropping from one e-mail account to the other to their respective folders. All timestamps will be kept and you won’t lose anything. You can continue to use both accounts in the client until you’ve got everything moved over properly.
For example:
- Gmail “Inbox” goes to Hotmail “Inbox”
- Gmail “Sent Mail” goes to Hotmail “Sent Items”
…and so on.
Notes:
If you have a ton of mail, this will take time to complete. It’s recommended that you do not move more than 50 e-mails at a time.
For e-mails with large attachments, bear in mind that Hotmail has a size limit. If you go over 10MB or 20MB on a single e-mail (depending whether you’re a paid Hotmail user or not), the transfer for that specific e-mail from Gmail to Hotmail won’t work.
Bear in mind that using Gmail over IMAP is slow compared to HTTP-based Hotmail. Be patient and you’ll get all your mail moved – but it will take time.
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