Read your own-domain email with Outlook or Hotmail

Until a few years ago, the Outlook.com website (formerly Hotmail) let you add your domain's email from Settings > Sync email > Other email accounts. Microsoft has withdrawn that feature: you can no longer connect new accounts from other providers in Outlook.com, as it explains in its notice about connected accounts.

If you want your domain email alongside your Outlook or Hotmail account, these days you have to do it from an Outlook app: the new Outlook for Windows (free) or the Outlook mobile app. There you can add your account over IMAP.

Details you will need

Replace yourdomain.com with your domain. You can confirm the exact server name in cPanel > Email Accounts > Connect Devices. You will find the details in email connection settings.

In the new Outlook for Windows

1. Open Outlook and click the gear icon (Settings).
2. Go to Accounts > Email accounts and click Add account.
3. Type your email address and click Continue.
4. When asked for the account type, choose IMAP.
5. Type the password and click Show more to see the server settings. Fill them in with the values from the table above.
6. Click Continue. Outlook will check the connection and add the account to the left-hand pane, next to your Outlook.com account.

In the Outlook app for iPhone or Android

1. Open the app, tap your photo or the account icon, and then the Add account icon.
2. Choose Add email account and type your address.
3. If the app suggests a provider, tap Set up account manually and choose IMAP.
4. Turn on Advanced settings and fill in the IMAP and SMTP server with the details from the table.
5. Tap the tick to save.

If you only want a copy in your Hotmail

If it is enough for your domain's emails to also arrive in your Outlook.com mailbox, create a forwarder in cPanel to your Hotmail or Outlook address. Bear in mind that this way you only receive: replies will go out from your Hotmail address, not from your domain's.

In the meantime, you can always read and send from the browser with webmail.

If it won't connect

• Username or password error: try logging in to webmail with the same details. If you can't get in there either, change the email password.
• You receive but can't send: check that the SMTP server uses port 465 with SSL/TLS and that it authenticates with your full address and your password.
• Certificate warning: check you have typed the server name correctly. If your domain doesn't have a certificate on the mail server, use the name shown in cPanel's Connect Devices.