Like many people I have multiple email addresses.
I had a hotmail one and a gmail one, both equally important.
Recently hotmail offers free pop access so I thought the time was right to start using a email client.
In this how-to I’ll provide step by step instructions on setting up your gmail and hotmail account in Evolution.
Evolution is the standard email client in Ubuntu and can be found in “Applications -> Internet -> Evolution Mail”.
1. Hotmail
When you open up Evolution for the first time you’ll see a setup assistant.
Forward until you get to the “Identity” screen.
Enter you full name and your full email address. If you want your hotmail account to be your default address leave the tag next to the box.
Press forward until you reach the “Receiving Email” windows.
Pick “pop” from the drop down list.
Fill in the following information:
Server: pop3.live.com
Username: xxx@hotmail.com (use full email address)
Security: SSL
Leave the rest as it is.
In the next screen you’ll have to make some decisions for yourself.
Now we hit the “Sending Email” screen. Enter this:
Server: smtp.live.com
Encryption: SSL
Username: xxx@hotmail.com (enter full email address)
Leave the rest be.
The next few screens explain themselves and should be obvious.
Press apply when you are finished.
In Evolution Mail press the “send/receive” button.
Evolution will now start downloading your emails.
2. Gmail
First go to gmail using your internet browser and log in.
On the top of the page there should be a “preferences” link (next to your email address).
Now click on the “tab” where you see “imap” and “pop” mentioned.
Make sure pop and imap is enabled.
If that is done, open evolution.
Because we already have an account the Wizard won’t appear.
Go to “Edit -> Preferences” and in the window that pops up you will be able to add a new account.
This will bring up the Wizard.
In the “Identity” window, enter your name and your email address.
Now you’ll hit the “Receiving Email” window again.
Once again choose “pop” from the dropdown list.
The server is: “pop.gmail.com” and your username should be your full gmail address.
The security should be SSL.
Choose as you see fit in the next window.
In the following window, called “Sending Email” enter the following:
Server type: SMTP
Server: smtp.gmail.com
Security: SSL
Username: xxx@gmail.com (enter full email address)
Leave the rest be.
The next window is too obvious to guide you trough it.
When finished press apply and then in Evolution press “send/receive”.
That’s it.
Leave the program running and you will get notifications when you receive a new email.
Have anything to add? Drop a line in the comments!
30 Comments
March 4, 2009 at 8:13 pm
i always use IMAP because I find it more useful, I don’t need local backups anyway. I don’t now if imap is available for hotmail though, but for gmail it works fine.
March 4, 2009 at 10:00 pm
Imap isn’t available for hotmail.
March 21, 2009 at 12:29 am
Found this guide from one of your posts in the Ubuntu forums and glad I did. Thank you for such an easy to follow guide. Managed to setup both my Hotmail and Gmail accounts painlessly in minutes. It took a lot of pain and time to get these setup in Thunderbird with what I could find to guide me. This makes it a breeze.
March 26, 2009 at 1:17 pm
I followed your instructions and whilst I can now see my inbox I am unable to send. I compose a message, press send/receive and the timer (bottom left) tells me it is sending but eventually the operation times out and the message remains in the Outbox. So I am half way there; can anyone help me the rest of the way.
August 21, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Hello Peter,
I had exactly the same problem with sending mails and cured it by selecting TLS encryption instead of SSL
good luck
November 10, 2009 at 9:18 am
Hi,
thanks Steve. I had the saem problem and your advise worked for me.
Cheers,
Kunjan
March 26, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Thanks Bob.
March 26, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Peter:
Hotmail or Gmail?
March 26, 2009 at 3:01 pm
hotmail.co.uk
March 30, 2009 at 1:21 pm
@Peter,
You need to continue through the account setup tabs in Evolution. You’ll come to a Sending Email screen where you can enter the info. I believe the server is smtp.live.com. you’ll need to enter your entire email address and select TLS(or SSL)/Login for security. Check “Remember password” if you are using a computer you aleays have control over (leave unchecked on shared machines). You’ll be promted for your password the first time you send mail. More info is available at my link.
May 17, 2009 at 6:47 am
I have given correctly the following info (for hotmail with Evolution)
incoming mail server: pop3.live.com.
outgoing mail server: smtp.live.com
SSL authentication in both cases. But it is to no avail. Even the send/receive option is not highlighted. Or for that matter, except New, no other option is highlighted.
Pl help.
April 1, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Can you make different tabs for hotmail and gmail like in Thunderbird?
April 4, 2009 at 6:11 am
Hey thanks for the hotmail instuctions!!! fantastic – been looking everywhere for them ! thanks
April 11, 2009 at 12:52 am
Thanks!
April 12, 2009 at 2:52 am
Excellent and easy to follow How To!
I have a Hotmail a/c and have the same problem as Peter. I followed the instructions exactly and still can’t send out.
Could there be anything else that’s wrong that I’m not aware of? Or do I need to try something else?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you
April 12, 2009 at 10:46 am
I’m releaved to hear that someone else is also still having the same problem sending with Hotmail. I had tried following the instructions but thought maybe something deeper in the setup of my machine was wrong which was stopping mail from sending so had more or less given up. Any more ideas anyone. If it helps I am using a Dell Mini 9
August 6, 2009 at 12:45 am
i, too, cannot get my mail to send. did you ever get the issue taken care of?
April 14, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Peter,
Go to this website:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=200408
and follow the instructions. It worked for me, finally!
Hope this helps.
Cheers!
April 15, 2009 at 4:47 pm
I read your posts for quite a long time and should tell you that your posts always prove to be of a high value and quality for readers.
April 27, 2009 at 10:59 pm
Hello, I just wanted to comment because I found another website giving info how to set up hotmail. The other site did not work as it said to use TSL as receiving, and instead of PLAIN it said “password” … Both of those resulted in a lack of functionality.
This however works perfect – setting up hotmail in linux evolution couldn’t have been easier.
Thank you!
I’m still waiting on the fetching mail part – but i assume that’s because the internet connection is slow here.
June 8, 2009 at 9:50 pm
Hi!
Thanks man. It really helped.
August 14, 2009 at 9:52 pm
[...] finally got hotmail working with evolution pop3! http://linuxowns.wordpress.com/2009/03/04/setting-up-evolution-mail-gmail-and-hotmail/ [...]
September 12, 2009 at 11:54 am
11 сентября – оказывается День граненого стакана) с прошедшим!
October 23, 2009 at 10:01 pm
Hi, is there any option for yahoomail, because my mail id is yahoo and i have lot of contacts in that.
pls help
November 2, 2009 at 9:38 pm
this works wonderfully.
November 5, 2009 at 1:17 am
thank you so much!
November 7, 2009 at 9:54 pm
Had to tweak settings to get mine working:
smtp.live.com:587 (added new port)
Used TLS instead of SSL
Otherwise works great
November 7, 2009 at 9:58 pm
above settings are for outbound (sending). the default incoming settings worked great
November 17, 2009 at 7:27 pm
yo guys,
I performed it the way I should but somehow it still doesn t work. whenever I go for send/recieve there appears a pop up requireing a ‘pop password’ ….
can someone possibly help me out?
November 18, 2009 at 3:09 am
It’s just asking for your password that you normally use to log into that account. That’s what works for me at least.