[How-to] Switch COMPLETELY from Gmail to Outlook/Live.com

[MrXBob]

How does this affect Windows 8? I currently login to my Windows 8 PC with my Microsoft account, which is a gmail address. I have a new Outlook.com address set up and ready to go, but I don't want to risk the switch yet until I know all the details.

I know I'll have to reset my Windows Phone, that's fine - but what about my Windows 8 PC? I see no place to update my Microsoft account via Windows 8, so will that mean I have to create a new user on this PC using my 'new' Microsoft account address (@Outlook) and re-install all my software? And set up all the apps and tile locations again? That would be a huge pain in the backside...

Also does the switch preserve everything on my Microsoft account, such as billing information, subscriptions (Xbox Live gold), tenure (I have 10 years on my Xbox account... really don't want to have that reset to 0 because of this) download history etc etc?

This is a huge change and Microsoft offer no advice on it, worryingly.

 

[Jake_M]

Outlook calendar being updated this week! Outlook.com calendar finally gets a refreshed look and new features this week | The Verge

 

[vortoozo]

The ability to rename your Microsoft account is back! I just renamed by MS account from @gmail.com to @outlook.com, reset my phone, restored by backup and used trueswitch. Bye bye google!

 

[Matt Mizenko]

Apologies if this is somewhere in this thread, but if so I cannot find it.

I have moved over Skydrive, Calendar and Contacts. So far so good. Not worried about XBL for now, that seems to be well-documented.

Issue I am having is using TrueSwitch to move my Gmail to Outlook.com. TrueSwitch does not like my outlook.com address and/or password.

I suspect that is because my LiveID is at gmail.com and my outlook.com address is (currently) an alias. Suffice to say, I cannot import my Gmail to Outlook.

I am guessing that if I go whole hog and rename my LiveID to the outlook.com address, the problem will disappear. But given that I am going to have to nuke my Lumia 920 immediately after, I am hoping to avoid that.

Anyone able to offer any advice as to how to do this? I am happy to forget TrueSwtich and use anything that will work, really. Hacks and kludges included.

Thanks!
-Matt

 

[Matt Mizenko]

And I will now answer my own post.

So the answer, if you encounter this is...Windows Live Mail. You set up both accounts in WLM, recreate the folders in the Outlook.com account/alias and then copy the messages in bulk. A bit funky, but it works. Whoulda thunk?

 

[Jake_M]

And I will now answer my own post.

So the answer, if you encounter this is...Windows Live Mail. You set up both accounts in WLM, recreate the folders in the Outlook.com account/alias and then copy the messages in bulk. A bit funky, but it works. Whoulda thunk?

If you put this post in a Q/A format, I can add it to the FAQ for people having potential similar issues.

 

[Matt Mizenko]

Done!

windQ: My LiveID is an alias to a domain other than Hotmail or Outlook (such as Gmail). TrueSwitch does not seem to be working. What can I do?

A: While it will not work as transparently as TrueSwitch, there is a way around this

First, download Windows Live Mail if you do not already have it.

Next, setup both the account you are migrating from (e.g. Gmail) and the account you are migrating to (e.g. Outlook.com). Note that your account name for the Outlook.com account will still be your alias (i.e. xyz@gmail.com or whatever and NOT the outlook.com address)!

After that, set up folders in the target account that correspond to your structure in the source account.

Finally, Ctrl+A and start dragging and dropping!

Depending on how much mail you have this could obviously take a while as it is a manual process, but when all is said and done you will be rid of Gmail once and for all.

 

[Jake_M]

Notice: TrueSwitch has shutdown as of May 15, 2013: Welcome to TrueSwitch. Ensure a successful move to your new Internet account

On May 15, 2013, we will be shutting down trueswitch.com. We will be focusing our efforts on the development of new technologies that will directly power the services of our global partners. In the meantime, if you have purchased TrueSwitch, your service will be supported through June 30. We apologize for any inconvenience this shutdown may cause and should you have any questions, please contact support@trueswitch.com

 

[baaahthesheep]

Hey everyone, I recently got a new WP8 and wanted to add my outlook email account, but I forgot my password. Now I never really used my outlook email account. I think about a year ago I created a Hotmail account. Then I upgraded it to an outlook account when I got windows 8. At least that's what I think; I don't even have any emails from them saying to "verify that you made this account."

Anyways, I have my outlook account as an alias for my Microsoft account, but cannot actually access it. I can use my outlook email address to log in to my Microsoft account using my Microsoft account password but I don't actually know the password to my outlook email account. Resetting my password on outlook.com doesn't help either, because it's for the Microsoft account, and NOT the actually outlook.com email account. I really like how MS services work together, but they can also make things so hard. I guess my question is does anyone know how to reset or get my password to my outlook.com email account?

 

[wayne310]

good to know someone made this thread.


used that forwarding feature from first week of my lumia 920 but not using gmail as a sending account so people know about my new outlook email

 

[hopmedic]

I just set my google account to auto-reply with "I have decided to stop using Google services due to their positions on privacy, so I do not check this account any longer. Please contact me at xxxxxxxx@outlook.com."

 

[z33dev33l]

I just set my google account to auto-reply with "I have decided to stop using Google services due to their positions on privacy, so I do not check this account any longer. Please contact me at xxxxxxxx@outlook.com."

They'll likely read your outgoing mail and change it

 

[hopmedic]

They'll likely read your outgoing mail and change it

At least the CIA still knows how to get in touch with me. :wink:

 

[frooglepoopillion]

Recent switcher here... Is it legitimately worth it to switch over from Google to MS for my MS ID? I don't mind going through Gmail and everything seems to be working OK for now. The reason I ask is that I would like to sign up for Xbox music and some other services but I want to make sure I have my log in situation resolved before doing that. I will still be using some of Google's services on my WP8 phone and elsewhere, so is it worth it just for the sake of having a legit Live account or does it really matter?

 

[Joel DSO]

I've read through the entire thread, and I haven't found this problem yet.
my outlook and gmail addresses are the same, when I got my Lumia 920 I made my Microsoft account with that name.
so both of them are example@gmail.com
I have transferred all my contacts etc. what would happen when I close my google account? would all the emails that are sent to gmail automatically be sent to outlook since it is the same address? and if I do close my gmail account, and nothing seems to work for me anymore, would I be able to restore it like on facebook? or is it final?

 

[MichaelBanning]

Ok maybe it's because it's 3am and I can't sleep, but I'm trying to make "the switch" after legally changing my name, thinking I had everything figured out with a new gmail address and the auto-forward/send-as features, only to see I'm sending stuff to at least some people as "old email address" on behalf of "new email address." grrrrrr.......

Ok, so right now I have 3 aliases in my microsoft account - old gmail, new gmail, and new outlook.

Your instructions tell me to add the gmail accounts as "send and receive accounts." Fine, I'll do that. BUT first, they're already listed under aliases as able to "send/receive."

So here's my question that, unless my insomnia is preventing me from seeing the obvious, Microsoft or anyone else is doing a really sh***y job of explaining...

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN "OUTLOOK ALIAS" AND A "SEND AND RECEIVE ACCOUNT" (and while we're at it, the difference between those two and just the "send only account")??????????? Why do I (seemingly) need to add these accounts TWICE?!

P.S. - I suppose the labels I had in gmail won't transfer over....any way to fix this?????

 

[MichaelBanning]

Ok maybe it's because it's 3am and I can't sleep, but I'm trying to make "the switch" after legally changing my name, thinking I had everything figured out with a new gmail address and the auto-forward/send-as features, only to see I'm sending stuff to at least some people as "old email address" on behalf of "new email address." grrrrrr.......

Ok, so right now I have 3 aliases in my microsoft account - old gmail, new gmail, and new outlook.

Your instructions tell me to add the gmail accounts as "send and receive accounts." Fine, I'll do that. BUT first, they're already listed under aliases as able to "send/receive."

So here's my question that, unless my insomnia is preventing me from seeing the obvious, Microsoft or anyone else is doing a really sh***y job of explaining...

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN "OUTLOOK ALIAS" AND A "SEND AND RECEIVE ACCOUNT" (and while we're at it, the difference between those two and just the "send only account")??????????? Why do I (seemingly) need to add these accounts TWICE?!

P.S. - I suppose the labels I had in gmail won't transfer over....any way to fix this?????

Bump. Apologies for the frantic language, but any help in explaining any of this is much appreciated.

 

[ramyZgHR]

Great tutorial, thanks!

 

[irvin792]

Thanks!