New protocols for using Apple Mail with Hotmail accounts

Microsoft has announced the following:

"The safety and security of your information is top priority for Microsoft. To help keep your account secure, Microsoft will no longer support the use of third-party email and calendar apps which ask you to sign in with only your Microsoft Account username and password. To keep you safe you will need to use a mail or calendar app which supports Microsoft’s modern authentication methods. If you do not act, your third-party email apps will no longer be able to access your Outlook.com, Hotmail or Live.com email address on September 16th."

I use Apple Mail for all my email accounts which include two hotmail accounts that need to be redefined as 'outlook' accounts with new security parameters for them to work with Apple Mail, otherwise I am going to lose access to these accounts via Apple Mail. I have Apple Mail installed on all my devices, the principle device being a Mac Mini (Sonoma 14.5). Obviously these email accounts will be available via other email apps like Outlook for Mac and via a web browser.

According to general advice that I have looked for, the best way continue to use Apple Mail is to delete the accounts from Apple Mail (via the Mac Mini) and then add them again with the new Outlook parameters which are not simply the current account name and password. Doing this does not alter any emails that you have stored on the Outlook server - the account name is not changing.

I have all of my mail stored in mail folders on my Mac. I don't keep the messages on the remote server. The only messages that are held on the remote Outlook server are the most recent in my Inbox i.e. those that I have not yet moved to other folders on my Mac and those that have not yet been deleted from the remote server.

So, if I delete the accounts in Apple Mail (on the Mac Mini), I am going to lose all of the history of my emails stored in the various mail sub-folders for the corresponding email account on my Mac Mini. As there is no copy of these on the remote server, they will be lost forever. Adding the new Outlook version of the accounts will not connect these accounts to their history in Apple Mail.

I must admit that I am a bit lost as to how I can continue using Apple Mail for my two Hotmail accounts. The only thing that I can see that I can do is the following:

Copy all subfolders for these email accounts on the Mac into new subfolders for another NON-Hotmail account that I currently use.

Delete the Hotmail Accounts on my Mac, thus deleting all of their sub folders.

Add the new Outlook versions of these accounts with the necessary parameters.

Re-create the subfolders for those accounts and then move all of the previously moved emails back to these accounts.

I understand that deleting and re-adding the accounts on my Mac will be reflected on my other synced Apple devices (iPhone, iPad etc) which don't contain the history, as this is only on the Mac Mini.

I hope I have understood the situation correctly and explained it well.

I don't want to use different apps for my different email accounts. I want to maintain them all in one application if possible.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. There is a distinct lack of information about this one the internet. Sorry if this message is a bit long or is incorrect in any way.

Thanks in advance!

MacBook Pro, OS X 10.11

Posted on Jun 28, 2024 6:49 AM

Top-ranking reply

Daniel Voran

Level 1

90 points

Posted on Jul 29, 2024 11:51 AM

This is my experience today, July 29. I have a Hotmail account I created years ago and today I was asked to enter the password for it. But even after doing that, Mail showed the account as being offline.

So I went to Mail->Add Account...

I selected the Microsoft Exchange option to create the new account. I entered my Hotmail address, and when a Microsoft screen showed up asking me to enter the password, I entered the password. And there was some verbage about letting the app connect or have access to my Microsoft account. Something along those lines.

After the account was created, Mail showed two accounts with the same email Hotmail address. The contents of both accounts was identical. They even both had a "New app(s) connected to your Microsoft account" message which stated:

New app(s) have access to your data

Apple Internet Accounts connected to the Microsoft account xr**s@hotmail.com.

If you didn't grant this access, please remove the app(s) from your account.

I selected Mail->Accounts, which brings up the various email accounts I have. I deleted the Hotmail/Outlook account.

Back to Mail and I have just one Microsoft Exchange account which has my Hotmail email address and all the mail of that account.

I still need to play around and see if there are any issues sending/receiving mail through that Microsoft Exchange account.

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74 replies

Jul 23, 2024 9:20 AM in response to Stan Fowler

Yes, I had the exact same experience! However, in an abundance of caution, I exported my mailbox and all subfolders as mbox files in case I lost them in the process: Import or export mailboxes in Mail on Mac - Apple Support. But it turned out not to be necessary as I was already using Outlook. People with Hotmail accounts should export their Apple mailbox files as there have been many complaints on this thread about the files disappearing.

Creating a Microsoft Exchange account also eliminated some gremlins, e.g., getting two copies of each sent email in my sent folder. Apple Mail seems to be working fine now -- knock on wood.

Jul 23, 2024 11:56 AM in response to Munsterlanders

Munsterlanders, Good question! I think you have to do it device by device. I'm using the Outlook app on my iPad, rather than Apple Mail. I don't care whether the emails are preserved on my iPad, but I definitely want my email files on my Mac. I got the result I wanted on my Mac by using Microsoft Exchange. Apparently, it has modern authentication built in.

Do you think Microsoft will send us another warning right before D Day to anyone who is still using Basic Authentication? It might be a good idea to export our Apple Mail files to mbox right before D Day in case there we get cut off.

Aug 10, 2024 4:23 AM in response to wlow

Glad to have found this thread and wlow's post. Like others, Mail kept asking for the password to access my outlook.com email. Tried to use the Microsoft Exchange option a couple times (definitely does not work with manual configuration) and it didn't/couldn't verify. Tried it a third time, typed (vs pasted) my password and got the dialog box requesting access approval. The process worked and set up a new account; I will delete the previous account and hope for the best.

Aug 20, 2024 11:41 AM in response to tobyw7_uk

Following up on this, and to clarify. You can configure Outlook.com email accounts just fine using the “Microsoft Exchange” option as others have suggested. It’s not clear on the Microsoft documentation and there’s no explicit option yet for setting up the account. The new account does use the modern authentication though and after configuration you’ll receive an email saying that a new app password has been created for Apple Mail.

Jul 1, 2024 11:24 PM in response to Munsterlanders

Same here. I’ve been having login issues with my Mac ( not iPad or iPhone, they work fine)

The “fix” proposed by Apple support is to use Exchange (remove account and add it again as exchange account). But the problem is the email flagging option is terribly glitchy with exchange. Outlook for Mac is terrible, I hate it. Temporary solution : forwarding all emails to my iCloud account. Note: the more complaints Apple has regarding this subject the better. They need to fix this.

jcho1962

Level 1

8 points

Jul 2, 2024 2:48 AM in response to Munsterlanders

I have today deleted my old "Hotmail Account" from "Apple Mail" and set it up in "Outlook For Mac". The sub-folders with all my important emails are still there after the move. Thank goodness... else it will be quite troublesome & time-consuming to retrieve those emails that I have forwarded earlier to another account.

Jul 2, 2024 4:29 AM in response to jcho1962

Hi! This can only happen when you have all your emails stored on the email service provider's servers. The problem we have occurs when you have them stored only in Apple Mail (copies have been deleted from remote server).

I think we all agree what we can simply choose to use Outlook instead of Apple Mail, although you would never be able to see any emails stored only in Apple Mail because the two apps cannot access each other.

For information, I can access my Hotmail emails via Outlook on a web browser without any problem, but the only emails I can see are those that are still on the remote server.

Jul 3, 2024 6:12 AM in response to Munsterlanders

To get Apple’s attention, II suggest that everyone post on Feedback - iMac - Apple This is a feature that an Apple tech pointed out to me for leaving feedback. This is what the site says:

“Use the form below to send us your comments. We read all feedback carefully, but we are unable to respond to each submission individually. If you provide your email address, you agree that we may contact you to better understand the comments you submitted..”

Jul 4, 2024 9:16 AM in response to LV2219

Hi!

Yes. I think that was more or less the only conclusion I came to in my original post. Create identically named folders in Apple Mail on the Mac and copy everything from the subfolders of the Hotmail accounts into these folders including inbox, sent etc (if you automatically delete from the remote server when downloading). Then if successful, re-create all the folders under the re-added Hotmail account and copy the items back.

The link in the original email from Microsoft contains a basic guide as to how to remove and re-add the accounts as 'Outlook.com' accounts in Apple Mail. What it doesn't say is whether accounts like mine (xxx@hotmail.com, xxx@hotmail.co.uk) can be re-classified as 'outlook.com' without changing the email address name. The main question is "Can Hotmail accounts be re-defined as Outlook.com accounts for the purposes of authentication within Apple Mail?" I assume it must be possible because Microsoft seems to suggest that simply choosing Outlook.com as the type of email authentication will work. I'm feeling nervous about doing it until someone can confirm this.

LV2219

Level 1

19 points

Jul 6, 2024 6:06 AM in response to LV2219

Following up on my previous post: after adding my account as Exchange, I successfully removed my original Hotmail account and all went smoothly. Nothing lost. I'm doing this on an iMac. It worked for me.

Jul 6, 2024 7:06 AM in response to Munsterlanders

Hi everyone, macOS Mail, I thought deleting my hotmail accounts and adding them back in under Microsoft Exchange fixed the annoying password popup but after a good week it reappeared today. I use the Microsoft Authenticator app (on iOS) for my work email so figured I'll add my hotmail accounts in there as well (makes sense as it guarantees secure login). When Mail prompted me to enter my password, instead of entering it, I was able to approve sign-in via the Microsoft Authenticator app on my phone. So far, Mail has been working fine *fingers crossed*

Jul 10, 2024 1:19 PM in response to LV2219

For me it is basic too. I flag an email for follow up. It should appear flagged on my devices. Then, i unflag it and it should be unflagged on all devices. But no! So.. quick fix and it’s working for me: I am forwarding all my hotmail emails to my iCloud emails. And I am sending all emails from that account. I am saying goodbye to my old hotmail account for good.

Jul 23, 2024 9:45 AM in response to Stan Fowler

I think you must have had all your emails stored on the remote server, not locally. If you remove an account from Apple Mail, I understand that all of the local folders under that account are deleted. Therefore, if copies are not held remotely on the Hotmail server, they are gone forever. I am in the process of saving the emails in the local Hotmail accounts, locally in Apple mail, but not as sub-folders of the Hotmail accounts. I will then try to delete and add the Hotmail accounts again choosing Microsoft Exchange. If that works, I guess it should be possible to move the 'saved' emails back into new local sub-folders under the Hotmail accounts. Who knows! If not, it may be time to give up on Apple Mail, bite the bullet and use Outlook!!

Jul 23, 2024 11:29 AM in response to michaelfromclonmel

It's definitely a problem Michael. Getting lots of messages on Mac/ipad/iphone asking to input the password as it is no longer connecting automatically each time. Now completely random. Microsoft say this will get worse as they approach cut-off date.

Jul 23, 2024 11:33 AM in response to Anne.Onnimus

Good advice Anne. Save everything before attempting to delete and re-add the account as a Microsoft Exchange account. I have no idea how this is more secure because as I understand it, it is still just an email account and password. When you deleted the account and re-added (presumably in Apple Mail on a Mac, were the changes automatically reflected on other links Apple devices or does this need to be done per device?

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New protocols for using Apple Mail with Hotmail accounts