In our continued effort to improve the quality of the connection between Windows Live Hotmail and Microsoft Outlook, we have released an update for the Outlook Hotmail Connector.

The main addition in this update is the support of the HTTPS protocol for all communication between Microsoft Outlook and Windows Live Hotmail, Calendar, and Contacts. Using a connection with HTTPS, helps you be even more confident that your account is safer from hijackers, and that your private information remains private. HTTPS is a standard for sensitive Internet content, and you’ll find it commonly used by banks, online merchants, and email providers such as Hotmail. HTTPS uses a certificate on the server to make sure that your computer is communicating with the intended server.

To start to use HTTPS with your Hotmail account, install the latest version of Outlook Hotmail Connector. No other changes are required in Outlook or on the Windows Live site.

Additionally, this update addresses reliability issues reported by users like you.

As a side note, we have listened to your feedback on our version terminology — we previously referred to each release with an incremental version such as “14.1” or “14.2”. However, the version information for the Outlook Hotmail Connector continued to use a 14.0.XXXX.YYYY version system. Beginning with this release, we’ll refer to each release exclusively by its version number found in the “About Outlook Hotmail Connector” dialog box. The version number for this update is 14.0.6106.5001. To determine which version is installed on your computer, see the end of this article.

Here is an overview of the changes in this update:

Overall

• All communications between Outlook and Windows Live services (Mail, Calendar, Contacts) use the HTTPS protocol.
• We fixed an issue in which the user was prompted to remove folders that used names longer than 30 characters or that contained invalid characters even after the folder was removed.
• We fixed several stability and reliability issues.

Calendar

We fixed the following issues:

• Some calendar meetings and appointments series with specific exception patterns caused error 8004a164 during first synchronization which blocked additional calendar synchronizations.
• Users couldn’t remove recipients of a meeting series from an exception to the series.
• Flagged mail items would continue to prompt with a reminder value even after it was dismissed.

Mail

• We fixed an issue in which users couldn’t send email messages if the recipient address was copied and then pasted from a contact.

Contacts

• We fixed an issue in which street address fields only synchronized from the server one time.

Installing Outlook Hotmail Connector

We recommend that users download this updated version of the Connector. However, for now, this is an optional update and you can continue to use your current version of Outlook Hotmail Connector. When this update becomes required, you’ll see a notification in Outlook.

To manually install the Outlook Hotmail Connector, do the following:

1. Go to the Microsoft Download Center using the applicable link for your computer.

   For Outlook 2010, Office Outlook 2007, or Office Outlook 2003 32-bit:

   Outlook Hotmail Connector for Outlook 2003, 2007 and 2010 32-bit

   For Outlook 2010 64-bit:

   Outlook Hotmail Connector for Outlook 2010 64-bit

2. Download the setup file by clicking Download next to OutlookConnector.exe, and then save the file to your computer.
3. Double-click the downloaded file.
4. Follow the instructions on your screen to complete the installation.

How to verify the version that is installed

Outlook 2007 and Office Outlook 2003

1. Start Outlook.
2. On the Outlook Hotmail Connector menu, click About Outlook Hotmail Connector.

The version appears in the About Outlook Hotmail Connector dialog box. If the version is equal to or higher than 14.0.6106.5001, the latest version of Outlook Hotmail Connector is installed.

Outlook 2010

1. Start Outlook.
2. Click the File tab.
3. Click Additional Information and then select About Outlook Hotmail Connector. If you have multiple accounts, you might have to select your Hotmail account from the menu at the top.

The version appears in the About Outlook Hotmail Connector dialog box. If the version is equal to or higher than 14.0.6106.5001, the latest version of Outlook Hotmail Connector is installed.

On behalf of the entire Outlook Hotmail Connector team, thanks for trying the new Outlook Hotmail Connector!

-- Alessio Roic
Outlook Senior Program Manager

More info on Outlook and Hotmail integration:

Connecting to Hotmail accounts in Outlook 2010

New Outlook Hotmail Connector released

Hotmail accounts and RSS feeds in Outlook: An Out of Office
Casual special (video)

Microsoft Office Outlook Hotmail Connector overview