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Transferring Email From a UW Email Account to UW Outlook Live

IT Connect > Teamwork and Collaboration Tools > UW Windows Live > Transferring Email to UW Outlook Live

On This Page Things to Consider How to Choose Which Method to Use Using UW Outlook Live to Transfer Inbox Using Thunderbird to Transfer Folders

Using WebPine to Transfer Folders Using Unix Alpine to Transfer Folders Adding UW Outlook Live Account to Desktop Program Importing Your Contacts

Things to Consider Before Transferring Your Data

Before transferring your email, consider the following:

• Cleanup: It might be an opportunity to do some pruning or houscleaning to get rid of messages or data you no longer need. That may make transferring easier and faster and make things easier to find later. It might even be worth considering abandoning your old email and starting fresh.
• Get familiar: You might want to get familiar with the new service before moving messages to be sure you'll be able to work with messages as you wish.
• Originals: Most methods for transferring your data do not delete the original. It will remain unless you delete it yourself (or until your account service expires.) That may be helpful if you need to refer to it, but with new mail delivered to UW Outlook Live, things will quickly get out of synchronization.
• Double check: After transferring data you should assure yourself that it is all in place and not corrupt before you delete the original.
• Time commitment: If you have a lot of data to transfer, the process could take a long time -- maybe hours. Plan accordingly.

How to Choose Which Method to Use for Transferring Your Email

The best method for you to choose will depend on exactly what you want to accomplish and which email program you are already familiar with.

• The first option using Outlook Live will only transfer the contents of your UW inbox. If you have lots of other folders you would like to transfer to Outlook Live, you will probably want to choose one of the other options.
• If you are already familiar with Thunderbird, we recommend using that program to transfer the contents of your email account to UW Outlook Live. Most people find using Thunderbird fairly straightforward. Even if you are not familiar with Thunderbird, you may want to consider trying that option for transferring your email.
• Other options for transferring email are listed below. You can read through all of the options and see which one seems easiest to you.

Using UW Outlook Live to Transfer Your UW Inbox to UW Outlook Live

Note: This will transfer email from your UW inbox only. It will NOT transfer any other folders. If you would like to transfer folders in addition to your inbox, please use one of the other methods.

1. StepsActions
1. Follow instructions on the MS Enter Incoming Server page.
   • You will need to click on "New…" in Other Accounts box.
   • Email address: <your_UWNetID>@washington.edu (Note: no "u." in address and <your_UWNetID> should be replaced with your own UW NetID without any brackets)
   • You will get the following error:
     
2. Follow the "click here" link to enter connection settings and enter the following information (replacing any instance of <your_UWNetID> with your own UW NetID without the brackets):

   Display Name: UW Account
   Email address: <your_UWNetID>@washington.edu (Note: no "u." in address)
   User name: <your_UWNetID>
   Password: <your_UWNetID> password
   Leave mail on server (optional: see note below)
   Incoming server: <your_UWNetID>.deskmail.washington.edu
   Authentication: Basic
   Encryption: SSL
   Port: 995

   
3. When you return to your email on Outlook Live email, you should see your email from your UW inbox in your Outlook Live inbox. If it doesn't appear immediately, be patient and give it some time. You can always check on the status of the transfer in the Accounts section of UW Outlook Live.

Note: If you check the "Leave mail on server" option, your email messages will be left in your UW Inbox even after they are copied to your UW Outlook Live account. This makes it possible for you to double check that they were properly transferred prior to deleting them. If you do not check the "Leave mail on server" option, the email messages will be deleted from your UW Inbox once they are transferred to Outlook Live. This may make it easier for you to transfer messages from multiple folders -- once the messages are transferred from your inbox, move messages from another folder on your UW account into your inbox and allow those to be transferred to Outlook Live. Repeat for each folder you want to transfer. If you have a lot of email folders to transfer, consider using another method described below to transfer them.

Using Thunderbird to Transfer Email Folders to UW Outlook Live

1. StepsActions
1. Follow instructions on the Set Up Mozilla Thunderbird for Your E-Mail Account page to configure Thunderbird to access UW Outlook Live.
   Note: Your Incoming and Outgoing User Name will be: <your_UWNetID>@uw.edu
   (where you replace <your_UWNetID> with your actual UW NetID without the brackets)
2. Follow instructions on the Configuring Thunderbird 2.x for Windows for UW Email page to configure Thunderbird to also access your UW email account. (Mac OS X users should follow these instructions.)
3. To move the messages from your UW Inbox to your UW Outlook Live inbox, open your UW Inbox in Thunderbird, select all of the messages, and drag them to your UW Outlook Live inbox.
4. To transfer messages in other folders, right-click on your UW Outlook Live folder collection in the navigation window and select "New Folder." Follow the prompts to name the folder the same as a folder you want to copy from your UW email account.
5. Select a folder in your UW Email Account folder collection. Select all of the messages in the folder, go to the Message menu and select Copy To > UW Outlook Live > folder of same name
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for each folder you wish to copy.

Using WebPine to Transfer Email Folders to UW Outlook Live

1. StepsActions
1. Open WebPine, click on "Configure" and then the Folders tab. Click "Add" to add a new folder collection and fill in the following information (replacing any instance of <your_UWNetID> with your own UW NetID without the brackets):

   Nickname: UW Outlook Live
   Server: outlook.com/user=<your_UWNetID>@uw.edu
   SSL: checked
   User: [leave blank]
   Path: [leave blank]
   View: [leave blank]

   
2. Save your changes.
3. Go to "More Folders" and expand the Outlook Live folder collection.
4. Login using your UW Outlook Live password.
5. Go back to the folder in your UW account you want to transfer.
6. At the message index screen, make sure you have all of your toolbars expanded. If you see one or two little grey arrows like this:
   
   click on them to expand them. Your toolbars should now look like this:
   
7. Now that you have access to your toolbars in the message index screen, click on "Mark All in Folder" and then in the "Save Messages" area select [folder I type in] in the pull-down menu. Specify a folder name and select "UW Outlook Live" in the pull-down menu after the word "within". Click OK.
   
8. If the folder does not already exist on your UW Outlook Live account, click Create. Repeat this process for each folder you want to copy from your UW Email account to UW Outlook Live.

Note: WebPine may produce error messages when configuring it to access UW Outlook Live even though the account configuration is correct. Double-check UW Outlook Live to see if the messages were successfully transferred.

Using Unix Alpine to Transfer Email Folders to UW Outlook Live

1. StepsActions
1. From the main menu, select "S" (Setup) > "L" (Collection List). Type "A" to add a new collection and fill in the following information (replacing any instance of <your_UWNetID> with your own UW NetID without the brackets):

   Nickname: UW Outlook Live
   Server: outlook.com/user=<your_UWNetID>@uw.edu/ssl
   Path: [leave blank]
   View: [leave blank]

   
2. Press Ctrl-X to exit and enter your UW Outlook Live password when prompted.
3. Save your changes.
4. Go to your Folder List screen and open the folder you would like to transfer. Press ";" followed by "A" to select all of the messages in the folder. Then press "A" followed by "S" to apply the Save command.
5. When prompted for the folder to save the messages in, you can use Ctrl-N to toggle through your folder collections until you get to your UW Outlook Live folder collection. Type in a folder name and press .
6. Enter your UW Outlook Live password when prompted and press "Y" to create the new folder (if it doesn't already exist on your UW Outlook Live account).
7. Repeat steps 4 through 6 for each folder you want to copy.

Adding UW Outlook Live Account to Desktop Email Program Already Configured for UW Email

Already have a desktop email program such as Outlook Express or Mac Mail configured to access your UW email account? If so, you can add UW Outlook Live to the configuration by following Microsoft's instructions.
Note: Your user name will be <your_UWNetID>@uw.edu

Once you have your desktop email program configured to access both accounts:

1. StephsActions
1. Create new folders for UW Outlook Live.
2. Copy messages from your existing UW email folders into the UW Outlook Live folders.

Importing Your Contacts Into UW Outlook Live

Contacts are stored in the program you use to connect to your email account. If you normally use Thunderbird, for example, to access your UW Email account, only Thunderbird has access to the contact information that you have created there. If you are going to use the same program to access your UW Outlook Live account, you may not have to do anything to transfer your contacts.

If, however, you are switching programs or you are going to use a Web browser to connect to UW Outlook Live, you will need to transfer your contacts in the form of a comma-separated values (CSV) file and then import that CSV into your UW Outlook Live account using MS Outlook 2007. (UW Outlook Live accessed via a Web browser does not have the ability to import the CSV file.) Follow these instructions:

1. StepsActions
1. Export your contacts as a CSV file. See the help text for your particular email program for instructions on how to export the contacts as a CSV file. If you use Pine or WebPine, here are instructions on converting a Pine address list to a CSV file (ignore the reference to Outlook Express).
2. Configure MS Outlook 2007 to access your UW Outlook Live account. Please note the following as you configure MS Outlook 2007 to access your UW Outlook Live account:
   • Enter your email address as: your_UWNetID@ol.uw.edu
   • You will be prompted to log in and asked for a username. Your username is your UW Windows Live ID in the form of your_UWNetID@uw.edu
   • On subsequent logins, you will be prompted to log in to autodiscover.u.washington.edu or autodiscover.washington.edu each time you use MS Outlook 2007. You should cancel out of the login prompt as this is caused by a bug in Outlook. Microsoft is working on a fix and expects it to be available sometime in December 2009.
3. Import the CSV file containing your contacts into MS Outlook 2007.

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