Outlook vs Outlook.com vs Windows Live Mail vs Mail

Outlook vs Outlook.com vs Windows Live Mail vs Mail

We've had a lot of questions regarding Outlook, Outlook.com, Windows Live Mail and the Windows 10 "Mail". All of these are Microsoft e-mail products, but they are all very different - as they can sometimes be confused, this article explains a little about each one and will help you identify the product you are using.

Outlook.com is the web-based e-mail service from Microsoft. It can be accessed through a browser at http://www.outlook.com (or you can connect a 3rd party email client, like the 3 applications below), it used to be more commonly known as Hotmail.com. It is not the same as Outlook the e-mail client application. It looks like this:

OutlookCom.png

Outlook is a full featured e-mail client application that can be purchased as a standalone product comes as part of Microsoft Office suite. It looks like this:

Outlook.png

Windows Live Mail is a free e-mail client from Microsoft, which contains far fewer features that Outlook. It is part of the Windows Essential bundle and looks like this:

WLM.png

Mail is a new application for Windows 10 that provides a good experience for both touch-screen and desktop users. It is part of the default install and if you log in with a Microsoft account it may already be partly configured (especially if you use MS as your e-mail provider). It looks like this:

Mail.png
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