If you had read my previous post, then you’ll know that Google just added the IMAP functionality into Gmail. You can refer to the help section in Gmail to learn how to configure your mail client to work with the IMAP service. Unfortunately, there is no step-by-step guide for Windows Live Mail Desktop. But why Windows Live Mail? The reason is because Windows Live Mail is the only application that you can use with your Hotmail account in Vista. And Outlook Express has been replaced by Windows Mail, which is not compatible with Hotmail.

Before you start configuring the client, you need to enable the IMAP in your Gmail settings.

Step 1: Go to settings

Step 2: Click “Forwarding and POP/IMAP”

Step 3: Go to IMAP access and select “Enable IMAP”

Step 4: Click the “Saves Changes” button to save the settings.

Now you can go to your Windows Live Mail to configure it with the IMAP.

Step 1: Click on the “Show Menu” button located at the top-right

Step 2: Go to Tools -> Accounts. An “Accounts” window will pop up.

Step 3: Click “Add”.

Step 4: Select “Email Account” and click next.

Step 5: Fill in the details. In the name field, you can put the name that you like to appear in your email when you can send an email. The email address is your full Gmail address. Uncheck the “Automatically determine my login ID” option. The login ID is your full Gmail address. Check the “Manually configure server settings for email account” option. Click next.

Step 6: You can copy the following settings. In the drop down box, select IMAP.

Incoming Server Information:

Incoming server: imap.gmail.com

Port: 993

Check the “This server requires a secure connection (SSL) option.

Select “Log on using clear text authentication”.

Outgoing Server Information:

Outgoing Server: smtp.gmail.com

Port: 465

Check the “This server requires a secure connection (SSL)” option.

Check the “My outgoing server requires authentication” option.

If you have a lot of emails in your Gmail, it will take some take for the client to download the list of emails.

That’s it! Now you can start using your Windows Live Mail to read your Gmail email!