Great work!  The only problem is facebook contacts, now that facebook is connected, we need an option to not import facebook stuff, as my iphone contacts now contain hundreds of facebook friends who dont have contact details, and who I dont want on my iPhone!

Also I seem to be battling with some phone numbers for contacts who are Live contacts, it keeps chopping the last digit off their phone number, which in turn syncs back to the iPhone and I dont know whos calling me!  odd!  only seems the be the mobile number property, its something weried with the country code (44) not displaying the number correctly (ie 00 44 for the UK)...

Have been waiting for this a LONG time !

Took a very long time but were here! Great stuff.

Adding filters to the contact experience is something we will look at in coming months. Thanks for reporting the phone number issue (last digit chopped) ; we will look into it.

The instructions, even those mentioned through following the link do not apply for the Apple iPad, for example, the iPad doesnt give us the option to enter a server address...Anyone with an iPad got it to work?

Dick, you might want to note to everyone that Windows Mobile 6.x users will NOT get HTML email since the protocol version is 2.5 (Exchange 2003 SP2 compatible).

This would have been cool about 5 years ago!

@fahdriyami it works perfectly for me on the iPad. enter username, password and e-mail on the first screen, accept the certificate when prompted and after some time, you'll have a second page where you can put the server name.

@Seydon Yup, got it working. Thanks! :)

I am SO disappointed in hotmail. I have an HTC Desire on Android 2.2 (I currently use the Email application to access my emails), and was really happy to see that hotmail FINALLY supported push email. But now I have just read that Android users would still have to wait for a few months before being able to use Exchange ActiveSync ???? And that not everybody using Android 2.2 would be able to use it ? In that case, you should have released this once it was available for everybody. Could you at least tell me if it will be compatible (HTC Desire, Android 2.2, currently using the "Email" application with POP3 for hotmail). thank you.

It doesnt seem to push deletions and moves which are performed on Hotmail on the web, these only update when the inbox is refreshed. Not a major issue but a bit of a shame.

Great!!!!

But when will be possible to sync photo contact between outlook <-> hotmail <-> mobile device???

And when will be possible to sync task from hotmail <-> outlook???

RE: the mobile number issue, its not possible to enter a mobile number in the specific mobile number field (on hotmail on the web) which will display correctly on my iPhone. I choose 44, but regardless of wether I drop the leading 0 from the main number or not, when it syncs to the phone the number doesnt match (needs to be 00 44 7940 *** *** for a UK number. The only way to fix is to edit on the phone, which then syncs back to Hotmail and all seems well, but it then seems to drop a digital much later, maybe days later, which is weired. I am finding that I have to keep correcting this. I cant be specific as its a bit difficult to pinpoint. It seems to only be contacts who are a live ID.

the contact filter is a must, Ive had to break the link to facebook as I cannot live with all those contacts being forced on me !

An issue: If I create task from my mobile device (HTC Touch PRO2), it's sync with hotmail, but If I create a task from hotmail, it doesn't sync on mobile phone...

If Zack Williamson is right as to why WM 6.x devices wont get HTML email that is really sad, guess the Hotmail team decided it wasnt worth investing in an exchange verstion that is compatible with more devices. I guess as long as their iphones worked, that was all that mattered :( Once again MS gives WM users the finger....

@efjay: It's not a matter of it being "worth the investment" - it's a matter of getting the feature out to users. ActiveSync is much more complicated to implement once you use a version higher than 2.5. Because Hotmail isn't based on Exchange, but rather a custom-built mail system, it takes a great deal of integration in order to implement a basic ActiveSync setup. And considering this is the first version, I have to say that it's been very well done thus far.

Got really excited looking at this until I read that it's not for Android users yet.... boo..... Please get this out ASAP!

I've got a Droid with FroYo (2.2) and would REALLY love reliable Hotmail access, especially with the abilities that ActiveSync would allow (deleting emails from server, push notification)

@Zack: yet the iphone will support HTML emails, how come they managed to get support for that OS and not their own? And isnt the backend for this feature Exchange which is supportted on WM?

Just set it up on my Droid - running Froyo 2.2.  Worked seamlessly.  Just because it's not supported yet doesn't mean it doesn't work!  Thanks Hotmail Team!

We are working on adding Android 2.2 to the list of supported devices. There are at least a few instances where the Android default client does not conform to the ActiveSync protocol, but users have been generally successful with 2.2. If you are having issues, you can also try the TouchDown app for Android 2.2 which has worked well - groups.google.com/.../installing-the-latest-beta

@aubiker How did you get it to work for you? I tried the given settings and it won't go for me.

If anyone else has any way to get this to work on Android 2.2 with the default email app, please share!

@aubiker : what phone do you have ? (I am on HTC desire, Android 2.2). I tried setting it up anyway, but got the message that my account could't  be created.

has anybody had this problem on android 2.2 (unable to create the account) ? And/or will it be solved when android 2.2 will be added to  the list of supported devives (by the way will it be announced on this blog ??). Thank you.

@Android peeps.  I think it must be at least half-working.  I'm booting a 2.1 Android ROM on my HTC HD2 and in my testing over the last couple of hours it seems to be working.

Not currently supported doesn't always mean won't work at all. :-)

@efjay: Because the rolled out version of ActiveSync is 2.5, WM 6.x sees the server as an Exchange 2003 SP2-style server. And since WM 6.x actually FULLY adheres to the ActiveSync standard, unlike any other implementation (iOS, Android, etc.), WM knows that 2.5 isn't supposed to handle HTML emails, therefore it's disabled from the device-side. To put it another way, WM has the ability to receive HTML emails via ActiveSync, but it's playing strictly by the rules of the Exchange ActiveSync 2.5 policy - which only supports plain text.

That's good news! The bad news is that my phone only allows one ActiveSync connection.  I already use it for my Exchange account at work.

@fahdriyami ,  the ipad support for ActiveSync is not complete and a little confusing but you should be able to enter a server address.  You have to.  I setup my ipad with my corp exchange acct and it asked for a server address.  You probably need to let the autodiscover timeout out.  When this happens you will see the server field.

BTW,  I am less than impressed with my ipad for a business tool.  Trying to create content on this device is too cimbersome.  My kids love it as a game device though.

I got my Moto Q runnning WM 6.1 to sync but it keeps coming back and saying about 26 of the 100 calendar events it detects need to be synced fail.  I have contacts selected but it doesn't seem to sync them, although the progress bar showing it going thru them.  Also how do you get to task in hotmail?  I don't even see a it on the website.

I've been waiting so long for this!! Awesome work guys!

@Zack, thank you for your responses but I think its time I gave up on Microsoft. Whatever the reason its clear that providing parity in functionality for WM users is something MS doesnt care about so I give up. Let them do what they will and make their competitors solutions seem more attractive than their own, just like they have done again with the android bing application. Its obvious if I want to get the best of Microsoft's services I need ot use eithe ran iphone or android. Thanks again for your information.

@Paul Smith  : It doesn't work on my Desire, did you use the settings given on this blog ? As I said, the message I get (at the last step, when I select what to synchronize) is that the creation of the account has failed. I don't know if anyone else has had this problem and if it will be fixed when Android 2.2 will be added to the list of devices.

@steph: ActiveSync works great on the first generation Droid with Android 2.2. I initially had problem because I didn't provide the full email with @live.com. Once I did it, it works like a charm.

@stackoverflow  : thanks for the info. I just tried again, with the details given on the blog, but it still doesn't work ! (same message). I have a hotmail.com address.

Does this support contact groups?

@steph Yeah I'm getting the same problem. HTC Desire with stock Orange UK 2.1. The support link does say there are problems with 2.1 so thats the only reason I could see unless there is a problem with the Desire as a whole with EAS support.

@ Silver47 : Yes the page does say that it doesn't support 2.1. I'm on 2.2 though, but I'm trying to figure out on other forums if people have succeeded with the Desire to know if the problem is related to Android or Desire !

On Froyo 2.2:

Username: myemailaddress@live.com (or @hotmail.com)

Password: **********

Domain\Username:  \myemailaddress@live.com (or @hotmail.com)

Server:  m.hotmail.com

Make sure you check both "Use secure connection (SSL)" and "Accept all SSL certificates"

I'm still getting a message "Failed to create the account.  Please try again later."  I have a HTC Droid Incredible, OS 2.1 on Verizon Wireless.  I even tried a hard reset and nothing is working.

Thanks aubiker but it still doesn't work for me, I get the same message. Did you fill in both the domain and username (with the \ before the email adress?)

I'm another HTC Desire having no luck getting my account set up..... I'm pretty sure it's not the stock Android Mail client, it's a HTC one, so maybe that's why :( .

Nice to hear about this!

Thanks!

Only use the "\" in the domain, not the username.

Just tried this via the RoadSync app on my T-Mobile Pulse Android 1.5 phone. Seems to be working like a charm. Well done guys!

@ColinN I believe you are right there, under apps the mail client says it is made by HTC. Looks like its in their hands now :(. Is there another mail app that can used on the market, couldn't find one under the market :/

Firstly thank you Microsoft for doing this, I've never felt comfortable with Google having all my email etc.

I've got a HTC Desire 2.1 with the HTC client and it works flawlessly with mail2web.com Hosted Exchange, so how come Hotmail EAS won't work? Surely Microsoft can sort this out, it's unbelievable that they can’t do what their partners can. Or am I missing something?

Please - correct numbers. Cellphone numbers of my contacts displays as +7.... And when I sync them with the phone all numbers appear like 7... without "+", so I get aerror when I try to use them in dialer. Also - Is it possible to set up Outlook 2010 to use Exchange with hotmail?

Oh just re-read the posts and Zack Williamson's comments. Oh well, maybe Android soon pleaseee but then again I would love a shiny new Window 7 Phone if Microsoft decide to give some away like Samsung did with the Galaxy. Come on Microsoft, I even bought Vista on 2 PC's, don't you owe me :)

@Ykslad I'm wondering now if the reason Orange pushed back the release of 2.2 because of this...hmmmm

Hi. I've just tested my Live.com address on my Nokia N900 device and its Mail for Exchange application. Works perfect. Didn't try Calendar sync yet.

But, all my emails are shown in plain text, not HTML. On some forums I saw that it's neccessary to upgrade to Server 2007 to be able to receive push HTML emails. On Maemo blog it's said that latest firmware (PR1.2) supports Server 2007.

Is there any way that my emails are shown as HTML?

i have a Nexus One and this works great with the stock Email app.  Thanks Hotmail!!

i meant to say i have a nexus one running 2.2.  it worked on the first try

T-Mobile Samsung Vibrant non-rooted with Stock Android 2.1 (TouchWiz UI) works flawlessly.  I was actually able to use both my Hosted Exchange account side-by-side with Hotmail ActiveSync.  Now that Hotmail Supports ActiveSync, I'm ditching my Exchange host.  More people know my Hotmail Address than my Exchange address, anyways :P

The Sync for Hotmail is abotu 2.5x faster than my Exchange Host.  Very Fast.  Very Solid.  Very well-done.

On the flip side, I tried to setup a friend's iPhone 3G (no S) to Sync and the phone wouldn't let me set up the connection.  Maybe an iOS issue, though...

The only thing I don't like, is that that Android doesn't support Tasks :(  At least not yet...

I'm using a Droid X with Froyo 2.1 software. It all seems to work ok, but it doesn't notify me when new mail arrives.

I'm getting an "incorrect password" error every time I try to set it up. I know for a 100% fact I am putting in correctly. All the other settings are also duplicated exactly, so what's the problem?

Update:  Android 2.1 T-Mobile Vibrant with TouchWiz 3.0

No HTML Mail supported.

Useless, IMO.  Going to stay with my Exchange host and keep letting my Hotmail Account go unused.

Anything that doesn't support HTML mail, is useless, as far as I'm concerned.

It's 2010, not 2001.  Get with the program.

I have a couple of folders that return an error messagve instead of syncing....is there a limit on the folder size or number of emails preventing this folder from being accessed on my Iphone?

If you have an Android phone, it's really not much use to use Windows Live (i.e. Hotmail), IMO.  Migrate all of you stuff over to Google Mail and enjoy a mail client that works correctly.  If you get to the point where your job requires you to use ActiveSync, they will probably have a version of Exchange deployed that isn't almost a decade old - which support HTML mail.

Microsoft, esepcially, just makes me laugh doing this - considering how much trouble they go through to force users to upgrade to the "next version" of their software (OneNote Web App not supporting OneNote 2003/7, crippling Outlook Connector for < 2010 Outlook clients, etc. etc.).

I know absolutely 0 people that send plain text emails, and I certainly don't sign up for any plain text newletters, update subscriptions, etc.

Do you know if this works yet for hotmail.CA or live.CA accounts?  And my ISP essentially uses Windows Live so does this also work for bell.net or sympatico.ca accounts?  And what would the settings be?

Also, would this work on an old Dell Axim X3i?  The about page says it's Windows Pocket PC Version 4.20.0 (Build 13349).

Thanks,

Will sync SMS with Hotmail in the future ?

Microsoft MyPhone does SMS Sync, if you're on Windows Mobile.  Hotmail needs Tasks, though, and so does Android...

Until now some issues:

1. the order of the firstname and lastname is ignored for contacts that where created on the hotmail webinterface.

2. the country code "+" from mobile phone number is cut off.

3. umlauts of html mails are replaced by question marks (äöü -> ???)

I have another issue: If I create task from my mobile device (HTC Touch PRO2), it's sync with hotmail, but If I create a task from hotmail, it doesn't sync on mobile phone...

Got it working on my HTC Desire. Not through the stock HTC email app, but Touchdown works a treat.

Great work indeed! Although, as an iPhone user, I have encountered some problems after I set up my hotmail account through MS Exchange.

Above all the tiny problems which can be ignored, MISSING EMAILS is intolerable... I got 3 emails this morning, but my iPhone can only retrieve 2 of them while push-mail is enabled, and later I tried retrieving them manually while turning push-mail off, still not working, the missed email cannot be retrieved this way either.

I had to DELETE the account on my iPhone and set it up all over again, and it worked this time...

I really do not want to re-setup my email account every time I want to be sure if there are any new emails...

So, could you tell me if there are any stability issues with ActiveSync for hotmail accounts on iPhone platform? Shall I expect a fix soon?

Looking forward to your replies.

Fantastic!  This is the functionality that I always thought that my WM Smartphone was supposed to have.  I remember buying my first HTC Startrek 3125 and wondering why my calendar did not sync and my hotmail polled and did not push.  This has breathed new life into my dying Fuze and will certainly help me hang in there until WP7 hits the market in a few months.

I am still experimenting after less than a day, but a few items that initially are stumping me.

1.  It appears that the only way to silence alerts at night is to set that as your 'off peak' times and then set the phone to manually sync during that time and then restart pushing at your 'morning' peak time again.  That is not what the peak and off peak times are for, but I have managed to stop email alerts at night that way.

2.  HTML mail.  It appears that the phone is attempting to display mail in HTML form once I selected the option and opened up the amount of data per message in the options, but this is not consistent behavior yet.  That may just be because I have not tweaked the download settings properly yet.

3.  Now streamlining this with my Windows Live Mail Beta will make this a slick package.

This is functionality which we have been waiting for for years and now it is a VERY welcome addition.  I feel like the WM platform is finally reaching its potential promised so many years ago.

@guycozon and all those who succeeded with Android : when you check your emails on the computer, do you do it through the Internet website or through Windows Live Mail ? Do you have to use Windows Live Mail to be able to set up an account on exchange active sync ?

On my stock Desire running 2.2 this doesn't work, I'm guessing its the HTC mail app. I get the 'Failed to create account' error. But... I installed Touchdown and it works very well through that.

With Touchdown, do contacts and calendar sync too ?

I've synced through Android Froyo 2.2.  You do not have to use Live Mail to do this.  Most of the time I only use the online web mail.

However, there doesn't seem to be support for HTML.  That's a non-starter for me.  I was all ready to start forwarding my gmail to my live.com address until I discovered this flaw.  Until it is corrected, I guess I'll continue to use gmail.

Still does't work for me, even with the "\" and even with Touchdown ! I guess I'll have to wait until Android 2.2 is fully supported...

Great job...can finally use my Hotmail acc for everything!

One thing I've noticed on iOS 3.1.3, with Push set to fetch new data, it doesn't always work...I need to go into my mail and get any new mails myself. Small problem as other than that...works a charm.

HTC Desire with Sense interface and Android 2.2: NOT working...such a shame!

I also hope this hotmail wave 4 MS is rolling right now is not the final update this year of the mail functionality, because gmail is adding funcionality like crazy and its getting harder and harder to find arguments to stay with hotmail.

I DONT want to switch, but please keep the updates coming!

Wishes:

- improve the calendar functionality and make it easier to share items (invites) with other calendars

- allow for shared calendars between yahoo mail, gmail and hotmail

- make sure we can use email rules, both on windows live mail client as in the web

- why keep using folders and not tagging of emails like gmail does? This would allow us to view and access emails from different angles rather than only via the single static folder name. When migrating you could just use the current folder name as the first tag name.

- please implement full text search with advanced parameters, syntax hightlighting and facet navigation in both windows live mail client as in the web

- hopefully activesync will sync all folders, so not just the standard folders but also the custom folders

Please improve the windows live homepage a la netvibes/iGoogle, the current version of MS is way too limited

In general I think MS is getting on the right track, but the release cycles of features should be much much shorter! Im talking days/weeks and NOT months like it is now! It is very hard to digest that supprot for Android 2.2 will be added over the coming months.

Oh and one more thing, I understand that WP7 will have all features earlier and I'd love to have this phone, but then you should also make it available! From pure unavailability of MS stuff I bought the Desire. I'm from the Netherlands and it seems that I can never get the MS stuff fast. Google is much more localized in this. This is also a reason why Bing is having difficulties: everywhere it goes out of beta, Google has already captured the local market.

What would be nice too in the Calendar would be to have a sms alert for events and not just email.

I'd like to synchronize the secondary calendars... why only the primary calendar????

@steph Calendar can send sms alerts. Visit the Options page on calendar.live.com and select "Change how you get reminders"

@sp1der Multiple calendar support depends on the device. If the phone can display them (for example the iPhone does) they are there.

@sp1der re "If I create task from my mobile device..." Are you creating the task as a "To do" in calendar.live.com and it isn't syncing down to your phone?

@KTR: Yes! If I create the task as a "To do" in calendar.live.com, it isn't syncing down to my phone! :-(

I'm really pleased to see this functionality added to HotMail. What I'm curious about, though, is the fact that WM6.5 devices can sync all four types of information - mail, calendar, contacts and tasks - but Windows Phone 7 won't sync tasks? Is that a limitation of WP7 ... if so, one might hope it can be "resolved" fairly quickly through ongoing development of WP7?

But If I create the task in my phone it is syncing in calendar.live.com!

I am having problem with the battery life in iphone 3G after setting up the sync account. the battery percentage number goes down like a stop watch. think it's just me. :(

@koo9 : You need to change your Sync settings on your iPhone: Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data > Push (set this to 'Off') now set Fetch to 'Manually' then under Advanced (for whatever you called your named your Hotmail settings) set Select  Schedule to 'Manual'.

This will disable the iOS mail client from auto-polling the m.hotmail.com server. If you don’t want to manually check/poll the server for new messages, you could set it to poll at a predefined schedule.

--Yogesh

This is fabulous. I switched from gmail to hotmail so I could use this plus all the other great new WIndows Live stuff.

However, I am having a super annoying issue. I can't for the life of me get my Contacts to sync. I have 473 contacts in my Contacts list on Hotmail.com. However, in my iPhone contacts, only 25 get synced. (ANd even weirder, there are only 150 in my Outlook 2010 at home, and I'm using the hotmail connector add-in).

Ideas? How can I fix this?

@GarethDPhillips Does the iPhone not have the ability to find contacts by typing in their name? It's possible that contact management is much more handelable on Windows Phones where it's really easy to find a contact. For example, I want to call my friend Scott. I open up the phone type 7 2, and his name is at the top of the list of contacts whose phone numbers start with 72 (of which there are none) and contacts whose names begin with Sc, Pa, or Ra. With this solution all of my possible contacts can be synced to my phone and there is hardly any noise in finding the contact that I want to call.

I am on IOS 4.0.2 and sometimes I can sync and get my email sometimes, but more often than not I get the "user name or password is incorrect" message.  Clearly, it works sometimes, but not others, so the issue isn't the username/password.  I've removed and added the account, tried wi-fi and 3G, same challenge.  Any suggestions?  It seems like a login timeout interval is short or something along those lines.

@sp1der, tasks are only synced from your default calendar. You can check which calendar is your default in calendar options under "Primary" calendar. You can see which calendar the task is on by clicking it and see which calendar is selected. Let me know if this fixes your issue.

@aubiker

This would not work on my EVO with the htc app, kept getting failed to create account, but I extracted the stock froyo email app from the cm6 rom and installed it and now it is working for me with my custom windows live office domain. I think it is because the htc app does not have the option to accept certificate, maybe it does it automatically or maybe it does not support it, idk.

I'm sure microsoft is hacking wp7 to make it work, but atm this only works well on the iphone.  Android users would have to be retarded to get their gmail forwarded to hotmail for this.  I got a twitter email last night that was literally unreadable because of the nonexistent html email support for anything but iphones.  Good marketing for apple, imo. iOS will work with microsoft products that other microsoft products fail to work with.

Windows live still useless on android compared to google services, which are superior to microsoft's even on winmo.  Google sync supports html mail on winmo 6.5 and android.  I just tried.  Can't compete if you aren't willing to do what's necessary.  Until them hotmail will remain the choice email host for scammers and spammers, while google laughs on the way to the bank.

And by that, I mean making a book mark to the mobile Hotmail site and checking that is more useful than this "ActiveSync", and will actually save on battery power.

That, or Setting you GMail account to download your Hotmail Email via POP3.

I think Microsoft has a better Calendar and Contacts app than Google, but their shoddy end-to-end experience between device platforms (desktop-web-mobile) is embarrassingly bad.

EDIT:  Facebook emails are also warped when they come in through this ActiveSync.  Gonna just remove this.  It's unusable, at the moment.  Will check back in a few months to a year and see if they upgrade it to something that works.  Not buying a new phone for this, when I have a phone that's been on the market less than 3 months total already.

UPDATE:  Roomate's work uses Exchange 2003 for Corporate Mail and his HTML mail displays fine on his Android phone.  What's the difference?

Great work from the Windows Live team... A feature I've been waiting for for about 2 years!

Unfortunately I'm experiencing some minor issues with the sync of contacts (using an iPhone running iOS4 [as a sidenote: I used to have a Windows Mobile 6.5 based phone but couldn't longer stand the thing]):

1. As already pointed out by some people on this forum, indeed when updating phone numbers from the online Hotmail interface, the leading "+" on the phone disappears rendering the phone number useless. Workaround as already pointed out: update phone numbers solely on hte phone and one's safe

2. A more annoying issue has to do with the dates of birthdays and anniversaries that reaquires caution if you, as I do, keep track of birthdays and anniversaries using your Hotmail account:

- Birthdays and anniversaries don't sync with my iPhone; the fields are blank

- Worse, when I update a contact on my iPhone and sync, since the birthday and anniversary field are empty, the birthday and anniversary of my contact in Hotmail gets erased as well!

- When I re-add the birthday on my iPhone, the birthday gets synced with my Hotmail contact BUT the date will be off by 1 day (e.g., when I select August 24 on my iPhone, Hotmail will display the birthday as being on August 23)

- When I correct the date in Hotmail and sync back, the birthday field on my iPhone gets blanked out again!

Especially the second issue is very annoying and a real shame since all the rest is working so perfectly!

If anyone is experiencing the same issue or has a workaround, please share...

Thanks!

HTML support: we shipped version 2.5 of the protocol – the version supported by every device with ActiveSync on the market today. Unfortunately, how HTML messages are downloaded/rendered varies among the different mobile devices since each client is implementing the protocol independently. iPhone/iPad does it differently from WM 6.x/Nokia. Most clients support HTML mail for version v12.x or higher of the protocol.

@schultzter: Hotmail ActiveSync will work for any account hosted by Hotmail including custom domain accounts. Dell Axim has not been tested.

@chris2020080: Ordering of first/last name is known. Will look into the other contacts issues you reported.

@bobwl: Hotmail ActiveSync is stable on iPhone on iOS 4.0 & higher. There is an intermittent issue with push for some accounts that will be resolved in a few days.

@simonr: ActiveSync allows syncing multiple folders.

@immy79: Contacts syncing discrepancy is not expected. Please try cleaning your contacts list via browser & refreshing on client.

Gandhi, PM- Hotmail Protocols

I too am super excited about this functionality. As a very early Outlook Connector user (as well as present user),  it's been a long road with keeping my msn account synch'd within Outlook and I can appreciate what this will do for my msn account on my new iPhone.  

My issue (like a former poster today) is that I can only get 25 contacts to sync. I have deleted my previous msn.com profile from my iPhone 4 and now only see a random 25 contacts getting synched (from A-Z). I have 1000+ contacts

I have deleted, re-added the account, changed the fetch settings,  etc. but no go.  My Default Acct is this new account which is a msn.com and not a hotmail.com acct. Don't know if that has anything to do with it..

I have to think it can't be a coincidence that we both only get exactly 25 contacts to sync....

If anyone has thoughts or things to try, let me know

Thanks

There seems to be a problem with the Keep-alive settings. My client (Nokia 5230) with Mail for Exchange keeps losing the connection and has to reconnect. It looks like the operator's (WIND Canada) NAT router assumes the connection is idle and closes it but the keep-alive functionality of ActiveSync is supposed to prevent this. What is the lowest keep-alive interval that Hotmail will go down to and how is this configured?

@Ghandi: Is there a reason why you shipped the version of Exhange/Activesync (2.5) that you did? It seems you were aware that v12 or higher would be compatible with more platforms, so why go with the lower version and leave so many without an important feature like HTML email?

I have a couple of folders that return an error messagve instead of syncing....is there a limit on the folder size or number of emails preventing this folder from being accessed on my Iphone?  The error message when I select folder and wait about 30 seconds:  "Cannot Get Mail - Server Error.  Contact your server administrator.  I have 650 emails in this folder.  I can access the folder both on the web and the WIndows Live Mail 2011 program.

Gmail, yahoo mail and hotmail all services to the iphone or ipad ,which only shows that iphone and ipad are very popular , congratulate Apple . and this is a nice article about iphone.

best free iPhone 4 Apps: best-video-dvd-converter.blogspot.com/.../best-free-iphone-4-apps.html

efjay:  Microsoft is apparently ignorant of how ridiculous it is to not support HTML email in 2010.  They use a protocol from 2003 when a working alternative is available, and continue to regurgitate the same tired lines we read upthread as if it is some answer to the question.

If it would have taken longer to introduce ActiveSync had they gone with a useful version of it, all they had to do was keep their mouths shut and announce it when it was nearly complete, instead of months ago to gem up hype ---  all before making us laugh hysterically when we checked the Hotmail inboxes on our mobile phones and realized we could not read over half of our email, and would have to use a Computer or website to do it anyways...

I have been waiting for this future for years! Thanks for your work.

But! I have problems with syncing contacts on Nokia E51 via Mail fo Exchange 2.09 and 3.00

Please, check out this issue!

Thanks guys for Push support. Does it work on custom domains? I use account with my own domain through Live Admin Center for some time and I have Nokia E71 with RoadSync installed. Still get "failed authentifiation" error.  Even tried native client from nokia, no luck.

@steph and others

The problem is with HTC's Sense Mail Client. I am using a Desire with Froyo (2.2) and I normally use the web, so you defintely don't need Windows Live Mail at any point.

I found the Touchdown version on Android Market didn't work, but the beta version linked above does. I have also found that the default Android Email client (that HTC remove, but is available on the web) works too.

Both Touchdown & the Android Client do syncing of email, contacts and calendar, and integrate into your phone's contact list.

@KTR: yes I create my task into primary calendar...

Yes the android issues are prevalent in htc devices.  Galaxy s phones sync just fine...

I realize older versions of WinMo aren't on the supported devices list, but I tried this on my old WinMo 2003 Dell Axim anyway, which failed because it apparently _requires_ an entry in the Domain field- I get a "missing credentials" error without it.  If I put anything in the domain (e.g. "hotmail") it connects, looks for changes, then returns an authentication  error.  

Is there a legitimate entry older device users can put in the domain field?  (For example, Google Mobile Sync, which also uses EAS, allows you to use "google" as a optional valid domain for devices that require one, but leave it blank for devices that don't.)

I understand if you don't wish to support older versions of WinMo- the line has to be drawn somewhere, but there seems to be a bit of a disconnect here- you're using a lowest-common denominator version of EAS (2.5) to support the most devices, which breaks HTML mail for many devices, yet it still doesn't work on older EAS 2.5 compatible devices!

This isn't meant to sound as snarky as it does, but could you perhaps just use/do whatever Google is using/doing?  ;)  That seems to work for any EAS-compatible device (including all WinMo 2003+) AND it offers HTML email on most devices.  How are they pulling this off, and the guys who "own" EAS aren't?

Thanks again, though- this is nice first step, and at least offers a free alternative to desktop sync for many users.

@Yogesh Sharma, wouldn't defect the whole purpose of activesync? actually  I removed it and re-configured it now it's working fine. good stuff :)

I have a couple of folders that return an error messagve instead of syncing....is there a limit on the folder size or number of emails preventing this folder from being accessed on my Iphone?  The error message when I select folder and wait about 30 seconds:  "Cannot Get Mail - Server Error.  Contact your server administrator.  I have 650 emails in this folder.  I can access the folder both on the web and the WIndows Live Mail 2011 program.

Since Android users seem to be left out in the cold on this.  When can we expect to be able to access it.  I have an HTC Droid Incredible running OS 2.2  It appears that the issues talked about are with HTC's mail client.  Now, is it something Hotmail can work around or is this something specifically HTC will have to fix?  I waited a long time for MS to enable this feature and I still can't use it.

I've been a long time hotmail user and have been eagerly awaiting EAS to sync the hotmail calendar over the air for the last few years. I've been battling with various Windows Mobile devices for the last 3-4 years going through WM 6.0, WM 6.1 and currently the WM6.5 OSs.

I've been using the Windows Live for Mobile applicaton to sync hotmail emails and contacts. Just like EAS, it provides the ability to choose which folders within Hotmail to sync (either the standard or user created) along with all contacts. The application though unlike EAS syncs the 50 most recent emails within in the choosen folders and will download them to the phone in HTLM format. I was disappointed to find that EAS does not provide a way to match this functionality. I can choose for EAS to sync emails for the past month but the problem is some of the emails I need to refer to may over a month old. The other option is to set EAS to download all emails but EAS errors out presumably because some of the folders have over 100 emails in them.

To sync my hotmail calendar entries, I had to use the Outlook Connector and to get them in MS Outlook and then use ActiveSync on my laptop to get them over to the phone. This was a bit clunky as my emails and contacts are being synced over the air.

Ok I can now sync the hotmail calendar entries and tasks directly to the phone over the air with EAS but it will only sync the default calendar.

I thought I'd be able to switch to the iPhone once EAS was launched but because of the email sync limitaitons I'm still using the Windows Live for mobile app and therefore stuck with the Windows Mobile OS.

Any suggestions welcome.

When i will synchronize my mobile Phone (Windows Mobile 6) and Hotmail with Exchange ActiveSync i get an Error 0x80000FFFF. What´s the problem?

@Slylabs thanks for the input. The ability to sync more than your default calendar is something that each device controls. In this case, Windows Mobile phones only suppor the ability to sync default calendars. This is something we'll look to improve in the future on the "phone side of the house."

Ok, so this is annoying. In a calendar event, if you use a charm for the event. There is no way to remove the charm/delete it. Your stuck.

@PigsIncorporated On the charms issue, you should be able to remove it by going to the event details and selecting NONE in the drop down menu that says "charms." Is that not working for you?

How do I stop Hotmail from emailing me about events coming up.  My phone already gives me notifications and I can see what's due for the day in my Daily Briefing app.  Getting constant emails about events is getting a bit ridiculous, Lol.  I want to turn it off, hopefully without affecting my reminder settings (which my phone uses to send me notifications, it seems...).

Hey there, I have a big problem: Googlemail's ActiveSync Service works on my LG New Chocolate BL40, but Hotmail still won't work. :/ Why doesn't Hotmail support other mobile devices? :(

What work is being done to get Android working with this?  Specifically, I have the HTC Incredible with Android 2.2.  Is the problem an HTC problem or a Hotmail problem or both?

@nater You can go to the Calendar Options page and click on "Change how I get my reminders" about half way down the page, then un-check the email option.

@David Dennis: There is no option in the dropdown for "none". Just more charms.

One more thing in Hotmail that would be useful. If within the junk folder, we had the option to click to add the sender or senders domain to the blocked list automatically. This would be really nice.

Awesome!  Now I just need this to work on Android.  I wish there was a Windows Phone out there that I like, but everyone is jumping ship to Android because it's the only really contender to iPhone OS when it comes to applications and development.

Note: I hate Google.  I hate Gmail; I hate Google Search; I hate Google Docs; and I'm stuck with Android being backed by Google.  I'm glad to see I can stop using Google Calendars, and hopefully that's as soon as possible on my 2.1 Android OS.

I use Bing, Zune, formerly an Xbox 360, and perviously owned a Windows Phone from HTC.  I still have an HTC Phone but they are all Android these days. I see Microsoft employees working harder and harder to make sure I don't have to be addicted to Google crap like everyone else... and I personally appreciate that.

I have a couple of folders that return an error messagve instead of syncing....is there a limit on the folder size or number of emails preventing this folder from being accessed on my Iphone?  The error message when I select folder and wait about 30 seconds:  "Cannot Get Mail - Server Error.  Contact your server administrator.  I have 650 emails in this folder.  I can access the folder both on the web and the WIndows Live Mail 2011 program

Hey there, I have a big problem: Googlemail's ActiveSync Service works on my LG New Chocolate BL40, but Hotmail still won't work. :/ Why doesn't Hotmail support other mobile devices? :(

Wowww  Thanks so much

I've asked a few times what the deal is with Hotmail ActiveSync and Android 2.2 w/ HTC Sense.  No one is answering.   It keeps saying "failed to create account, please try again later"  Why is that?  Also, what is the deal with HTML email only showing HTML on the iPhone/iPod Touch?  What is up with that and when will it be fixed?

@dfaso: I have the same problem! I've got a stock WM6.1 on an HTC TyTN II from my carrier. I can perfectly sync emails, but when I try to add Calendar, Contacts or Tasks, I get that annoying 0x8000FFFF error!

Do me a favor: try to sync email messages only and let me know if you get it work (I believe you will!).

BTW: when setting up your account, have you seen any message asking you to accept an SSL certificate?!?

I've had that problem for 2 weeks before HoTMaiL ActiveSync was live; now one week has passed since launch and still MS has no clue about why a perfect stock device with WM6.1 cannot sync with their server...  :-/

@fdlsistemi: 0x8000FFFF - error -> The Problem only appears when calendar is added. e-mail, tasks alone (without calendar) are synchronizing successfully. I doesn't see a question for a SSL certificate. Also the Switch for "Disable automatic detection of Exchange server settings." (see windowslivehelp.com/solution.aspx ) is not available. I have the german version of Windows Mobile 6 Professional (CE OS 5.2.1620 (Build 18125.0.4.2)) (HTC Touch).

@dfaso: We have the exact same Windows Mobile version AND build number, plus we both have an HTC device... the only minor difference is that my OS language is Italian and yours is German.

I might say, then, that there's something wrong with HTC devices support in HoTMaiL ActiveSync.

Windows HoTMaiL Team please heeeeelp!!!

currently i'd just like to be able to read my emails in hotmail from a browser...seems impossible (for me and plenty of other people) and absolutely no help in the forums!

I have a couple of folders that return an error messagve instead of syncing....is there a limit on the folder size or number of emails preventing this folder from being accessed on my Iphone?  The error message when I select folder and wait about 30 seconds:  "Cannot Get Mail - Server Error.  Contact your server administrator.  I have 650 emails in this folder.  I can access the folder both on the web and the WIndows Live Mail 2011 program

Hi

As I have already posted here, I am getting really unreliable push which is becoming a frustration - can anybody from the team please tell me if this s being worked on? This doesnt happen with my gmail account, but Hotmail is pretty hit-and miss. THe past week or so has been quite good, but the past couple of days its reverted back to no new notifications - I have to refresh the inbox to recieve emails.

Slightly unrelated - If I add a birthday to a live contact who hast added their own, it apears in my birthdays calendar as expected - I like this, and it works well. Trouble is if that contact is a live contact who hasnt chosen to populate their birthday, it gets overwritten (ie deleted) after a few days. Is there a way around this?

@GarethDPhillips  I can confirm this is happening to me as well iOS 4.0 and now 4.1.  I have also posted a few times that I am having an issue accessing a couple of folders that seem to time out and have redcevied no response from MS or anyone else reading these posts to address the issue.

hi, first of all: active sync is great, i love it.

Untill yesterday everything works great. From the afternoon I'm not able to sync.

Every time I Try there is the following error: 0x86000108

If I turn off Tasks and Calendar then it works fine again.

I hope this issue will be solved soon

Sorry for my poor english  =)

I think i have a solution:

your online calendar interface seems kinda buggy :(

Because of my sync problems:

I tried to make a new calendar and change all my appointments to the new one.

Erased all appointments from my device, and set the new calendar in hotmail to the default one

Sync worked again.

It worked until i changed one apointment, saved it, and tried to drag and drop to another day.

From that time I was not able to change the appointments details, there was always an error: I should check my internet connection.

When I have this error the sync on my Phone gets the same error code as before.

Can you do some workaround that the sync ignores "destroyed" appointments ?

@Gandhi: The biggest problem which you fail to mention is the + prefix being dropped on contacts mobile numbers when synced to the phone if the contact is edited via the Hotmail interface.  Additional problems are the screw up on birthdays being shifted by 1 day.  I have to say for an MS protocol in an MS product it's loaded with problems.  Not impressed one bit.

@Norbert_L can you email me your hotmail address so I can look for any issues with your account? kyler at microsoft com

Great work!

And who had the "fantastic" idea to set ONE MONTH as the maximum amount to synchronize?

So Windows Live users are not allowed to sync their older emails?

Have the same Error 0x80000FFFF (HTC P3470, Windows Mobile 6.0 Prof German)

@winZard: Can you please tell me the exact version and build number of your WinMo 6.x phone? I'm trying to group all the guys having the same issue with ActiveSync with their HTC phones and notify Microsoft with details... thx!

@winZard: Please, provide other two info.

1. During account setup, in "Enter Email Address" screen, do you see any pre-selected checkbox to "Attempt to detect Exchange Server Settings automatically"?

2. Do you get any SSL certificate to accept?

Thanks!  =))

I'm looking for anyone having error 0x8000FFFF with Hotmail ActiveSync. I've already found a number of users with the same issue and I'm trying to collect as much info as I can to give full details to Microsoft Hotmail Team.

If you're having the same issue, post here a note with the following details:

1. Windows Mobile phone brand, model, full OS version & build number and system language.

2. Which items can you synchronize (if any): Mail, Calendar, Contacts and Tasks.

3. During account setup, in "Enter Email Address" screen, do you see any pre-selected checkbox to "Attempt to detect Exchange Server Settings automatically"? (see http://bit.ly/bJ57SX - picture #3 for details).

4. Do you get any SSL certificate to accept?

5. Which is your LiveID?

Hoping that might help us with Microsft, I thank you very much.

Fabrizio

@fdlsistemi    Thanks for the help

1. HTC P3470 (Pharos); ROM Version 1.11.407.1; Windows Mobile 6 Professional CE OS 5.2.1944 (Build 18547.0.7.3) German

2. Mail, Contacts and Tasks

3. No

4. Yes..... I am not sure

5......@hotmail.com

@fdlsistemi

The link does not work (http://bit.ly/bJ57SX )

Hi guys.

Almost all day today I have problems with Activesync on my NOKIA N900. Notification I have is: "Error in Exchange server". Last couple of days, ca. three hours a day I have the same problem. And, all my calendar entries are dissapeared this afternnon from my phone because of this error.

Is there any way to find out on some Live.com (Hotmail) blog or technical support website are there some improvements or work in progress and how long it will take?

It is great to see the level of user adoption on Hotmail ActiveSync. The team has been working hard since the release to ensure you have a great experience - we appreciate all the feedback and comments that we are actively reviewing. Some responses below to earlier comments.

Contacts:

========

Syncing birthdays from server to device: It is working now after a recent server side update.  We are still looking into a reported issue of birthdays getting overwritten after a few days.

“+” in phone number gets cut off: this is an issue when storing the phone number from the web & will be fixed in an upcoming release. If you correct the contact on the device and not make changes through the web, you will not run into this issue.

Birthday shifted by a day: The discrepancy in birthdate is due to different clients transforming the date based on time zone in addition to the operation of syncing from/to the server.  This is outside of the control of the server or the protocol.

Mail:

====

Mail notifications reliability: Some users were reporting that push email wasn’t 100% reliable. A recent server release this week has addressed this. We are continuing to monitor its reliability.

Japanese text encoding is broken for some encodings on the iPhone: We have identified a server side mitigation that will be released by end of Sept.

Syncing multiple folders: It is supported by Hotmail. You will have to explicitly select the folders to sync based on the device you are using.

No. of messages synced per folder: The number of messages synced per folder is determined by the number of  days of mail to sync to device and is user configurable on most devices. If you have issues even after changing your device settings, please contact customer support at http://support.live.com so that your account can be investigated.

Number of days of mail to sync: There is no server side limit on maximum number of days of mail to download. It is controlled by the device.

Adding sender or sender domain to blocked list from within junk folder: User options for a safer experience are enabled in the browser. 3rd party client experiences only surface a stock set of features and this isn’t available on many devices.

Device support:

============

Android support: We are continuing to test 2.2 clients against Hotmail, but prioritizing the stock 2.2 client over the vendor modified clients.  The standard 2.2 client works well against Hotmail ActiveSync. HTC’s modified client on 2.2 has issues and we are working with them on finding a proper fix. Users have reported success in connecting to Hotmail after installing the stock client for 2.2 on their HTC device.

LG Chocolate BL 40 Hotmail connectivity: There are a vast number of ActiveSync clients on multiple platforms and Hotmail has not tested all of these for Hotmail connectivity. Hotmail has released fully protocol compliant v2.5.

0x80000FFFF error on WM 6.0 devices:  Hotmail connectivity has been fully tested on >= WM 6.1 devices. Issues on WM 6.0 are being looked into for specific user accounts.

Gandhi, PM-Hotmail Protocols

@sp1der can you contact me at kyler at microsoft com so I can ask some questions about your task syncing issue. Thanks.

@winZard: you have to realize that we, as non-native-english-speaking Europeans, are the underprivileged ones when it comes to *certain* web sites...  =))  In this particulare case I was pointing you to the Windows Live Solution Center.

I know it will always return you an error, UNLESS...

... unless you modify the language support settings in you web browser.   o_O

You have to set "English / United States [en-us]" as the topmost language in your browser supported languages list, otherwise...

... "Ooopppsss, there was a problem!".   =((

Once you've done this, youì'll see that the Windows Live Solution Center web site works perfectly!

PS (to the US guys): please stop thinking that "World Wide" equals to "United States"; this is damn unfair!

PS (to the "Localization Team"): good job, guys, good job!   =))

@Gandhi  Thanks for the continues updates. Push reliabiliy is greatly improved, but 100% reliable.

I still cannot add a birthday in contacts (in hotmail) if this person is a Live ID / contact. If they have chosen not to update this themself, then it still vanishes after a few days!  - Possibly not active sync related, maybe this has always been the case?

Search the server functionaity - is this something the hotmail implementation will ever offer? I find the Bing powered email search quick and powerful - certainly as good as the gmail search feature - but having the ability to send a search from device is server is very useful to look for older emails not inlcuded in a sync.

G.

And facebook contacts filter!  When / if this becomes available hopefull somebody could post this here, as only then will I be able to link to my facebook account !

@Gandhi, PM-Hotmail Protocols: Tnx for your answer with the 0x8000FFFF error. You say: " Issues on WM 6.0 are being looked into for specific user accounts." Why / when will you (?) contact me to look into my account? Should i contact you? How?

@Gandhi: Can you reproduce the 0x8000FFFF-Error-Problem with an Windows Mobile 6 device?

I have found another issue. I am using the iPhone but not sure if it applies to other devices as well. When syncing contacts, if I have a contact in my Windows Live that has a hotmail or live email account that they use for messenger but also has a work or other email address, then when that contact is synced to the phone only the work or other email address is synced and their hotmail or live email address doesn't show up.

Mail reliability still isnt 100%, possibly 90%. I use Hotmail with a custom domain as my primary account now, and Im still seeing a lot of emails that never get pushed, iphone 4. Didnt happen with google sync, definitley a hotmail issue.

Still love it though, but I hope this get sorted as its a frustration

Hi guys,

I'm new here, and wondering if somebody could help me.  I just used activesync for the iphone and I have all my contacts, calender events and emails, however, when I add a new contact in my iphone it seems there are lengthy delays (sometimes 24hours) for it to appear in hotmail.  If I add a new contact via hotmail it's syncs instantly and shows on the iphone.  If I amend a contact already synced then the change is instant either from the iphone or hotmail.

Many thanks

Had to break the Facebook connection to Windows Live.  Too many extra/duplicated Contacts were coming down.  There need to be a filter to stop ActiveSync from sending all those Facebook contacts.  If you also have other services connected to Windows Live, that can become quite a ridiculous situation...

Any word on push reliability? Its all over the place today, Ive recived 30 + emails, only a few of those arrvied on my iPhone without having to update. Last few days has been OK. whats going on !

@GarethDPhillips, etc. --- regarding ActiveSync and Facebook contacts -- don't worry, we do *not* sync your Facebook or other 3rd party contacts down to your phone as part of ActiveSync.  Exactly for the reasons you're talking about.  So go ahead and re-add Facebook and get all the benefits throughout Messenger including the iPhone app, it will not mess with your contact list on your phone.

@Jeff Kunins  thanks for the reply, I was sure it did when I tested it. Thing is I dont want them all in Hotmail contacts either, nor in Outlook via the connector. Is there no way I can opt to not import any?

RE: ActiveSycn perfromance, I dont knows if its latency or other similar issue, but im getting really unreliable push - really disapointing. Are there known issues? Im in UK, on iOS 4.1

I'm having the same issue with my contacts as @immy79.  Only about 25 of them sync.  I even tried blowing away all of the email accounts on my iPhone (iOS 4.01), rebooting the phone, and only adding hotmail.  Still only 25 contacts, no rhyme or reason to which 25 either.  Even tried other tricks like updating a few contacts online and on the phone to maybe kick of a sync, didn't do any good.

I agree with 100%, Gareth.  I don't want the Facebook contact merged with  my Hotmail contacts.  I don't want them synced with my phone and I don't want them connected with Outlook.  They are my Facebook contact, many of whom I have never met.  Having them in my Hotmail contacts list needlessly clutters my contact list.  I would like options, such as syncing only the Facebook contacts who are in my contact list or not merging the Facebook contacts at all.

@GarethDPhillips - I’m using EAS on an iOS 4.01 device [iPod Touch] with no issues (although I am obviously connecting via Wi-Fi). Wondering if the issue may be with your airtime provider...

@Yogesh Sharma Thanks for your reply. It cant be related to celular data, as my Gmail account (using excahange active sync) is flawless, and also the iphone only pushes via the cellular data network, it doesnt push using the Wifi network

OPEN LETTER TO MICROSOFT HOTMAIL TEAM

I now feel completely abandoned!!! I (and other two guys here) reported long time ago an issue related to a constant error (0x8000FFFF) while trying to sync anything but email with Hotmail ActiveSync. My first reports about the issue are dated even before the official release and after the G.A. the situation hasn't changed at all.

The problem happens with stock (=perfectly standard) Windows Mobile 6.0 phones from HTC (even with a 4th device hard reset for testing the problem), so it's very hard to say it is something related to our phones.

I've been contacted by a support guy only once on Sep. 10th, but after that nothing happened: neither a word, nor a follow up mail on the issue. It looks like as the problem has never existed...

It is very sad to realize that, as a Microsoft Partner, I cannot use my work email address on a end-to-end Microsoft platform 'cause it doesn't work as it is certified (by Microsoft itself) to do.

I've to rely on my pockets to buy another device, or -as an alternative- I have to crack my device (loosing the warranty) and install an unofficial release of Windows Mobile 6.1 or 6.5 coming from the XDA Developers Forum...

What version of Exchange/EAS is being used for Hotmail?  Is it 2003, 2007 or 2010?

@Steve B : The version of EAS Hotmail is using is 2.5 (if you want to compare the features between the difference versions of EAS, take a look at http://wp.me/pXw5N-P).

I think that explains why HTML email will work on some clients but not others.  I was told the version you said Hotmail was using doesn't support HTML.  This is really frustrating.  I'm using Android OS 2.2 on Moto Droid X.  I seem to be stuck between shoddy mail clients.  The stock app will load everything; HTML, Images, etc if I tap "get html version", then tap "display images" then usually "get more".  That just sucks.  Touchdown will not work right....it will load all the email/graphics but, not my contacts.  RoadSync will load everything but, no html email.  

Are there any plans to upgrade to a more recent version of EAS?

why aren't blackberrys included??

someone have info on this?