Rename/Merge a Hotmail and a Outlook Account

Hello, 

With the new updates of outlook, I am noticing a problem with my email accounts. a long time ago, I renamed my hotmail account to Outlook. It had an error I had access to all my new email, my contacts, and skydrive storage (kept my legacied 25 Gb of storage). Now with this update I have read in the news it is causing me problems with syncing my email on my windows 8 computer. Every time I open the mail, or people, or skydrive, it thinks I am using my old hotmail account instead of my outlook. Recently I was able to re-attach my hotmail as an alias. However, now when I sign into my outlook, and go to "account settings" it shows my hotmail as my main account, even though I have only been able to access and read email from it in the last week or so. Since I was able to re-attach it. It is causing massive problems, I can not sign in with hotmail, nor do I want it to be my main email, I want the outlook to be my main email. And the the hotmail to be a alias. This needs to be fixed, I have repeatedly switched my computer from a microsoft account log in to a local user account, to no avail. Please help.

I read somewhere else on the forum, that if i rename the outlook address to another email address, it will make it in to a alias. Then if i delete the alias, and close the newly created primary account, that after 30 days my original email address I wanted will be available, as it became a alias. I have already done this, it is close to the 30 day mark. Are there other cases where this worked as a faster way. I know the alias will free iteself soon, I have had others that did so after 30 days or so.

What do you think?

Hi,

Please verify if you want to rename your Hotmail account to your existing Outlook.com account. If yes, you can use your****@outlook.com as a primary account of your @hotmail.com account. However, you would need to delete your @outlook.com and you will wait for 360 days for the account name may be permanently deleted. Then you can proceed to rename your @hotmail.com account to your previous @outlook.com account name.

Note, after 360 days the deleted @outlook.com will become available in the system for pick up but you may not necessarily get it back in case someone else takes it before you! In short, you bear the risk of losing the account name.

You may refer to these steps for better understanding:

1. Delete your @outlook.com account and wait for 360 days for the account name may be permanently deleted.

2. If the @outlook.com is still available in the system to pick up after 360 days, rename the @hotmail.com immediately. (If the @outlook.com is not available after the deletion process, you need to rename your @hotmail.com to a different @outlook.com account name).

Renaming your account causes your sign in name to change from your existing @hotmail.com address to your new @outlook.com address. Your existing address becomes an alias of your new account so that mail delivery is uninterrupted.  After renaming your account you will sign in with your new account to all services you previously accessed with your old account.

If you have any clarifications, please let us know.

Cheers!

Yea, that doesnt help, its already linked. As with others previous users, who grabbed a new outlook email address, before we received the email to our hotmail addresses, saying we can rename our hotmail to an outlook. So from what I have read, If I rename my current outlook email to another name, my current outlook email will become an alias. Then if I delete the alias, and maybe the other account, it should free my email address I want. I assume that when I do so, since hotmail asks to rename to a outlook address automatically. it will be protected from others taking it. Do all hotmail address have the option to up-name to outlook? Therfore, it is kinda reserved if we can do so? From other prevous posters, it was written that microsoft is looking into the problem?

Hi DustinWilliard,

Currently, Microsoft account does not support merging accounts.

Customers can link accounts with the following steps: 

1.0    Auto-forward all old account mail to new account. This way at least customers will have all of their mail in one place, and can reply to it using their new address.

2.0    To forward mail, log in to the account from which you want your mail forwarded, and click the gear menu at the upper right. Choose More mail settings from the dropdown, then Email forwarding from the Managing your account list.

3.0 Link your old account to your new account. Log in to one of your accounts, then click your user name in the upper right. Choose Account settings. On the left side of the screen, click Permissions, then click Manage linked accounts. In the new screen, choose Add linked

4.0 To switch between two linked accounts, click the user tile at the upper-right of your Outlook window.

For more information about Outlook.com, please check this FAQ.

Thanks!