Switch to Mailotte

Switching from Outlook

Your mail can start arriving in Mailotte today. Bulk-importing your Outlook history cannot — and we would rather say so here than let you find out in the settings screen.

Before you start

Bulk import from Outlook.com is not available yet

In April 2026 Microsoft finished switching Outlook.com to modern authentication only. App passwords no longer work for IMAP on personal Outlook accounts, so the only route is a Microsoft sign-in — and that connection is not enabled on Mailotte yet. Anyone telling you to "use an app password with Outlook" is working from pre-2026 instructions.

Everything below works today and gets you onto Mailotte. Your Outlook archive stays where it is, readable, until the import lands.

The order that works

Switching email is not hard. It is unforgiving about order — do these in the wrong sequence and you lose mail you never find out about.

Create the Mailotte account. Free plan or the 14-day trial; you do not need to decide yet.
Turn on forwarding in Outlook. In Outlook.com, open Settings → Mail → Forwarding, enable it, and point it at your Mailotte address. Keep the "also keep a copy" option on while you settle in — belt and braces costs nothing.
Send from Mailotte for a month. The people who mail you are a directory that needs updating, and replying from the new address updates it for free.
Change your address where it matters, slowly. Recovery routes and anything financial first, then the rest as they surface in forwarded mail.
Keep the Outlook account. It holds your archive, still searchable, and catches the long tail. There is no deadline on this and no reason to invent one.

Outlook-specific things worth knowing

Forwarding is the whole move for now: Outlook.com forwards to an external address natively, so new mail lands in Mailotte from the moment you set it. That is the part that matters day to day — your old archive is still searchable in Outlook meanwhile.
Keep the Outlook account open: Not just for the archive: it is the fallback for anything you forget to re-point.
Your old mail is not stranded: Outlook.com can export, and any desktop client you already have keeps working. Nothing here is a one-way door.

What does not come across

Contacts and calendars. The import moves mail over IMAP, and IMAP carries mail only — so your address book and calendar stay where they are. Export them from Outlook before you stop using it. Filters and rules do not transfer either, and that is usually a gift: most people are maintaining filters for a life they no longer live.

Your old mail app keeps working

Mailotte speaks native IMAP, SMTP and POP3 with an app password — no bridge, no desktop helper. Apple Mail, Thunderbird and your phone's mail app connect directly, so switching provider does not have to mean switching software on the same day.

Questions

Why can't I import my Outlook mail?

Microsoft finished retiring basic authentication for personal Outlook.com accounts in April 2026, so app passwords no longer work for IMAP. The remaining route is a Microsoft sign-in, and that connection is not enabled on Mailotte yet. Guides telling you to use an app password with Outlook were written before the change.

Will I lose my Outlook archive?

No. Nothing is moved or deleted — your archive stays in Outlook, readable and searchable, exactly as it is. Forwarding only sends new mail onward.

Should I wait for import before switching?

You do not have to. Forwarding gets your day-to-day mail into Mailotte now, and your history is not going anywhere in the meantime.

Will I lose my old email?

No. Nothing is moved or deleted — forwarding sends a copy of new mail and your archive stays exactly where it is. Keep the old account open until you have confirmed everything you care about arrived.

How long does it take?

About twenty minutes of setup, and roughly a month of low-effort tail as forwarded mail reveals the accounts you forgot to update. Anyone promising a clean switch in ten minutes is not counting the tail, which is where the risk lives.

Do I have to stop using Outlook?

No, and we would not recommend closing the account. A dormant mailbox with forwarding on costs nothing and catches the annual renewal, the once-a-year statement and the friend who never updated your contact card.

What about my custom domain?

That is the one genuinely technical part. Your domain's MX records point at the old host, and SPF, DKIM and DMARC authorise it to send — all of them move together, and DNS takes time to propagate. Change MX last, after the new setup is complete and its DKIM key is published, and expect a window where both hosts receive mail. Custom domains are on the Haven plan.

Switching from something else?

Switching from Gmail
Switching from Yahoo
Switching from iCloud Mail
The provider-agnostic checklist — if your old host isn't listed.
How Mailotte compares — if you haven't decided yet.