Set-up guide
Connect Claude to your Hotmail or Outlook.com account.
A personal Microsoft account, the free kind at outlook.com, hotmail.com or live.com, connected to Claude or ChatGPT with one Microsoft sign-in. Turn on one setting in Outlook.com first, and it takes a few minutes.
- Time About 4 minutes
- You will need Your Microsoft sign-in
- First Turn on IMAP
The short version
Got an @outlook.com, @hotmail.com or @live.com address? Claude's own Microsoft 365 connector won't take it, and that's Anthropic's rule, not a fault with your account. Mailbox MCP connects Claude to Hotmail or Outlook.com with one Microsoft sign-in.
There's one thing to do first: Outlook.com keeps apps out until you switch IMAP on. It takes a minute, and this page shows you where.
Who it suits
Who this is for: Outlook.com, Hotmail, Live and MSN addresses
A personal Microsoft account, the free kind you signed up for yourself.
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The 4 personal domains.
An address ending @outlook.com, @hotmail.com, @live.com or @msn.com, and a personal Microsoft account on a domain of your own.
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How to tell personal from work.
If you read your mail at
outlook.live.com, it's personal and this page is yours. If you read it atoutlook.office.com, it's a work or school account: connect Outlook for work (Microsoft 365) instead.
The refusal
Why Claude's Microsoft 365 connector won't take a Hotmail account
Claude has a Microsoft 365 connector of its own, and it's the first thing most people try. Anthropic's set-up page says plainly who it's for:
The Microsoft 365 connector requires a Microsoft Entra tenant tied to a Microsoft Business plan. Personal Microsoft accounts (such as @outlook.com or @hotmail.com addresses) can't be used to connect.
Anthropic, Set up the Microsoft 365 connector
So it isn't you, and there's no setting to change on Claude's side. Anthropic's connector is built for business tenants, and a personal Outlook.com account isn't one.
Mailbox MCP reaches the same mailbox by a different door. It signs in to your personal Microsoft account and opens the mail over IMAP, which Outlook.com offers to any app you allow in. That's why the one setting below matters.
The free Gmail and Outlook connectors in Claude and ChatGPT, compared sets Anthropic's connector beside the others, job by job.
The one setting
Turn on IMAP in Outlook.com first
Microsoft's own words: "POP & IMAP access is disabled by default." Until you switch it on, the sign-in works and then the mailbox refuses.
Microsoft's steps, from its settings page for Outlook.com:
Select Settings > Mail > Forwarding and IMAP. Under POP and IMAP, toggle the slider for Let devices and apps use IMAP to ON. Select Save.
Microsoft, POP, IMAP and SMTP settings for Outlook.com
The quickest way there is Outlook's Forwarding and IMAP settings, the same link the control panel's button opens. Sign in as the address you're connecting if it asks.
You only do this once. It changes nothing else about your mailbox, and you can switch it off again later, which also ends our access.
Walkthrough
Connect Claude to Hotmail or Outlook.com, step by step
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Turn on IMAP in Outlook.com
Settings, Mail, Forwarding and IMAP, then Let devices and apps use IMAP, and Save. The section above has the link and the picture.
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Choose Outlook, Hotmail or Microsoft 365
In the control panel, add a mailbox and choose Outlook, Hotmail or Microsoft 365. Type your address. The panel shows the IMAP reminder again before the sign-in, in case you skipped step 1.
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Sign in with Microsoft as that same address
Microsoft asks you to sign in and approve what Mailbox MCP may do. Sign in as the address you typed, not another Microsoft account the browser happens to be logged into. Your password goes to Microsoft and never to us.
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Add the connector to Claude or ChatGPT
In Claude: open Customize, then Connectors, press the + beside Connectors and find Mailbox MCP in Claude's directory, then press Connect (Anthropic's help says the button may read Install). Sign in to Mailbox MCP when it asks, and choose your Outlook.com mailbox.
No directory on your plan or in your organisation? Add it as a custom connector instead: Customize, Connectors, + Add, Add custom connector, then paste the connector URL from the mailbox's Connector tab in the control panel. The Claude.ai set-up guide has every screen.
In ChatGPT: select Plugins in the sidebar, find Mailbox MCP in the plugin directory, select Install plugin, then Continue to Mailbox MCP, and sign in. The ChatGPT set-up page covers developer mode too.
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Check that it worked
Ask: Using Mailbox MCP, list my 5 most recent emails. If they're the ones you expect, it's connected. Open Outlook.com afterwards: nothing was marked as read.
Then try a morning brief from your Outlook.com inbox, set once and run by your own Claude or ChatGPT.
Switched IMAP on? Connecting the mailbox is one Microsoft sign-in, on the free tier with no card.
Troubleshooting
"User is authenticated but not connected": what it means
The words Outlook.com sends back when it refuses an app. Thunderbird, a phone's mail app and Mailbox MCP all meet the same sentence.
It means the sign-in worked and the mailbox said no. The most common reason in our own support is the IMAP switch. Outlook.com can also answer "Connection not available" when it closes the door a moment later.
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The IMAP switch is off.
Turn on Let devices and apps use IMAP under Settings, Mail, Forwarding and IMAP, save, then connect again. Our server recognises this refusal by name and the control panel shows the steps.
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You signed in as a different Microsoft account.
The browser was logged into another Microsoft account, and Microsoft approved that one. The mailbox you typed then refuses, because the permission belongs to someone else. Sign out of Microsoft, then connect again as the address you typed.
No password
No password: why Outlook.com connects with a Microsoft sign‑in
Microsoft stopped letting apps open an Outlook.com mailbox with your password. Its known-issues page dates it: "September 16th, 2024 / Basic Authentication no longer available to access any Outlook account".
Its settings page puts it in one line: "Outlook.com requires the use of Modern Auth / OAuth2." The Microsoft sign-in in step 3 is exactly that. You sign in on Microsoft's own page, and Mailbox MCP gets a token that you can withdraw, never your password.
So there's nothing to type into this site, and nothing to change if you change your Microsoft password later. What we hold, and how it's protected, is on the security page.
ChatGPT
Connect ChatGPT to a personal Outlook.com account
OpenAI's page doesn't say. Its article on the Outlook Email and Calendar apps in ChatGPT, read on , doesn't mention personal accounts either way, so we can't tell you whether its own app takes an @outlook.com address.
Mailbox MCP works in ChatGPT the same way it works in Claude: switch IMAP on, connect the mailbox in the control panel, then install Mailbox MCP from the ChatGPT plugin directory and choose the mailbox. The ChatGPT set-up page walks through every screen.
The diary
Your Outlook.com calendar works too, with one exception
The same Microsoft sign-in asks for your calendar. Your assistant can read your appointments, book new ones, move or cancel them, answer invitations and set your out-of-office reply.
The one thing a personal account can't do is let an app see when other people are free. Microsoft keeps that to work and school accounts.
We proved the calendar on a real Hotmail account on . If you connected before that date, sign in with Microsoft once more from the mailbox's page in the control panel to add it.
Limits
What a personal Outlook.com connection doesn't do
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Other people's free time
It can't see when other people are free. Microsoft offers that to work and school accounts only.
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One mailbox each
One connection is one mailbox. To add a second, connect it too and add its own connector URL under a name that says which mailbox it is.
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20 MB a message
Attachments are capped at 20 MB a message in total, not per file.
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The IMAP switch stays yours
Turn IMAP off in Outlook.com and the connection stops. That's by design: it's your door.
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Not a backup tool
It is not a backup, an archive or a migration tool.
Questions
Questions about Outlook.com, Hotmail and AI
Can I connect a Hotmail account to Claude?
Yes, through Mailbox MCP. Claude's own Microsoft 365 connector won't take a Hotmail, Outlook.com or Live address, by Anthropic's own rule. Mailbox MCP connects one with a Microsoft sign-in, once you've turned on IMAP in Outlook.com's settings. Then you add Mailbox MCP to Claude from its directory, or as a custom connector, and choose the mailbox.
Why won't Claude's Microsoft 365 connector take my Outlook.com account?
Because it's built for business accounts. Anthropic says it "requires a Microsoft Entra tenant tied to a Microsoft Business plan", and that personal Microsoft accounts, such as @outlook.com or @hotmail.com addresses, "can't be used to connect". Nothing is wrong with your account, and there's no setting in Claude that changes it.
Does ChatGPT's Outlook app work with a personal account?
OpenAI doesn't say. Its page on the Outlook Email and Calendar apps in ChatGPT, read on 4 October 2026, doesn't mention personal accounts either way. Mailbox MCP works with one in ChatGPT: turn on IMAP in Outlook.com, connect the mailbox in our control panel, then install Mailbox MCP from the ChatGPT plugin directory.
What does "User is authenticated but not connected" mean?
It means the Microsoft sign-in worked and the mailbox refused the app. On a personal Outlook.com account the usual cause is the IMAP switch being off: turn on Let devices and apps use IMAP under Settings, Mail, Forwarding and IMAP, and save. The other cause is signing in as a different Microsoft account from the address you typed.
Where is the IMAP setting in Outlook.com?
At outlook.live.com, open Settings, then Mail, then Forwarding and IMAP. Under POP and IMAP, turn on Let devices and apps use IMAP, and select Save. Microsoft says POP and IMAP are off by default, so a new account needs this once.
Can I use an app password instead of signing in with Microsoft?
You don't need one. Microsoft says "Outlook.com requires the use of Modern Auth / OAuth2", and the Microsoft sign-in is exactly that. You sign in on Microsoft's own page, and Mailbox MCP receives a token you can withdraw, never your password. There's nothing to type into this site.
Can Claude read my Outlook.com calendar?
Yes, through Mailbox MCP. The same Microsoft sign-in asks for your calendar, so Claude can read your appointments, book, move or cancel them, answer invitations and set your out-of-office reply. What a personal account can't do is show when other people are free: Microsoft keeps that to work and school accounts.
Is it free to connect Outlook.com to Claude?
Yes, to start. Every mailbox gets 5 calls a day free, with no card. Pro gives a mailbox up to 1,000 calls a day at £2.92 a month, paid annually at £34.99 + VAT. You pay per mailbox, so a second mailbox can stay free.
Attribution
Sources
- Anthropic: Set up the Microsoft 365 connector The Entra tenant requirement and the refusal of personal @outlook.com and @hotmail.com accounts, quoted above. Read 4 October 2026.
- Microsoft: POP, IMAP and SMTP settings for Outlook.com That POP and IMAP are off by default, the steps to turn IMAP on, and that Outlook.com requires Modern Auth / OAuth2. Read 5 October 2026.
- Microsoft: modern authentication now needed to keep syncing Outlook email in other apps The date Basic Authentication ended for Outlook accounts, 16 September 2024. Read 4 October 2026.
- OpenAI: Outlook Email and Calendar apps in ChatGPT Read for anything on personal accounts; it says nothing either way. Read 4 October 2026.
- Anthropic: Use connectors to extend Claude's capabilities Finding a connector in Claude's directory and the Connect step. Read 4 October 2026.
- Connect Outlook for work (Microsoft 365) The work and school account route, and the permissions the Microsoft sign-in asks for.
Connect your Outlook.com mailbox.
Free on any mailbox with 5 calls a day, and Pro up to 1,000 a day at £2.92 a month, paid annually at £34.99 + VAT.