Corbett

Hotmail Backup Tool

Corbett Hotmail Backup Software saves a Hotmail mailbox to your own drive as PST, MBOX, EML, MSG, PDF, HTML, CSV or TXT. A @hotmail.com address still opens, it just lives inside Microsoft's Outlook.com service now, so you sign in on Microsoft's own page. Folder layout, attachments and the dates all come down with the mail. Windows only.

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4.6 out of 5 from 683 reviews

Your mailbox is read on your own machine. Nothing is uploaded to a Corbett server.

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Lifetime licence from $99 Free trial saves 10 emails per folder

Guide
Screens
Video

On your drive

What Comes Out of a Hotmail Mailbox

A Hotmail account holds years of mail plus contacts and a calendar. Hotmail Backup Tool copies the mailbox part to your drive. Here is what arrives and what stays behind on Microsoft's side.

Comes across

All mail folders
Attachments
Inline images
Message dates
Read status
Full headers
Contacts
Calendar

Folders read

Inbox
Sent
Drafts
Archive
Deleted
Junk
Custom folders

Saves as

PST
MBOX
EML
MSG
PDF
HTML
CSV
TXT
vCard
ICS

Not included

OneDrive files
Skype history
Microsoft To Do
Account settings
Blocked lists

Hotmail was renamed, not shut down

Microsoft stopped selling new @hotmail.com addresses years ago and folded the service into Outlook.com. Existing addresses keep working. The mailbox behind a @hotmail.com, @live.com or @msn.com login is read the same way here.

Is Hotmail still around

Core features

A Hotmail Backup From Start to File

Five screens that follow a Hotmail backup from the first sign-in to the file on disk.

Adding a Hotmail account in Hotmail Backup Tool

Connect

Sign In Through Microsoft

Choose Hotmail from the list and the connection details are filled in for you. Microsoft's own sign-in window opens, you type your address and password there, approve the two-step prompt if the account has one and the mailbox loads. The password is never seen by the program.

Connection settings resolved for you
Two-step verification, also called MFA, works as normal
No app password to generate, Microsoft removed those for personal mail
Sign in to several accounts and run them together

Folder selection

Tick the Hotmail Folders You Keep

The account loads as a checkbox tree, a count shown next to every branch. Take twenty years across in one go, or lift out one year's folder on its own. Junk and Deleted drop with a click apiece.

Each folder and its subfolders carry a checkbox
A message tally sits next to every folder
Subfolders keep their shape in the saved copy
The compact view hides folders holding nothing

Message preview

Preview Hotmail Before It Writes

Open any message and it appears in the preview with four analysis tabs alongside. Someone saving a lapsing account leans on the preview to keep only the mail that matters.

Content shows body, sender, recipient and subject
Message header exposes routing and delivery hops
Properties lists size, priority and attachments
Hex and raw message give the full source

Selective backup

Cut a Hotmail Backup to One Slice

Set the filters first and the backup pulls only the mail you picked, nothing else. Twenty years of promotional mail can be left behind while the letters that matter are kept.

A From date and a To date frame the run
Sender, recipient, subject or message content
Keep only messages that carry an attachment
A size cut-off to leave the largest mail behind
Skip junk or duplicate messages

Output options

Pick a Hotmail Backup Format

Where it ends up is the last choice. Write the mail to a folder on disk, an external drive or a network location, or send it on into another live account. Document output uses a naming scheme, so a folder holding thousands of items stays searchable.

Mail formats: PST for Outlook, MBOX for Thunderbird or Apple Mail, EML, MSG
Document formats: PDF, HTML, CSV, TXT
Straight into Gmail, Outlook.com or any IMAP host with the email migration tool
Attachments, email addresses and phone numbers pulled out on their own

Before you connect

Signing In to an Old Hotmail Address

A @hotmail.com login goes through the same door as any Microsoft account, and that door changed in September 2024. Three things worth knowing first.

Changed

The old password box is gone

Microsoft turned off password based sign-in for outside mail software on personal accounts in September 2024. A tool that asks you to type a Hotmail password into its own box is refused now. Hotmail Backup Tool opens Microsoft's window instead and is handed a token, never the password. Microsoft calls the method modern authentication.

Not needed

App passwords were dropped

Plenty of Hotmail guides still say generate an app password. Microsoft ended those for personal accounts in the same change, so they no longer exist to create. The authenticator app, a text code or a security key all pass through the normal Microsoft prompt.

Same mailbox

Hotmail, Live and MSN are one account

A @hotmail.com, @live.com or @msn.com address all sign in to the same Outlook.com mailbox. Use whichever address is yours and the full account loads. Nothing has to be moved between the names, since they were merged long ago.

A current @outlook.com address behaves identically and has its own page, the Outlook.com backup tool. A work or school address on a company domain is a Microsoft 365 mailbox, covered by the Office 365 backup tool.

Free demo

Try it on one account first

Install it, sign in through Microsoft and choose a folder and format. The disk stays untouched until you start the run.

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Why a copy

Why Keep a Copy of Hotmail

A twenty year old free address is the one most likely to be forgotten, and the one hardest to get back once it goes. These are the reasons people save one.

Inactivity

An idle account is deleted

Microsoft closes an inactive personal account after two years without a sign-in, and the mail goes with it. An old Hotmail address you rarely open is exactly the one on that clock. A copy on your drive is what survives it.

Storage

The free mailbox has a ceiling

A free Hotmail mailbox shares a 15 GB limit with the rest of the account. Once it fills, new mail is turned away. Shifting older years into a file on your disk frees space while keeping every message.

Lockout

A copy nobody can lock you out of

A forgotten password, a hijacked login or a recovery process that stalls can shut you out of a mailbox. A copy sitting on your disk keeps opening no matter what state the online account is in.

Microsoft runs the service. Keeping the data is on the account holder, and a copy on a disk that is not connected to the login stays safe even if the account is emptied. Reading a saved file later is the free email viewer software.

Before you buy

Free Route vs Hotmail Backup Tool

If classic Outlook is on the machine, add the Hotmail account and export it to a PST for nothing. That handles one account in one format. The table shows the edge of that route.

Task	Classic Outlook export	Hotmail Backup Tool
Cost	Free with Outlook	$99 one time
One account, once, to PST	Exactly its purpose	Handles it too, alongside the rest
Which Outlook	Classic desktop Outlook, the new Outlook app cannot	No Outlook required
Output format	PST only	Eight formats, from PST to PDF and MBOX
Date, sender or subject filter	The export wizard has no filter	Narrow by date, sender, subject or size first
Several accounts	Add and export each one separately	Queued to run one after another automatically
Waiting on a sync first	Outlook downloads the entire mailbox before export	Pulls from the mailbox on the server directly
Headers and raw source	Buried in an Outlook properties window	Full read of any message before it is written

Rows tinted green are the ones where the free route wins.

One account, PST only and classic Outlook already installed: add it in Outlook and keep your money. Once you want a different format, a filtered slice or a batch of accounts in one pass, the paid tool earns its keep. Turning a finished PST into another format later is the email converter software.

Specifications

System Needs for Hotmail Backup

Download details

Released: Dec 2020
Download size: 87.4 MB
Trial limit: 10 emails per folder
Delivery: Download link and key by email
Licence: Lifetime, up to 5 machines

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System

Hard disk: 150 MB to install, plus room for output
RAM: 4 GB minimum
Processor: 1 GHz, 2.4 GHz advised
Rights: Run as Administrator
Outlook: Not required

Supported editions

Runs on Windows 7 to 11 in 32 or 64 bit, and on Windows Server 2008 to 2025.

No macOS or Linux build.

Windows email utilities built in one small shop since 2020. The developers are the support desk.

Working process

Watch a Hotmail Mailbox Save

Prefer text? The written guide walks the same run with screenshots.

Common questions

Hotmail Backup, Cleared Up

How sign-in works, what is copied and the limits of the Hotmail backup.

Does Hotmail still exist to back up?

Yes. Microsoft stopped handing out new @hotmail.com addresses and moved the service into Outlook.com, but old addresses still receive and send. The mailbox behind one is live and Hotmail Backup Tool reads it like any other account.

Why does the tool open a Microsoft sign-in window?

Because Microsoft stopped accepting passwords typed into outside mail software on personal accounts in September 2024. Hotmail Backup Tool sends you to Microsoft's own page, you sign in there and it is handed a token that lets it read the mailbox. The password never touches the program.

Do I need an app password for Hotmail?

No. App passwords for personal accounts ended with the same September 2024 change, so there is none to create. Any older Hotmail guide that tells you to make one is out of date. Two-step verification is handled inside the Microsoft window.

Can I back up a Hotmail @live.com or @msn.com address?

Yes. Live and MSN addresses sit on the same Outlook.com mailbox as Hotmail. Sign in with whichever address you hold and the whole account loads. There is no separate step for the different names.

Does the backup work with two-step verification on?

Yes. Sign-in happens on Microsoft's page, so the authenticator prompt, text code or security key appears just as it would in a browser. Nothing has to be switched off beforehand.

Can I save several Hotmail accounts at once?

Yes. Sign in to each account in turn, then set the whole queue running at once. Each writes to its own file, so an old Hotmail address and a newer one come out as two clean backups in one session.

Will it save Hotmail contacts and calendar?

Yes, where the account holds them. Contacts can be written as vCard and calendar entries as ICS beside the mail. OneDrive, Skype history and Microsoft To Do run as their own services and are left untouched.

PST or PDF for a Hotmail backup?

Choose PST if the mail may return to Outlook or another account down the line. Choose PDF for a copy meant to be read, filed or opened where Outlook is not installed. Run it again with the other format and you end up with both copies.

Does it free up space in the Hotmail mailbox?

Not on its own. It only reads the mailbox, so nothing inside the Hotmail account is touched. After you open the local copy and confirm it, remove the old folders inside Hotmail by hand to drop back below the 15 GB ceiling.

Does a large Hotmail mailbox have a size cap?

No. The licensed edition puts no cap on how much mail is saved. Large accounts run slower because Microsoft throttles the read rate, yet the run never halts partway. Should the connection fail, the run carries on from its last point instead of beginning again.

Does my Hotmail pass through Corbett's servers?

No. Hotmail Backup Tool works locally, reaching out to Microsoft from your own PC. Whatever drive you point it at is where the file is written. Corbett stores nothing and relays nothing.

How does the Hotmail page differ from the Outlook.com backup tool?

It is the same download and the same mailbox service. The page is written for people who think of their address as Hotmail. A current @outlook.com login has its own page, the Outlook.com backup tool, and a work address is the Office 365 backup tool.

Does Hotmail Backup Tool run on Mac or Linux?

No. Hotmail Backup Tool is a Windows application only, from Windows 7 through Windows 11 and Windows Server 2008 through 2025. There is no macOS or Linux build.

Step by step

Hotmail Walkthroughs, Step by Step

Each guide below runs a single Hotmail task from the opening click to the written file.

Getting the mail out

Moving and clearing

Related backups

Every provider is covered on the email backup software page. Moving a Hotmail account into another account is the email migration tool. Reading a saved file without writing anything is the free email viewer software. For Apple accounts there is the iCloud backup tool. A Workspace custom domain is the Google Workspace backup tool. For a cPanel or hosting inbox, use the Webmail backup tool. Loading a saved file back into a mailbox is the email recovery software.

User testimonials

Hotmail Users, in Their Words

Across 683 reviews of the backup and restore wizard.

4.6 out of 5

Collected across 683 reviews from software directories and direct customer feedback. The three shown here are printed as written.

Saved a mailbox from the 2000s

My old Hotmail from school days had photos and letters I did not want to lose. Signed in through the Microsoft window, chose PST, and the whole thing came down clean. Glad I did it before the account lapsed.

Grace Holloway

Old guides were all wrong

Spent an hour trying to make an app password work like the tutorials said. None of it applied any more. This tool just opened the proper Microsoft login and read the mailbox. Should be the first result people find.

Terrence Nash

Cleared space without losing mail

Mailbox was full and bouncing new messages. Backed up the old years to a PST, deleted them from the account, and everything was under the limit again with a copy safe on my drive. Exactly what I needed.

Bianca Cortez

Get started

Save Your Hotmail Before It Lapses

Download the free demo, sign in through Microsoft and save 10 emails per folder at no charge. The paid licence is $99 once, with a 30 day refund window.

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87.4 MB · Windows 11 to 7 and Windows Server 2025 to 2008 · 30 day money back