Beginners Guide to Setting Up Windows Live Mail 2011

If you’re moving from XP or Vista to Windows 7, you might be wondering where the Windows Mail app is. It’s actually part of the Live Essentials 2011 suite of utilities and here we’ll give you the beginners guide for setting it up and some basic functions.


1. The first thing you’ll need to do is download the Windows Live Essentials 2011 installer file, right-click, and launch it as Administrator.

2. A screen is displayed in Live Essentials 2011 that didn’t display in the older versions. It asks if you want to install all the apps in the suite or not. If you don’t want everything click on Choose the programs you want to install.

3. For this tutorial we’ll just install the Windows Live Mail app. Check Mail then click the Install button.

4. Now you’ll see a progress screen while Live Mail is installed on your Windows 7 PC.


5. If you only install Live Mail, a reboot shouldn’t be required. Click the Start Menu and you’ll find Live Mail listed under All Programs…just click on it to launch it.

6. Windows Live Mail launches and you’ll need to enter in your Windows Live, Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo Plus, or other email accounts with the correct username and passwords. Make sure to check Remember this password so you don’t have to enter it in every time you want to check your email, then click Next.

7. Click Yes when the dialog comes up to verify you want to sign in with your email address. In this instance we’re using a MS Live account.

8. Success! Our email account was added. You can add additional accounts from here as well.

9. You’ll notice the user interface is different than previous version of Windows email clients. Like most other apps in Windows 7, it introduces the Ribbon. By default the Reading Pane is to the right of the messages. You can change this by clicking the View tab >> Reading Pane and selecting a different view. In this example we’re going to put it at the bottom of the message list.

10. To send an email, click on the Home tab then click on Email Message or use the Ctrl + N keyboard shortcut.

11. Now you can compose your message like normal by entering in the recipients address. Notice on the right you can show or hide the CC and BCC fields to include other contacts. When you’re finished simply click the send button.

12. To see if you have new email and to make sure all of your messages are sent out, you’ll find the Send / Receive button under the Home tab in the Tools section of the Ribbon…or you can use the F5 button as well.

13. Windows Live Mail 2011 also includes a calendar which is similar to the one in Outlook. To access it, click on Calendar in the navigation pane in the lower left corner and choose the view you want under the Home tab and the View section. You can select Day, Week, and full month views.

14. To schedule an event in your Calendar, double click on the day of the event. The New Event screen opens and you can enter in the subject field, the time of the event, add any notes to it, then click the Save and Close button.

15. Then you will see the event listed in your Calendar.

If you’re looking for an easy to use free email client to manage your email, contacts, and activities in the Calendar, Windows Live Mail 2011 is a great choice for your new Windows 7 PC. This beginner guide should get you started, and in the coming days, we’ll be taking a look a more in depth features such as adding multiple accounts, using it as an RSS reader, and a lot more…so stay tuned!

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