Microsoft has implemented a new import tool in Outlook.com

Apr 17, 2014 08:17 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft rolled out options to allow Outlook.com users to important emails and contacts from Gmail to their new accounts automatically, so the company continues the development of this new feature to support some additional services too.

Starting today, Outlook.com users can also import and manage email from Yahoo Mail and other IMAP services, with a detailed wizard taking care of everything. All you need to do is to click on “Options,” and then select “Import email accounts.” Select Yahoo and hit the “Import” entry.

At the same time, the service also supports email from other email providers, so you can go to “Options,” click “Import email accounts” and then select the “Other email provider” tool.

Microsoft promises that you can continue your work without spending too much time trying to track the data importing process, as everything is done in the background. A notification will be displayed when the task comes to an end.

“In both cases, the import happens in the background, so you can continue using Outlook.com or even sign out while it’s happening. Once the import is complete, we’ll send you an email to let you know. Import time will vary depending on how many emails there are to import,” Microsoft said in a post.

“Importing your mail will not affect your old account–you can keep using it as you always have. However, we’re confident that once you try Outlook.com, you’ll love it.”

The new option will work with both free and premium Yahoo! Mail accounts and all folders in the original inbox will remain intact. Empty folders are not migrated and all emails will keep their read and unread status from Yahoo! Mail, the company guarantees.

This new move is clearly supposed to help consumers move to Outlook.com, no matter what email service they are currently using. Importing and moving data from other email accounts is clearly an improvement that’s designed to support the transition to Outlook.com, as Microsoft continues to invest in the email platform and add new features.

Outlook.com is also Microsoft’s biggest rival against Google’s Gmail and the company even used it during the Scroogled campaign supposed to reveal some of the unfair practices of the search giant in order to display ads to users. Outlook.com is specifically focused on users’ privacy, Microsoft said with several occasions, and the service is not designed to look into your email in order to provide a more relevant ad experience.