Windows Live forum: Sync Windows Live Mail Between Computers

I'm afraid this didn't work. If I open my Windows Live Mail on one computer, and allow it to download new messages, even if I don't open/read them, they will not download on another computer.

Are there folders on each computer where these Windows Live Mail e-mails are kept, so that I could sync those folders?

BTW, the shortest interval for having Windows Live Mail check for new messages in one MINUTE, not one second (at least on my computers).

Thanks again in advance

There is no easy way to sync the mail folders that I know of, but if you want to download the same email to more than one computer, just go into the properties for your email account (Tools/Accounts/Properties). At the bottom of the settings page under the "advanced" tab you will find delivery options:

Click the box next to "Leave a copy of messages on server" and "Remove from server after xx days" (set the number of days to something reasonable, like 7-10, in case you are away and unable to update on one or the other computer.

If you like, you can click the box next to "Remove from server when deleted from Deleted Items" - that way if you delete email (and empty the deleted items folder) on one computer, the deleted email will not be downloaded to the other computer.

Do this for both computers and you should be set.

BTW, this works for Outlook Express, Windows Mail (Vista), and Windows Live Mail.

I use IMAP. It will give you the means to see all the mail in your webmail box as well as pop accounts. BUT as I understand the gentleman's question it had nothing to do with receiving the mail from various sources but synching how he handles the mail ... the folders he puts them in etc. So when he goes to another computer the results of responding to and sorting/handling yesterday's mail on his desktop appear in the same folders on his laptop. There is no way to do that that I know of but like him I would LOVE it!
Unless I add custom folders it would seem live mail could do this as it autmomatcially sets up a standard set of folders and could sync those folders across the net much as live mesh does. Live mesh does not integrate into live mail so that in itself is not the answer.

If you are still having this problem, here is the solution. I have verified it by syncing between webmail, 2009 version of Windows Live Mail (WLM), and 2011 version of WLM. I did this first using hotmail, and then using a private IMAP email account on one of my domain hosts. It works just as you request, automatically! There are several points, however, at which one might have problems:

1. In WLM, you cannot change a POP3 account (the default) to an IMAP account. You must delete it and start over, and use manual server configuration, and the settings and ports given by your mail host provider. To avoid losing mail when deleting the account, drag messages to a storage folder, and drag them back when finished.

2. The initial sync is very slow. Might take hours to sync a few thousand messages, such as I have.

3. It only syncs folders in the actual IMAP mail accounts. It does not sync "storage folders." There is no way to sync storage folders which are only on your hard drive and not on the IMAP server, because WLM arbitrarily renames the message files.

4. Some IMAP accounts follow a strange hierarchy. ALL folders are within the INBOX folder! This is not true of Hotmail, but it was true of my private email account. I got an error when trying to create outside the INBOX hierarchy.

5. When I created a new folder using WLM on one computer, it automatically appeared in webmail, and so did any messages that I dragged in there. BUT, the folder would NOT appear on the other computer no matter how much syncing I did, even a "sync everything." I had to create the folder manually on the second computer. When I did that, WLM automatically synchronized it, and the messages appeared. So you have to create the folder hierarchy manually on each computer. This actually could be a "feature" if you don't want all the folders to appear on every computer, for privacy or efficiency reasons.

WARNING! While in most cases WLM seems to actually store copies of messages on all computers, in a few cases it had to retrieve the message from the server when I tried to open it. If anyone has more insight to this, please post a reply, thanks.

Since it syncs the full message with attachments, you can use this like a general records archival and sync, without having a separate account for that.

It took several days to figure this out because I was not familiar with IMAP or WLM. But now I am very happy with it, because it eliminates the manual syncing I was doing on Outlook Express between computers, which I would occasionally mess up. Hope the info is helpful.

When setting up my WLM on two new Vista computers, I used the following procedure:

1. Create a WLM ID with an "@live.com" ID.
2. Create a Hotmail account using the above "@live.com" ID.
3. Forward email from all external accounts (Cox, Gmail, etc) to the "@live.com" ID address.
4. WLM Email stays synced on both computers and the Hotmail account!

Every time you send/receive on WLM, it will sync the Hotmail account. Then, when you send/receive on another computer, that computer will also sync to the Hotmail account. You can do this on as many computers as you like.