Windows 8: Set up your email

Click the Mail tile on the Start screen. When Windows is first set up it prompts you to add a user account using your Hotmail email address or Windows Live Mail account and password if you have one. If you did this then you will find that your email is automatically displayed in the Mail app. This doesn't mean that there is nothing to do though and you might want to add another account, say with Google Mail. If you set up Windows without a Hotmail/Live Mail account then let's see how to add it.

Right click the mouse near the top of the screen and a panel is displayed at the bottom. On the left is Accounts and Folders. Select Folders and you can see Sent items, Outbox, Junk and any other folders you may have created. Select a folder to list the messages it contains.

Right click near the top of the screen to open the panel at the bottom and then select Accounts. You will see your email account in the panel on the left.

To add another email account move the mouse to the top right corner of the screen and let it hover until the charms panel is displayed on the right. Click Settings and then a Mail panel is displayed. Click Accounts.

Click Add an account and then there is a choice of Hotmail, Google or Exchange. Adding one of these accounts is then a simple matter of entering your email address and your password. The Mail app will automatically set it up because it already knows the settings required.

Adding other types of email accounts
Adding Hotmail, Google or Exchange email accounts is easy, but how do you add others? You can't. This Start screen app is a very simple email client with basic functions. If you want a proper email program on your computer then you will need to download Windows Live Mail, Thunderbird or some other software.