Microsoft’s Outlook.com is among the popular email service providers. In this post, we will show you how to sign up, create and set up a new Outlook.com account – also referred to as Outlook on the Web.
Create a new Outlook.com email account
Visit outlook.live.com in your browser to get started.
You want to create a new Outlook account, hence, click on the ‘Create free account‘ button. Now let’s take a look at the various steps in setting up your Outlook account.
1. Select a suitable username
In the first step, enter the username that you would like to have. In case it is already taken, then try checking for something similar.
You also have the option to choose the domain – @outlook.com or @hotmail.com.
Once you have finalized your username, click on Next.
2. Choose a strong password
The next step is setting up your password. This is an important and crucial one, and there are a few guidelines that need to be followed in order to have a strong and safe password. Your password must have at least 8 characters and contain at least two of the following: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.
Also, your password cannot contain the part of your email address that comes before the @ sign. Once you have followed these criteria for setting up your password, your password gets accepted.
If you are further interested in receiving information, tips, and offers about Microsoft products and services, select the option below the password and then click Next.
3. Fill in Name, Country and Birthdate
In the next step, you have to fill in details regarding your First Name and your Last Name. Click Next.
After this, select the Country/Region you live in from the dropdown list. Also, mention your birthdate by selecting the month, date, and year from the dropdown list. Click Next.
By this stage, you have successfully submitted all the information and details you need to set up your MS Outlook account.
4. Let’s Captcha
The last standard step that one needs to complete is the Captcha. Basically, the captcha is a computer program that helps to distinguish human from machine output to avoid spam. All you have to do is enter the characters correctly that you see on the screen.
In case you are facing any difficulty in identifying the characters, you can click on New to get a new set of characters, or you can click on Audio to get audio assistance. Make sure that your device volume is turned up to be able to hear the audio. Once you have entered the characters correctly, click Next.
5. Your Microsoft Outlook Account is ready!
It will only take a few seconds to get you started. Congratulations on setting up your account successfully! This is how your Microsoft Outlook account dashboard will now look like.
In the left pane, you will see the New Message tab and folders such as Inbox, Junk Mail, Drafts, Sent Items, Deleted Items, and Archive. In case you wish to search for a particular mail or the name of the contact/recipient; you can do so in the Search box on the top on your dashboard.
Finally, your Microsoft Outlook account is now, ready so ahead and get started!
Read next:
- Organize Outlook.com inbox with Archive, Sweep, and Move tools
- How do you delete Search History from Outlook.com?

- Tags: Outlook