Using a Hotmail/ Live Alias with Thunderbird.

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An Alias, is a rather funny name to give to what amounts to a new email address.  This whole concept of creating a throwaway email address is not new, and to be honest the Hotmail implementation reminds me so much a AOL in the early 1990s it is just not funny.

But the question is how do I get these things to work in Thunderbird.  Actually receiving the mail from this Alias email address could not be simpler simply have Hotmail put the mail into your inbox, rather than it's own folder and your done.  What you already have it set up to use a folder, because that was the default.  Not a problem either.
1. Sign in to your  Hotmail account with a web browser

2. Click Options then More options
3. Under Customizing Hotmail, click Rules for sorting new messages
4. Delete the rule than places new messages for that account into it's own folder.


Now you are receiving mail for that account, but how do you reply to it and make it look lioke the response is coming from the Alias.  This requires a little bit of a sleigh of hand and a little used Thunderbird option.

Identities.

Identities have been in Thunderbird a long time.  The whole purpose of these is to make mail sent from one address look like it comes from a mail account it does not

1. Go to your Thunderbird account settings Tools > account settings

2. Click on the account name (this is the line above Server Settings)
3. Click on the Identities button
4. Enter The name you want displayed, this name goes out with the email and appear to the sender instead of the email address. 
5. Enter the Alias email adress as both the email address and the reply to address.
6. Click on the composition and addressing tab and change the quite options to above the quote, if that is how you want to reply to mail.
7. Click ok to close this dialog and ok again to close the identities list.


Now you are done.  Thunderbird will receive the mails and automatically find the right information when you click reply and reply through your Hotmail server.

The only thing left is to move these mails to a folder of their own just as was offered in Hotmail.

1.Select File > new > Folder from the menu.
2. Enter the name of the folder you want to create.  It does not have to be the alias email address, but it can be.
3. Select the location for the folder to be created. (in the ALL folders view this folder will appear under you choice as a sub folder.
4. Select a message that has been sent to the alias account.
5. from the Messages menu select create filter from this message
6. The filter dialog will open type in a name you wish to give this filter, and check that it is set to run 'checking mail or run manually"
7. The From is and the email address should be automatically inserted if not your will need to set it to From is and the alias email address.
8. In the bottom half of the filter window select the option to "move message to" if it is not already selected.
9. In the drop down list beside the move message to select the folder you just created.
 
Ok your done.
Mail will be reteived from Hotmail and moved to your designated folder on arrival.
When you click reply, that account will appear as the one replying.