Connect Outlook.com to Claude,
and ChatGPT, Cursor, any MCP client
Claude's own Microsoft 365 connector accepts only work or school accounts. MCPEmails connects personal Outlook.com, Hotmail, Live and MSN inboxes: sign in with Microsoft, approve access once, and read, search, send, reply, schedule and organize mail from every MCP client with one URL.
Yes. MCPEmails is a hosted MCP server that connects a personal Microsoft account, an address ending in outlook.com, hotmail.com, live.com or msn.com, through Microsoft Graph. You click Connect with Microsoft, sign in, and approve access on Microsoft's consent screen, where MCPEmails appears as a verified publisher. There is no app password and no IMAP setting to enter, and no administrator is involved for a personal account. Paste one URL into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any MCP client and the agent can read, search, send, reply, forward, schedule and file your mail. One inbox is free, forever.
How Outlook.com connects: Sign in with Microsoft
Outlook.com connects through Microsoft Graph with OAuth 2.0, not over IMAP. You sign in on Microsoft's own page and approve a short list of permissions: read and change mail (Mail.ReadWrite), send mail (Mail.Send), stay connected (offline_access) and your basic profile and email address. Your Microsoft password is typed only into Microsoft's page and never reaches us. To disconnect, delete the inbox in MCPEmails, or remove MCPEmails from the apps that have access to your Microsoft account.
Using a work or school Microsoft account? Connect Microsoft 365 email
An Outlook.com inbox your agent can actually use
21 action-based MCP tools: send, reply, forward, schedule, and organize. Your agent finishes the job inside Outlook.com.
- 01Read
Read & search mail
List, read and search across folders to find that invoice, summarize a thread, or pull the latest from a sender.
- 02Send
Send, reply & forward
Compose and send real messages, reply in-thread, and forward, directly from your mailbox, not as a draft you finish by hand.
- 03Schedule
Schedule for later
Queue a message to go out at the right time, so your agent can draft now and send on schedule.
- 04Organize
Move, copy, flag, archive, delete
Keep the inbox tidy: file mail into folders, flag what matters, archive the rest, or delete on request.
Connect Outlook.com in four steps
From sign-up to first AI email in a couple of minutes.
Create a free account
Sign up for MCPEmails, no card required. The free plan connects one inbox, forever.
Choose Outlook and connect with Microsoft
In the dashboard, open Connect inbox, pick Outlook, and click Connect with Microsoft.
Sign in and approve access
Sign in on Microsoft's page with your Outlook.com, Hotmail, Live or MSN address and approve the permissions. You land back in the dashboard with the inbox connected.
Paste the MCP URL into your AI
Drop https://mcpemails.com/api/mcp into Claude, Cursor or ChatGPT, authorize, and your agent has the inbox.
Prefer a step-by-step walkthrough? Connecting Outlook and Microsoft 365 to your AI agent via MCP
Step-by-step guides: How to connect Claude to your email
More guides: Walkthrough for personal accounts · Schedule an email from the chat · Inbox zero with AI
Use this inbox in your AI app: Claude · ChatGPT · Cursor · VS Code · Codex · Claude Code · Cline · Windsurf · Gemini CLI · All supported apps
Need the server names and ports? Look up IMAP and SMTP settings
Comparing providers first? See the email provider compatibility matrix
Use Outlook.com in ChatGPT
ChatGPT reaches Outlook.com through a custom MCP server, which you add on chatgpt.com with ChatGPT Go or a paid plan.
- Connect Outlook.com to MCPEmails with the steps above.
- On chatgpt.com, open Plugins, Personal, click Add, then Add custom MCP server.
- Name it MCPEmails, paste
https://mcpemails.com/api/mcpunder Connection, choose OAuth, confirm, click Create as a plugin and sign in to MCPEmails. - In a chat, type @ and pick MCPEmails. Do it again when a follow-up needs your mail.
What actually goes wrong with Outlook.com
App passwords and IMAP passwords do not work, which is why this uses Microsoft Graph
Microsoft ended Basic authentication for personal accounts connecting from non-Microsoft apps from 16 September 2024, and the Outlook.com IMAP service now offers only OAuth. Many older guides still tell you to generate an app password; it cannot log in to mail any more. MCPEmails does not use IMAP for Outlook.com at all: it signs in with Microsoft and talks to Microsoft Graph, so there is no password to create and no server setting to get wrong.
hotmail.com, live.com and msn.com addresses are the same service
The mail behind all of those domains is one Microsoft consumer service. An old hotmail.com address connects exactly like an outlook.com address created yesterday: choose Outlook and sign in with that address.
A Microsoft account without an Outlook mailbox is refused
If the Microsoft account you sign in with has no Exchange Online mailbox behind it, Microsoft Graph has nothing to open, so MCPEmails refuses the connection and tells you so. If that address's mail is hosted on another server, connect it with IMAP instead.
A brand-new Outlook.com account may be blocked from sending for a while
Microsoft's anti-abuse systems can temporarily stop a newly created Outlook.com account from sending when it sends many messages in a short time. This is a restriction on the Microsoft account, not a connection fault, so reconnecting the inbox does not change it.
Known limits with Outlook.com
- Outlook organizes mail in folders, including nested folders. The label tools are Gmail-only, but an automation's label action applies an Outlook category to the message.
- Microsoft Graph cannot combine a text search with the unread, attachment, flagged or date filters. When a search includes text, those filters are not applied, and the result says which ones were left out.
- Sending carries up to 10 MB of attachments per message; downloading attachments and forwarding originals work up to 25 MB.
- The self-hosted version connects over IMAP and SMTP only. Signing in with Microsoft is part of the hosted service.
Outlook.com and AI: common questions
Does Claude work with Outlook.com?
Yes. Connect your Outlook.com mailbox to MCPEmails by signing in with Microsoft, paste one MCP URL into Claude, and Claude can read, search, send, reply, forward, schedule and file your mail. The same URL works in ChatGPT, Cursor and other MCP clients.
Why does Claude's Microsoft 365 connector reject my Outlook.com account?
Claude's built-in Microsoft 365 connector needs a work or school account in a Microsoft Entra tenant, and Anthropic states that personal Microsoft accounts are not supported, so Outlook.com, Hotmail, Live and MSN addresses are turned away. MCPEmails connects those personal accounts: you sign in with Microsoft on Microsoft's own page, then add MCPEmails to Claude as a custom connector with one URL.
Does it work with Hotmail, Live and MSN addresses?
Yes. They are the same Microsoft consumer mail service as outlook.com, so they connect the same way: choose Outlook in the dashboard and sign in with that address.
Do I need an app password or IMAP settings?
No. MCPEmails connects Outlook.com through Microsoft Graph after you sign in with Microsoft, so there is no app password to create and no IMAP or SMTP server to enter. An app password would not work anyway: Microsoft stopped accepting passwords from non-Microsoft mail apps on personal accounts in September 2024.
What can my AI do in Outlook.com?
Read, search, send, reply and forward; work with drafts; create and use folders, including nested ones; move, copy and archive; flag; delete to trash or permanently; send up to 10 MB of attachments per message, and download attachments or forward originals up to 25 MB; schedule sends; run automation rules; and manage your signature.
Is this the same as connecting a work Microsoft 365 account?
The sign-in is the same, the approval may not be. A personal account needs no administrator. A work or school Microsoft 365 account often needs an IT admin to approve MCPEmails once for the organisation first. When that is the case, the dashboard gives you an approval link to send to your IT admin, and they do not need an MCPEmails account to use it.
Is my email stored on your servers?
No. Messages are fetched live from Microsoft for each request and handed to your AI client. The OAuth token from your Microsoft sign-in is encrypted at rest and message bodies are not retained. Deleting the inbox in MCPEmails ends the connection straight away, and you can also remove MCPEmails from the apps that have access to your Microsoft account.
Can ChatGPT read my Outlook.com mail?
Yes, once Outlook.com is connected to MCPEmails. On chatgpt.com, add a custom MCP server with the URL https://mcpemails.com/api/mcp and OAuth sign-in. That works with ChatGPT Go and paid plans. ChatGPT gets only the access you approve, and your mail is fetched live, never stored.
Give your AI your Outlook.com inbox
Sign in with Microsoft and connect in minutes. One inbox free forever, no card required.