Why do I have a Windows Live & an Outlook account when they're (nearly) the same thing?

Question

Recently I signed up for a couple of Microsoft programmes via xxx@live.co.uk and now I sort of want to see the emails I get on that account (previously never worried about it).

I figured I'd add Outlook as an account to the phone and that worked fine. I got a live tile with message notifications etc:

But all my contacts doubled (not duplicated, it's clever enough to link them, but still) so then I realised that for mail & contacts Windows Live and Outlook are the same thing. And I guess I've always had a Windows Live account kicking around on the phone.

No problem, I thought, I'll delete Outlook and use the Windows Live account. Nope, can't find any kind of live tile for Windows Live. No problem, I thought, I'll delete Windows Live and just use Outlook. Nope, you can't delete the Windows Live account within Email+Accounts settings.

So, what's the solution?

Note: My main email is non-Microsoft, I don't think it's relevant.

Answer 1

Try this:

Settings app > email+accounts

Tap on the first account (which should be the first Microsoft Account/Live ID that you used to sign in to the phone)

Under Content to sync, tick Email.

Answer 2

The first Microsoft / Live / Outlook account you add to the phone becomes the main account the phone uses. To change this you need to go to Settings --> about --> reset your phone.

Yes this is correct, in order to change / remove the first Microsoft account added to your phone, you need to reset / wipe your phone and start over.

Answer 3

Any (email) account configured on a Windows Phone - including the primary Live ID - that is not shown pinned on your start screen you should be able to find in the app list (swipe left on the home screen) by name. By holding your finger on it you should be able to pin it to your home screen.

Otherwise, if you still cannot find the account, it might have been combined with one or more other email accounts into a combined mailbox with a different name. Open any mailbox you can find on your home screen or app list and use the linked inboxes menu item in the appbar to check if this might be the case, and to potentially link/unlink mailboxes and change the name of a combined mailbox.

This way you should be able to get the mailbox of your Windows Live primary account (back) onto your home screen as a pinned email tile. Good luck.