For those who want to switch email providers — we're looking at you, Yahoo Mail users affected by this week's massive outage — there hasn't been a seamless way to do so.
Now, as a part of an effort to lure more users to its platform, Microsoft introduced a tool that easily imports your Gmail account to Outlook.com, previously known as Hotmail.
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In an official Microsoft blog post, the company outlined a few steps to connect Gmail accounts (using OAuth) to Outlook.com accounts. First, you will need to sign up for an Outlook.com account (if you don't already have one).
"This will import your Gmail emails into your Outlook.com inbox and, because you've connected both accounts, your Google contacts will automatically appear in Outlook.com," Microsoft said. "The structure of your inbox, including read/unread status of your emails, will be preserved. The new tool will even set up your Gmail address as a 'send-only' account so you can continue to send email from your @gmail.com address, right from Outlook.com, if you still want to."

It's also possible to forward Gmail email to your Outlook.com account (see image below). For a full look at the steps — and to start the importing process — click here.

Microsoft emphasized in the announcement a "discontent with Gmail seems to be on the rise." It cited a recent survey conducted by market research firm Ipsos that found nearly 1 in 4 consumers would switch email providers if it was easier to do. Study respondents said seeings ads don't interfere with checking email (70%) was very important to the overall experience, followed by advanced spam filters (69%) and an easy-to-understand user interface (67%).
Of course, Microsoft says Outlook.com has all of these things, so switching to the platform is "a natural choice."
The tool comes as Yahoo Mail suffered a massive outage that left some users without email access for days. Microsoft would be wise to open up the important tool to those users too.
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Bonus: A Tour of Outlook.com
This is the new Hotmail, which is now officially called Outlook (it had the label "NewMail" in the preview). Outlook changes the design and layout of Hotmail to bring it more in line with the minimalist design aesthetic of Windows 8 Metro, emphasizing straight lines, thin fonts and white space.
With no message selected, the only "action" item available is to compose a new message. Also note the text ads to the right of the Inbox.
This is what Hotmail looks like today -- what Outlook is evolving from. Although it's gotten many more features in the last few years, Hotmail has had the same overall look for over a decade. It's traditionally generated revenue via display ads, which Microsoft is abandoning with Outlook.
When you select a message, you get a suite of action items at the top, and the ads at right will change.
When you mouse over any of the ads at the right, an image pops up.
When you select an email that's from another person (as opposed to a newsletter or notification), the ads at right disappear, replaced by links to the person's Facebook and Twitter profiles as well as the person's latest updates.
You can switch back to Hotmail at any time. And of course your Hotmail address will continue to work for both sending and replying.
When you compose a message, a list of contacts you email the most often appears, along with their Facebook photos (assuming you've connected the service).
You can call up a chat Window at any time by clicking the speech balloon at the top. Microsoft also says Skype will be integrated, although it wasn't available during the preview.
If you have a Hotmail Plus account, that still works with Outlook, and you won't see any ads, ever. The right side is blank in your regular view, and when you click on a newsletter, you'll simply see the option to search for the sender on Bing.
As with Hotmail, you can move the reading pane to the right side of the window.
Image: Microsoft