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Recently on netnews, someone asked how to import a Hotmail address book into Outlook. Someone else replied that it’s impossible to do free of charge. Well, here’s one method (it should work for both Outlook and Outlook Express):

1. Sign up for your free Plaxo account.
2. On the “all new Plaxo” pages (I don’t know whether this can be done on the “classic” pages as well), create an “MSN Hotmail/Windows Live” sync point.
3. Import your addresses from Hotmail into Plaxo.
4. Change your Windows Live password (to be on the safe side).
5. Install the Plaxo toolbar.
6. Click on “Sync”.

Your local address book should now have been merged with the one you had on Plaxo.

The above procedure has the security implication of storing your data on Plaxo servers (and moving it to and fro), but if you have trusted Microsoft with your data, perhaps you would trust Plaxo as well. They have been around since 2002.

There is also a story specifically about Plaxo.