Hotmail doesn't do IMAP, though it can synch with MS Outlook in an IMAP-like way as long as you also have the Outlook Connector software installed
However its not "real" IMAP even then
Otherwise use POP3 with the "retain on server" function - as mixture suggests, or use GMail to scrape the Hotmail and hold it on Googles IMAP servers
People do use it, but its messy
Last edited by Milo Minderbinder; 31st Jul 2012 at 22:09.