Do you ever find yourself scrambling to get the address for your child’s sporting event? Or needing to find a friend’s number so you can check when you’re meeting for lunch? You can now use text messaging on your mobile phone to see your upcoming events on Windows Live Calendar. You can also search your Windows Live contact list or add new contacts—all from your mobile phone. No mobile browser or data plan needed—if you can send and receive text messages on your mobile phone then you should check out SMS for Windows Live.
To get started, just register your mobile number with Windows Live. (Don’t worry; this part is easy—there are detailed instructions at this end of this blog post). You’ll then send a text message (SMS) with a “command” to a shortcode:
- If you’re in the US and your mobile operator is AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, or Nextel, your shortcode is MyLive or 695483.
- If you’re in the UK and your mobile operator is Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile, O2, or Virgin, your shortcode is 88804.
Standard SMS messaging costs apply in both the US and UK. So your mobile operator will charge your normal rate for each text message you send and receive. There’s no additional charge from Microsoft.
How to use the new SMS services
After you’ve registered your phone number, and started the service, you’re ready to start sending commands. Below are all of the things you can do with SMS for Windows Live, along with the commands you’ll need to know.
Check your calendar
To see your Windows Live Calendar events for today or tomorrow: Send a text message with the command today or tomorrow. Windows Live sends you a text message that lists the date, time, and subject of each event. To get more details about an event, reply with the event number.
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Send this to get a list of today’s events |
You’ll get a reply like this one (but with your events, of course) |
Search your contacts
If you aren’t syncing your Windows Live contacts (or if you don’t have a Windows Mobile phone and can’t sync), you can use SMS commands to search your contacts and see contact details. To search your Windows Live contacts: Send a text message with the command srch followed by the name of the person you’re looking for.
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Send srch and a name |
You’ll get a reply with your search results |
Check out all the cool stuff you can do with text messaging for Windows Live.
To register your mobile phone and start using SMS for Windows Live
To use SMS for Windows Live, you need to register your phone and start the service. Don’t worry, it’s simple. Here’s how you do it:
- On a computer go to the Window Live Mobile website and sign in with your Windows Live ID.
- In the text box under Set up SMS, enter your mobile phone number and click Next.
- Check your phone info, if everything looks good, click Next. If any of the info isn’t correct, click change it and make your corrections.
- We’ll send a text message with a four-digit PIN code to your mobile phone. Enter the PIN code and click Next.
- Your mobile phone number is registered with your Windows Live account. Now you need to start the service. To start using the new SMS for Windows Live services, under Personal Message, Calendar and Contacts, click Start. You’re all set to go!
If you haven’t tried the other Windows Live SMS services (they’re not new, but maybe they’re new to you) now is a great time to do so. Under Hotmail, Messenger and other alerts, click Start and check out how you can use text messaging with Hotmail, Messenger and alerts. - After you start the service you’ll get another text message with some additional info that our lawyers want us to tell you about.
Tip: Save the text message sender as a contact in your mobile phone, so you’ll have it handy when you need it.
Enjoy the new SMS for Windows Live services!
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