Sign in to view your Office 365 encrypted message If you ve received an encrypted message from an organization that uses Microsoft Office 365 Message Encryption, you can view your message by using a Microsoft account or an Office 365 organizational account. If you don t have either account, you can follow this procedure to find out how to create one and view your encrypted message. Message recipients who already have a Microsoft account or organizational account don t need this procedure, but may want to refer to Send, view, and reply to encrypted messages. Before you begin Message recipients who already have a Microsoft account or organizational account don t need this procedure, but may want to refer to Send, view, and reply to encrypted messages. What s a Microsoft account and what s an organizational account? Here are some answers. How do I know if I have a Microsoft account? A Microsoft account is the email address and password that you use to sign in to Microsoft services, such as Outlook.com, OneDrive, Windows Phone, or Xbox LIVE. If you sign in to one of these services, you already have a Microsoft account but you can also sign up for a new one at any time. For more information about Microsoft accounts, see What is a Microsoft account? How do I know if I have an organizational account? An organizational account in this context is an Office 365 organizational account the email address and password used to access Office 365 services, such as Online Exchange Online or SharePoint Online. If you re not sure whether you have an organizational account, you can ask your administrator or follow the instructions when prompted to create a Microsoft account. Create a Microsoft account for viewing encrypted messages When you open an encrypted email message that asks you for a Microsoft account or organizational account, you ll see basic instructions for entering this information or for creating a Microsoft account if you don t have either account. This procedure steps through the process using a fictional scenario where Sara Davis, an employee at Contoso Bank, sends an encrypted message to her colleague, Rod Gilmer. To use a Microsoft account to view encrypted messages: 1. Open the message in your Inbox. The subject line may indicate that the message is encrypted or you ll learn this when you open the message. The following example shows a Gmail Inbox that contains an encrypted message from Sara Davis who works at
Contoso Bank. Once you open the message, you ll see the text Message encryption by Microsoft Office 365. You ll also typically see these five elements: 1 An introduction that tells you who sent the message Contoso Bank, in this example. 2 Instructions for viewing your message. 3 A disclaimer statement. 4 The sender s logo. 5 An attached HTML file with the encrypted message.
2. Open the attachment (message.html). The example below shows the opening page for Rod Gilmer who s received an encrypted message from Sara Davis. Note Recipients of Office 365 encrypted messages can use any of various email services, including Hotmail.com, Yahoo.com, or Outlook.com. 3. Select VIEW YOUR ENCRYPTED MESSAGE, under the sign-in instruction. In this case, Rod Gilmer doesn t have a Microsoft account and is prompted to create one. If you had a Microsoft account, you could enter it and view your message. 4. Since you don t have a Microsoft account, select the option to create one. In our example, Rod Gilmer selects CREATE A MICROSOFT ACCOUNT FOR <rodgilmer60@gmail.com>. This account will let you read your encrypted message and future encrypted messages that were sent using Office 365 Message Encryption.
5. On the Create an account page, enter your full name and a password in the provided boxes. You ll see your current email address for which you re creating the account, prefilled in the User name box. In our example, this box shows rodgilmer60@gmail.com. 6. Review the summary page, edit the information if necessary, and then select Verify your email address.
7. To verify that you re the owner of the email address that you created for the Microsoft account, go to your email Inbox and open the Verify your email address message. 8. Select the Verify option to confirm your email address. For example, Verify rodgilmer60@gmail.com. You ll see a thank you message for verifying your email address.
9. Once you ve verified your email address, go back and open the message.html file that you started with and follow the instructions to view the encrypted message. 10. Read your message.