Encrypted email is a great way to beef up your data security (and necessary if you need to meet certain regulations like HIPAA). We’ve covered it in more detail on this blog post. But it can make emailing with people outside of your organization a hassle sometimes. One of the most common questions we get from customers is “How can people I email see my encrypted emails if they aren’t on Office 365?”
If you are not using Office 365 and want to view an encrypted email you received from an Office 365 account, follow these steps.
After getting an encrypted email like the one above (see the note at the bottom about encryption by Microsoft Office 365? Look for that to make sure these steps will work for you), you’ll need to open the attachment.
To do so, simply double-click the attachment (you may have to save it to your computer first). Opening the attachment will open a web page that presents you with several options for accessing the secure email sent to you: View the message on desktop, View the message on an iOS device, View the message on an Android device, or use a one-time passcode.
If you don’t often receive encrypted messages, we recommend using the one-time passcode. Clicking on this link will send you a second email with a passcode that’s good for 15 minutes and open up a window with a place to enter the passcode.
Copy the passcode you receive in the second email and paste it into the web to view your encrypted message:
If you get encrypted emails on a regular basis, you’re better off viewing on your desktop or mobile device. This option allows you to sign in and view your message at any time, but requires you to register your email address with a Windows Live ID. You can do this at http://signup.live.com. This is the same account used for logging into other Microsoft accounts like Outlook.com and Xbox and your personal OneDrive, so you may already have one.
Registering yourself for a Windows Live ID allows Microsoft to associate your email address with a password. After you’ve registered you can use your email address and password to login and check your encrypted email at any time.
If you’re on an iOS or Andriod device, you’ll need to download an app – called the OME Viewer - to view encrypted emails. After downloading the app and creating your Windows Live ID, just click the appropriate link in the initial email to view the encrypted content.
After you’ve gone through the steps of creating an account and downloading an app, viewing encrypted emails from Office 365 should be a much faster process.
