Receiving an Encrypted Email (External Recipient)

Office 365 - Email Encryption User Guide

Receiving Encrypted Messages

Receiving an encrypted email (external recipient)

A message that is encrypted by Office 365 Message Encryption is delivered to a recipient’s inbox just like any other email message, but it contains an HTML file attachment. To open the HTML attachment, save it to your desired location.

Fig 1: HTML message

Launch and open the HTML attachment, the recipient can either sign in or use a one-time passcode to view the message on the Office 365 Message Encryption portal. The email includes instructions for viewing the encrypted message, as shown below:

To view an encrypted message using a Microsoft account with Sign in option

1. Follow the instructions in the email message to save the attachment.

2. Open the message.html file and select Sign in

Fig 2: Sign in screen

Sign in to the encryption portal with a Microsoft account, as instructed in the message below. If you do not have a Microsoft account, you can choose the option to create one associated with your email address. (You’ll have to fill out a form and complete a verification step.) In order to view the encrypted message, the email address for the Microsoft account must match the address to which the encrypted message was sent.

If the recipient is already signed in, he or she won’t have to sign in again.

Fig 3: Sign Option

After signing in, you can view the contents of the encrypted message.

Fig 4: Encrypted Message

To view an encrypted message using a Microsoft account with one-time password

1. Follow the instructions in the email message to save the attachment.

2. Open the message.html file and select Use a one-time password

Fig 5: Sign-in Option Screen

The one-time code will be sent to the recipient inbox

Note: The recipient can have the encrypted email in their inbox as long as they want. The passcode is only generated when the recipient follows the full process of saving the message.html and then clicks on the sign-in option to use a one-time passcode to open the encrypted message. It is only at this point that they passcode will expire in 15 minutes. Please note new passcode can be re-generated.

Fig 6: one-time code login screen

Open the message to reveal the one-time code from Microsoft

Fig 7: One-time code from Microsoft

Type in the code in the passcode section to access the encrypted message. Selecting the button below the passcode will keep the recipient signed in for 12 hours.

Fig 8: one-time code login screen

After signing in, you can view the contents of the encrypted message.

Fig 9: Message

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