The following articles were included in our Exchange Messaging Outlook (EMO) newsletter published on August 14, 2024.
EMO is a weekly publication. To receive your own copy of EMO by email, subscribe here.
Support Exchange Messaging Outlook Sponsors
Increase Your Productivity!
ReliefJet Essentials for Outlook is a set of more than 160 tools for performing a wide range of tasks in Outlook: processing email messages, contacts, appointments, meetings, tasks and other Outlook items.
Today's Highlights »
- Secure Your Email Account!
- Inactive Microsoft Accounts
- Changing the Default File Application
- Subscriptions are Missing in Outlook on the web
- Error adding a Google account to outlook
This is technically last week's issue. The server that sends the newsletter was not working and it did not get sent. Sorry.
Secure Your Email Account!
Yes, everyone preaches "use strong passwords" but unfortunately, there are a lot of users who are still not using strong passwords and I’m tired of trying to nicely say “Too Bad. So Sad!”, because when an account is hacked, there is a good chance you will never get it back.
If the hacker wants games, purchases, or other accounts that are linked to the account, they will change the password and enable 2 Factor Authentication (2FA). The original owner cannot get the account back if 2FA is enabled.
In many cases, the hacker will delete the original address from the account, either because they want the Xbox account linked to it, or just to be mean. When an address is deleted, the address is gone forever and cannot be recovered.
Tips: When you enable 2FA, always add at least 3 security proofs. If you have more than one mobile device, you can set up an authenticator on each device. The Authy app is nice because the authentications sync to all of your devices you have it installed on. You can use multiple email addresses or phone numbers for authentication, but need to keep the the list updated and the addresses active (if using outlook.com or other service that cancels unused accounts.). This way, if you lose one method, you have other ways of authentication. If you get a new mobile phone, don't reset it until you set the authenticator up on another device or temporarily disable 2FA on the accounts listed in it.
If you can’t or won’t enable 2FA or if you have a lot of sign in attempts in the activity list at https://account.live.com/Activity, you can add a new alias to your account set it as the primary alias and remove sign in permission from the current address (and any other aliases you use to sign into other websites.)set it as the primary alias and remove sign in permission from the current address (and any other aliases you use to sign into other websites.)
Note: You will need to select the desired alias from the From menu when you send new messages but replies should be from the alias the message was sent to.
To change the sign in address:
1. Add an alias here: https://account.live.com/names/manage
2. DO NOT REMOVE THE CURRENT ADDRESS! If you do, it is gone forever. You only want to add a new alias and set it as primary.
3. Change sign in preferences using the link at the bottom of that page: https://account.live.com/SignInPreferences
When you sign in, you need to use the new alias. Do not use the alias anywhere else, only for logging in so it won't get exposed in a data breach. (From Keeping Hackers out of Microsoft accounts )
Inactive Microsoft Accounts
Hacking is not the only way you can lose an address. I answer a lot of questions where the user is trying to log into old accounts because they want old photos or email stored in their Microsoft account. They usually don't know the password and don’t have enough account information to reset the password and want to know how to contact support to get back in the account. (Don't bother trying to contact support, Microsoft Support will not help reset passwords or security proofs.)
The bad news here is that if you don't log into your account at least once a year, the account is inactive and purged, the old emails and photos or documents are long gone. The only way to recover it is if you have the password. Resetting the password won't work (because you can't answer any of the questions about recent messages.)
Note that if you use both outlook.com and OneDrive, you need to log into each service to keep each one active.
Microsoft Accounts that do not have an Microsoft 365 subscription linked to it and are not accessed in more than 2 years are marked for deletion (closed for good). The exact period for closure depends on when the account was created (older accounts have a longer inactive period). As with deleted addresses, when the account is closed the addresses cannot be claimed or reclaimed, or otherwise reopened.
If you have an active subscription or purchases linked to the account, it won't be purged or deleted.
Microsoft account activity policy
Reset Microsoft Account password
Changing the Default File Application
I’ve had a few users ask how to get “everything” back to working in Outlook classic. They turned off the switch to use new Outlook, but messages saved to the hard drive and mailto links in web pages still open in new Outlook.
To fix this, you need to open Windows Settings, find Default apps then find Outlook classic. Click the > on the right of Outlook classic entry to open the list of file types Outlook supports. Look over the list and if any are not set to Outlook classic, click on it and choose Outlook from the list of apps.
Subscriptions are Missing in Outlook on the web
Some users are reporting that the Subscriptions page is missing at View tab > View settings > Mail > Subscriptions and they wanted to know how to manage their email subscriptions.
Users with Outlook.com accounts should have a Subscriptions page at https://outlook.live.com/mail/0/options/mail/brandsSubscriptions. The subscriptions option will be in new Outlook for Windows (at View tab > View settings > Mail > Subscriptions) but only if an Outlook.com or IMAP account is set as primary. It is not available for Microsoft 365 Work or School accounts.
The subscriptions page doesn't offer any additional features over managing subscriptions from the email, it just puts all the subscriptions it detects in one list so its easier to review your subscriptions.
If the page is missing or won't load, you need to look for email in your mailbox and click the Unsubscribe button located at the top of the message, under the message header area.
As always, never unsubscribe from spammy newsletters you did not subscribe to.
Error adding a Google account to outlook
A client was trying to add a Google account to Outlook classic and could not get past this error message:
"Google couldn't sign you in. This browser or app may not be secure. Try using a different browser."
While there is a known issue with current versions of Outlook (the solution is to switch to an insider build), I was able to fix it for my client by enabling IE mode in Edge.
To fix it, open Edge. Paste this in the address bar and press enter: edge://settings/defaultbrowser
Set IE mode to allowed.
In most cases, you will not need to have Edge set as the default browser, but a few people needed to set Edge as default browser too. Once the account is added to Outlook, the default browser can be changed back to your preference.
I have screenshots of the dialogs in this article: Outlook Error: Google Couldn't sign you in
New & Updated Outlook Support Articles
August 2024 updates for Microsoft Office
Classic Outlook reminders dialog not drawing properly and Dismiss button missing
Description of the security update for Outlook 2016: August 13, 2024 (KB5002626)
Meeting missing from organizer’s calendar
Outlook Desktop is unable to apply labels with encryption
Outlook shows conflict errors when updating or cancelling meetings
Outlook, Word, or OneNote unexpectedly close when typing
Teams Meeting add-in is missing in Outlook Desktop after updating to New Teams
Unable to send to Gmail with country domains [FIXED]
Unable to sign in or add a Gmail account to classic Outlook
Other Resources
New Outlook for Windows: A guide for Delegates – part 1
New Outlook for Windows: a guide for Executive Assistants and Delegates – part 2
New Outlook for Windows: a guide for Executive Assistants and Delegates – part 3
The new Outlook for Windows brings a new, powerful email experience that can help executive administrators and delegates become more productive in their everyday work. This blog captures some tips to help delegates get started in the new Outlook.
Outlook.com and Modern Authentication Questions
Questions and answers on Microsoft Outlook.com disabling basic authentication and requiring modern authentication. What will work after September 16 2024?
Categorize @Mentioned Messages
A user wanted to know how to create a rule to add a category to messages he was @mentioned on. I'll show you how to use a run a script rule or an ItemAdd macro to set a category on a message you were @mentioned on in classic Outlook.
Classic Outlook missing from new computers
After purchasing a new computer, users discovered the Office installation is missing Outlook.