Premise

I had just enabled the multi-factor authentication option for my Office365 account. I chose authentication by Microsoft Authenticator app. Once the setup was completed, I was able to successfully access my Office365 account/apps online i.e., in a web browser. However, on my laptop, I was unable to sign into any of my office apps (Outlook, Skype for Business, etc.).

Solution

This problem occurred due to the enabling of the multi-factor authentication option. The office apps, currently, don’t have a mechanism to verify multi-factor authentication. So your regular password won’t work here! 😐

Instead, you have to generate a fixed app password. Following are the steps to do the same:-

• Sign in to Office365.
• Select Settings/Office 365 Settings.
• Select Security & privacy > Additional security verification > Update my phone numbers used for account security.

  

• Select app passwords. It may look like its disabled, but no, it’s clickable and is perfectly enabled! 😦

  

• Select create. You will be prompted for a unique name. Since I intend to use this password in my outlook app, I named it Outlook.

  

• Once you hit next, your app password will be displayed.

  

• Use the password for logging into any one of your app.

Footnote

• This looks terrible directly from the onset! It is generally advisable to enable multi-factor authentication for additional security. However, for now, I won’t recommend the same for your Microsoft’s work or school accounts. 😕