Create app passwords from the Security info page

Create app passwords from the Security info page

Certain apps, such as Outlook 2010, don't support two-step verification. This lack of support means that if you're using two-step verification in your organization, the app won't work. To get around this problem, you can create an auto-generated password to use with each non-browser app, separate from your normal password.

Important: Your administrator may not allow you to use app passwords. If you don't see App passwords as an option, they're not available in your organization.

When using app passwords, remember that:

  • App passwords are auto-generated, and should be created and entered once per app.
  • There's a limit of 40 passwords per user. If you try to create one after that limit, you need to delete an existing password before you can create the new one.

Note: Office 2013 clients (including Outlook) support new authentication protocols and can be used with two-step verification. This support means that after two-step verification is turned on, you won't need app passwords for Office 2013 clients. For more info, see the How modern authentication works for Office 2013 and Office 2016 client apps article.

Create new app passwords

If you use two-step verification with your work or school account and your administrator has turned on the security info experience, you can create and delete your app passwords using the Security info page.

  1. Sign in to your work or school account and then go to your My Account page.

    My Profile page, showing highlighted Security info links
  2. Select Security info from the left navigation pane or from the link in the Security info block, and then select Add method from the Security info page.

    Security info page with highlighted Add method option
  3. On the Add a method page, select App password from the list, and then select Add.

    Add method box, with App password selected
  4. Type the name of the app that requires the app password, and then select Next.

  5. Copy the text from the Password box, paste the password in the password area of the app (in this example, Outlook 2010), and then select Done.

    App password page, with name of app

Delete your app passwords

If you no longer need to use an app that requires an app password, you can delete the associated app password. Deleting the app password frees up one of the available app password spots for use in the future.

Important: If you delete an app password by mistake, there's no way to undo it. You'll have to create a new app password and re-enter it into the app, following the steps in the "Create new app passwords" section of this article.

  1. On the Security info page, select the Delete link next to the App password option for the specific app.

    Link to delete the app password method from security info
  2. Select Yes from the confirmation box to delete the app password. After the app password is deleted, it's removed from your security info and it disappears from the Security info page.

    • Related Articles

    • Set up your Microsoft 365 sign-in for multi-factor authentication

      Once your admin enables your organization, and your account, for multi-factor authentication (MFA) you have to set up your user account to use it. This should only take a minute or so. Tip: Want to know more about multi-factor authentication? See ...
    • How to sign in to Outlook on the web

      Outlook on the web is the web-based version of Outlook used by organizations and it's what you use to access the email, calendar, and contacts associated with your work or school account via a web browser. Your work or school account is typically ...
    • I can't send or receive messages in New Outlook

      If you see messages piling up in your Outlook outbox or people you're sending messages to aren't receiving them, try the following methods to fix the issue. We've presented the methods in order of quickest to most in-depth We recommend trying the ...
    • I can't send or receive messages in Classic Outlook

      If you see messages piling up in your Outlook outbox or people you're sending messages to aren't receiving them, try the following methods to fix the issue. We've presented the methods in order of quickest to most in-depth. We recommend trying the ...
    • Send automatic replies (out of office) from Classic Outlook

      Use automatic (Out of Office) replies from Outlook to tell people you won't be responding right away to their email messages. Determine email account type There are two ways to send automatic out-of-office replies in classic Outlook. The way you do ...