Basic Authentication and Modern Authentication/OAuth 2.0 in Office 365 and Outlook

Modern Authentication or OAuth 2.0 is the new, secure way to connect your Microsoft Outlook email account to third party applications such as EXACT.

• Why are changes being made in EXACT?

• Configuring an Outlook email account

• Unlicensed Email Accounts (using the primary alias account credentials) 

• Configuration Loops 

• Script Error

Why are changes being made in EXACT?

In September 2021 Microsoft announced that Basic Authentication for Office 365 and Outlook will be disabled on 1st October 2022 with Modern Authentication being the chosen method of connection.
Deprecation of Basic authentication in Exchange Online.

Configuring an Outlook email account

Currently upon logging into EXACT using an administrator account, you should be prompted with the following window. This contains your current email credentials, unless you are already aware of these, please note these down.

Open

1. Select Re-authenticate Now

2. You may be prompted to select your admin or primary alias account, if not shown please select Use another account to enter these credentials.

   Open

   

3. A Microsoft Windows prompt will appear, you will need to confirm you wish for EXACT to have access to your email account.

4. If prompted, please enter the password for the email account (this will be the one noted from the original window in EXACT.Some accounts have 2-Factor Authentication enabled, depending on the account set up you may be prompted to send a codevia SMS, confirm a number on your device or authorise the sign in using an authenticator app. Examples below.

5. Select Next until the end of the wizard and click Finish to save all changes

6. Once you have entered the password or code/confirmed in the authenticator app a green tick will appear in the email credentials window in EXACT.A red cross indicates the connection has not been successful, if this is displayed please view the following resolutions or contact our OAuth Support team by selecting Option 6 when calling for support.

    

7. Select Next until the end of the wizard and click Finish to save all changes.

Standard Configuration

1. Access Email configuration via Configure - Email Parameters.

2. Select Microsoft Office 365.

3. The following window may be pre-populated with your credentials, enter them if not and press Connect.

4. Then follow the steps above in Configuring an Outlook email account.

Unlicensed Email Accounts (using the primary alias account credentials) 

The following error occurs when an unlicensed email account is being used for configuration, this can be resolved by following the steps below.

1. Access www.office.com to open the website and log into your Office 365 admin account.

2. Access the admin centre by selecting the squares in the upper left, followed by Admin.

3. Navigate to Active Users, this will display users and their current license state.

4. If the user you are attempting to log in with is unlicensed you will need to purchase a license or transfer one from another account. Navigate to License and apps to view available licenses.

5. Navigate to Mail then click Manage email apps to confirm IMAP and Authenticated SMTP are both ticked.

6. Once this has been completed, complete configuration of your email account in EXACT again.

Configuration Loops 

If during the email configuration the setup window loops at any point please contact our dedicated OAuth support team by selecting option 1 then option 6 when calling 01634 266800.

Script Error

The following error has been found to be caused by incomplete tasks awaiting completion within an Office 365 account.

1. Access www.office.com to open the website and log into your Office 365 admin account.

2. Confirm any Microsoft prompts.

3. Once logged into your admin account, select Outlook on the left of the website and confirm any Microsoft prompts.

4. Once this has been completed, complete configuration of your email account in EXACT again.