Using Security Features in Outlook

Troubleshooting Outlook Security

When attempting to read signed e-mail messages, I receive an error message about an invalid signature.

I cannot view secure messages in the Outlook preview pane.

While sending secure e-mail messages, I receive an error message.

When attempting to read signed e-mail messages, I receive an error message about an invalid signature.

This problem can occur for a variety of reasons, which are listed in the Certificate dialog box. The most common reason for this error is that the sender’s certificate is not trusted.

Microsoft Outlook 2000 security uses trust-based certificates. If Outlook security does not trust the sender’s certificate or the certificate authority that issued it, the signature is considered invalid. To correct the problem, you must edit the trust for the certificate.

To edit the trust for a certificate

1. In the Certificate dialog box, click Edit Trust.
2. Click Explicitly trust this certificate to identify this certificate as trusted.

   You can also specify the certificate authority’s certificate as trusted by selecting it from the list and changing its trust status.

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I cannot view secure messages in the Outlook preview pane.

You can view only clear-signed messages in the preview pane. Outlook 2000 does not support viewing of encrypted and blob-signed (also known as binary-format signed) messages in the preview pane.

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While sending secure e-mail messages, I receive an error message.

This error message indicates that either your e-mail address does not match the address on the certificate, or there is a problem with the certificate. If you have more than one e-mail account, the account you are using might have a different e-mail address than the one on the certificate. Also, the certificate might not be trusted, or the certificate might have expired or been revoked.