In some cases, Outlook may be unable to open a message sent from a user in a different Microsoft 365 organization if the message has been protected with Information Rights Management.
Symptoms
When you try to open a protected message sent from a user in a different Microsoft 365 organization – even if you are signed in to Office with an account that has permission to open that message – you're unable to open it, and you may see one of the following notifications:
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A message that says: You are not signed in to Office with an account that has permission to open this message. You may sign in a new account into Office that has permission or request permission from the content owner.
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Selecting Add Account and signing in again does not resolve the issue.
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A Sign inwindow that asks you to Type the email of the account you would like to use to open this message.
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Signing in does not resolve the issue.
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An Accounts window that shows you the account(s) currently signed in to Office.
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Selecting the appropriate account does not resolve the issue.
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Selecting Add Account and signing in again does not resolve the issue.
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Resolution
Outlook 365 versions
Several issues pertaining to decrypting and opening IRM-protected messages sent from users in other Microsoft 365 organizations have been fixed in the following Outlook subscription version:
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Outlook 365: version 1808+
If your Outlook version is older than the version listed above, please update to the newest version and try again. To find your version number, see About Office: What version of Office am I using?
Tip: Microsoft 365 has multiple release channels that deliver updates on different schedules. This page details which versions are currently available in which channels.
Outlook perpetual versions
If you can view your email in Outlook on the web, The Outlook standalone versions haven't yet been patched with the fixes released to Outlook for Microsoft 365. Fixes are currently in development for the following versions.
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Outlook 2016
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Outlook 2019
This page will be updated with information about updates for the standalone perpetual versions of Outlook when the updates are released.
Notes:
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This issue will not be fixed in Outlook versions that are out of mainstream support, such as Outlook 2010 and Outlook 2013.
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You can use Outlook on the web to view these IRM-protected messages.
