Importing and Using your Email or Personal Authentication certificate with Outlook 2003

• If you originally applied for the certificate on the same computer as your Outlook installation then it should already be installed. You can skip straight to 'Signing and Encrypting'.

• If your certificate is not already installed on the computer you are using, then please export it from the machine on which it resides using one of the browsers listed on the CPAC main page. You then need to transfer it to this computer (email it to yourself or save the certificate file to USB then copy over). You can then follow the 'import' instructions in this document.

  Importing your certificate into Outlook 2003

  Signing and Encrypting mails

Importing your Certificate into Outlook 2003:

1. Open Outlook 2003, then click 'Tools' > 'Options...'.

2. In the Options screen, click 'Security' > 'Import/Export...'

   

3. In the Import/Export Digital ID interface, navigate to the location of your PKCS12 certificate file and click 'Open'. Enter the password that was used while exporting the certificate and provide a Digital ID name.

   

4. Click 'OK'.

   

5. Select the security level for storing the Private Key in your system and click OK.

6. Click 'Apply' and then 'OK' in the Options screen.

That's it. You have successfully imported your Comodo Personal Authentication certificate into Outlook 2003.

Signing and Encrypting Mails

• Signing an email ensures the recipient knows the email has come from you and informs them that it has not been modified in transit.

• Encrypting an email ensures that only the recipient can read the email content and attachments.

Note: In order to encrypt mail, you must first have your recipient's email certificate in your certificate store. To obtain their certificate, you need to get your contact to send you a signed email. Upon receipt of the signed mail, their certificate will be automatically imported into your certificate store and you will be able to sign/encrypt mail to that person.

• Assign the certificate

• Signing and Encrypting individual mails

• Signing and encrypting all mails by default

Assign the certificate

1. Open Outlook 2003, then click 'Tools' > 'Options...'.

2. In the Options screen, click 'Security' > 'Settings..'.

   

   The 'Change Security Settings' dialog allows you to choose signing and encryption certificates. In most cases you should be using your Comodo Personal Authentication Certificate for both signing and encrypting.

   

3. Click the 'Choose' button next to the 'Signing Certificate' field.

   A new window will appear which will allow you to choose your signing certificate from the list of imported certificates.

4. Choose your Comodo Personal Authentication certificate and click 'OK'.

   If you are unsure, you can highlight a certificate and click the ‘View Certificate’ button to see certificate details.

5. Repeat the process for the 'Encryption Certificate', again choosing your Comodo certificate.

   On returning to the 'Change Security Settings' window, you should see your certificate listed as the signing and/or encryption certificate fields.

6. Click 'OK' to return to the Options screen.

7. Click 'Apply' and then 'OK' in the Options screen.

Signing and encrypting individual mails

• To sign or encrypt an individual mail, first compose a new mail or reply to/forward an existing mail.

• Click 'Options...' on the message tool bar and in the Message Options screen, click the 'Security Settings' button and then select the 'Encrypt message contents and attachments' and / or 'Add digital signature to this message' checkboxes depending on your requirements in the Security Properties screen and click 'OK'. Alternatively, click one or both of the 'Sign' and 'Encrypt' buttons. Note: If the Sign and Encrypt icons are not available in the tool bar, you can place them using the Toolbar Options button next to Options...

  

When the mail is sent, it will be signed and/or encrypted per the options selected.

Signing and encrypting all mails by default

1. Open Outlook 2003, then click 'Tools' > 'Options...'.

2. In the Options screen, click the 'Security' tab.

   

   • To encrypt every message by default, check the 'Encrypt contents...' box

   • To sign every message by default, check the 'Add digital signature...' box

   • Leave one or both of these check-boxes unchecked if you only wish to encrypt/sign messages on an individual basis.

   • As a rule of thumb, many users choose to digitally sign by default but only encrypt when sending a message which requires confidentiality.

3. Click 'Apply' and 'OK'