Help me turn off authentication requests

Question

I'd rather risk having my files stolen (there is nothing here worth anything to anyone anyhow) than to have to go through the authentication process as often as I am having to. This just started about two weeks ago, but I'm having to go through my authenticator a couple of times a day just to use Word, Outlook, etc. This is ridiculous. How do I get it to stop?

Answer 1

To reduce or eliminate the frequent authentication prompts in Microsoft 365 applications like Word and Outlook, you can consider the following steps:

1. Check for Updates: Ensure that your Office applications are up to date. Sometimes, updates can resolve authentication issues.
2. Clear Cached Credentials: You can try clearing cached passwords and authentication tokens. This can help if there are duplicate tokens causing the prompts. To do this:
   • Quit all Office applications.
   • Open Keychain Access on your Mac.
   • Search for any entries related to your Microsoft account and delete them.
   • Restart Outlook or other Office applications, and you will be prompted to authenticate again.
3. Proxy Server Settings: If you are using a proxy server, make sure that Microsoft Office is added to the exception list of the proxy server. This can prevent the applications from being blocked during authentication attempts.
4. Basic Authentication Settings: Be aware that Microsoft has been moving away from Basic authentication due to security concerns. If your applications are trying to use Basic authentication, you might not be able to disable the prompts entirely. Instead, consider using modern authentication methods that support multifactor authentication.
5. Contact Support: If the issue persists, consider reaching out to Microsoft support for further assistance, as they may provide specific solutions based on your account and setup.

These steps should help mitigate the frequent authentication requests you are experiencing.

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References:

• Basic authentication sign-in prompts are blocked by default in Microsoft 365 Apps
• Office 2016 for Mac 16.x prompts you for authentication when you open a URL

Answer 2

Dear @Doug Short,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

To help narrow down the issue, could you please confirm these questions below to help me diagnose the issue more effectively: 

• Are you using a work or school account (@company.com) or a personal Microsoft account (@outlook.com/@hotmail.com) in Word and Outlook?
• Does this happen on all devices or just one (e.g., your PC, laptop, or mobile)?
• When the prompt appears, is it asking for MFA approval only, or do you also have to re-enter your password?
• Did anything change recently, such as a new device, password reset, or IT policy update?

The frequent authentication prompts can be, especially when you need to stay productive, this behavior usually occurs when security policies or session settings have changed recently. Here are some steps and considerations:

Step 1: Sign out everywhere once, then sign in cleanly

• In Word/Excel/Outlook (New or Classic), go to Account > Sign out from all listed accounts.
• In Settings > Accounts > Access work or school (Windows), disconnect unused work/school accounts that you don’t use in Office.

Step 2: Use the same profile across Office and Edge

• Sign in to Edge with the same work/school account and answer “Stay signed in?” with Yes to persist sessions (unless your org disables it).

If the issue still persists, your organization may have updated Conditional Access policies or security defaults to require MFA more frequently.

If you are using a work or school account, this behavior is usually controlled by your organization’s security policies (such as Conditional Access or MFA settings). In this case, I kindly recommend you contact your IT administrator and share the details of what you’re experiencing. They can review settings like Sign-in frequency and Persistent browser sessions to help reduce prompts while maintaining security.

• Review Sign-in frequency settings in Conditional Access.
• Enable Persistent browser sessions if allowed.
• Consider device-based trust policies to reduce MFA prompts without compromising security.
• For more information, please refer to Conditional Access adaptive session lifetime policies

Please understand that as forum moderators, our primary goal is to provide helpful guidance and support through general troubleshooting steps. While we don’t have access to internal systems or administrative tools required to resolve account-specific or backend issues, we truly appreciate your understanding of these limitations. We genuinely hope the information we share helps guide you in the right direction, and we're always here to assist as much as we can within our scope.  

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can work together to resolve this. If I misunderstand anything, please feel free to reach out.

Please understand that our initial response does not always resolve the issue immediately. However, with your help and more detailed information, we can work together to find a solution.

Thank you for your patience and your understanding. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.

I'm looking forward for your reply.

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