Setup guide · Mobile reps

Your Tropics Title email on your phone

This sets up two apps on your phone: Microsoft Authenticator, which proves it’s really you when you sign in, and Outlook, for your Tropics email, calendar and contacts.

About 15 minutes

Before you start

Your phone, charged and online (Wi-Fi or mobile data).
Your Tropics email address: yourname@tropicstitle.com
New to Tropics? Your first password. I give it to you in person, or by text message just before you start (delete the text when you're done). Never by email.
Already have a Tropics password? Use it wherever this guide says "first password".
Already approve Tropics sign-ins with Authenticator on this phone? Skip step 2.
Be in the United States. Setting up from another country is blocked.

Install the Microsoft apps on your phone

Open the App Store (iPhone) or Google Play (Android).
Search for Microsoft Authenticator and install it.
Search for Microsoft Outlook and install it.

Microsoft's apps are free. Before you install, check that the publisher is Microsoft Corporation. Look-alike apps exist.

Set up Microsoft Authenticator

This proves it’s really you whenever you sign in.

Open Authenticator and tap Accept. If it offers to sign in with a personal Microsoft account or restore a backup, tap Skip.
If your phone asks whether Authenticator may send notifications, tap Allow. Sign-in approvals arrive as notifications.
Now open your phone's web browser (Safari or Chrome) and go to aka.ms/mfasetup.
Type your Tropics email address and tap Next. Type your first password and tap Sign in.
If Microsoft asks you to update your password, type the first password once, then your new password twice. Your new password must:
- be at least 14 characters long;
- include a capital letter, a small letter, a number and a symbol (such as ! # $ or ?);
- not include Tropics, title, your name, your birthday or anyone's name in your family;
- be new: not a password you use, or used before, anywhere else.
Tip: a short sentence only you would know, with a number and a symbol mixed in, is long enough and easier to remember than random letters. Keep it in a password manager, not on paper or in a note, text or email. The one built into your phone works well: Apple Passwords on iPhone, or Google Password Manager on Android. Apps such as 1Password and Bitwarden also work. Lock it with Face ID, your fingerprint or a strong passcode, and never share it.
When you see More information required or Keep your account secure, tap Next.
Microsoft asks you to get the Authenticator app. You already have it, so tap Next until you see the link Pair your account to the app by clicking this link. Tap that link.
Authenticator opens and adds your Tropics account. Switch back to the web browser and tap Next.
The page shows a two-digit number. Tap the Authenticator notification on your phone, type that number and tap Yes (or Approve). If Authenticator only asks you to approve, or to use Face ID or your fingerprint, do that.
When the page says it worked, tap Next or Done.
If you're asked to add a passkey, follow the steps on screen. It's the safest way to sign in. If it doesn't work, skip it and tell me.

Set up Outlook on your phone

Open Outlook.
If Outlook shows your Tropics account (it may say Accounts found), tap Add account or Continue. If it doesn't, type your Tropics email address and tap Continue.
If you're asked for a password, type your Tropics password.
If you're asked to approve, tap the Authenticator notification and approve. If a number is shown, type it in Authenticator. Then go back to Outlook.
When Outlook asks to send notifications, tap Allow so you see new email.
If Outlook offers to add another account, tap Maybe later or Skip.
Your Tropics inbox opens. Your calendar is at the bottom of the screen.

Use the Outlook app for Tropics email, not your phone's built-in Mail app or Gmail. Outlook in a web browser is turned off on purpose.

Check that it works

In Outlook, tap New mail and send a short email to yourself.
If it arrives, you're done. If it hasn't arrived after a few minutes, email me at victor@tropicstitle.com.

Every day after that

When you sign in somewhere new, your phone asks you to approve, sometimes with a number to type. Approve only if you just signed in yourself.
No notification? Open Authenticator; a waiting request shows there. If there's still nothing, choose another way to sign in on the screen and type the 6-digit code shown under your Tropics account in Authenticator.
Forgot your Tropics password? In the web browser on your phone, go to aka.ms/sspr and reset it yourself. You may be asked for the 6-digit code shown in Authenticator.
Getting a new phone? Tell me before you switch. Authenticator has to be moved to the new phone, and until it is, only the old phone can approve your sign-ins.
Lost your phone, or think someone else used it? Tell me right away, so I can lock your Tropics account.

Three rules that keep Tropics and its clients safe

A sign-in request you didn't start: tap No, it’s not me or Deny, and tell me right away. It means someone has your password. Never read a sign-in number or code to anyone, even someone who says they're me. I will never ask you for one.
Wiring instructions never change because of an email, even one that seems to come from a coworker, a lender or a realtor. Call the person on a number you already have.
An email that feels off: don't click anything in it. In Outlook, open the email's ⋯ menu and report it as phishing, then tell me.

Getting help

I look after the computers and email at Tropics Title. Email me at victor@tropicstitle.com. You can write from any email address, so this works even before your Tropics email is set up.

Victor

Some screenshots: Microsoft, from Microsoft Learn documentation, used under CC BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0). Some are cropped.