Digital Signature on Outlook ( Comodo )

Today a friend of mine had to send an Email and the requirement was for the Email to have a digital signature.
He’s on Windows 10 so we used Outlook and got through it after a couple of tries.
This post is on how to set a digital signature using Outlook.

• • • First things first, use Firefox, neither Chrome nor any other browser helps with this, and go to Comodo’s Website to get a free Email certificate
    • Once you’ve received your Email and the certificate, install it using Firefox and not windows
  • Create a backup of your certificate, and store it in a path you’d like to keep your certificate in and make sure you remember the password too
  • If you want to sign all your mail using your digital signature whenever the recipients also have a signature:
    • From the file menu of your Outlook, click on Options
    • Click on Trust Center
    • Click on Trust Center Settings
    • Click on Email Security
    • Tick the option saying “Add digital signature to all outgoing messages”
    • Tick the option saying “Add digital signature to all outgoing messages”
    • Tick the option saying “Send clear text signed messages when sending signed messages”. This will enable users without a digital signature to be still able to see your messages
    • Tick the option saying “Request S/MIME signed messages”
    • Click on Import/ Export digital ID
    • Import existing digital ID from a file
    • Browse and find the file you’d backed up when you installed the certificate using Firefox, and the password is the one you’d entered while exporting it
    • You’re done!
  • If you only want the current message to be signed and not all messages:
    • • Create a new message, and click on options
      • Click on more options
      • Find the security settings, and click on it
      • Tick the option saying “Add digital signature to all outgoing messages”
      • Tick the option saying “Add digital signature to all outgoing messages”
      • Tick the option saying “Send clear text signed messages when sending signed messages”. This will enable users without a digital signature to be still able to see your messages
      • Change settings, and import your certificate here

So from now on, your messages will have a small certificate icon next to them, and on click, they’ll look like the image below.

Pretty cool, huh? Anyway, I really don’t know why the university he’s applying to had this as a requirement, but I guess learning things, even as silly as this one, is worth it!