The three ways
A passkey. Use a passkey sits at the top of the sign-in page and appears only on browsers that can do it. You type no address at all: your phone or laptop offers whichever passkey it holds, and the credential names the account. Fingerprint, face, or screen lock, and you are in.
Continue with Google or Continue with Microsoft, when the button is there. The page shows only the providers that are set up, so you never meet a button that cannot work.
Email and password. Type the address; the password field appears once it looks complete. Tick Keep me signed in on this device if the device is yours.
When it will not let you in
- "That email and password do not match an account." One message covers both a wrong password and an address with no account — saying which would turn this form into a way to find out who has signed up. Check both, then use Forgot your password?, which answers the same way whether or not the address is known.
- "Too many sign-in attempts." Five wrong tries pauses the form. The message says for how long.
- "That passkey did not work." Sign in with your email and password instead; the passkey keeps working on the device that holds it. Waving the prompt away is not an error and shows no message.
- "Microsoft did not vouch for your address." Microsoft does not always tell us an address is confirmed. Sign in with your password once and the two accounts connect themselves — after that, one tap.
- "That sign-in did not finish in time." The hand-off from the provider is short-lived. Start again from the sign-in page rather than reloading the old tab.
Adding a passkey later
You are offered one straight after sign-up — Add a passkey to this device, or Skip for now, and it is not asked again. From then on it lives in the sidebar under Settings → Sign-in and security, where you can add one per device, rename it, or remove it. Removing one stops that device signing you in and leaves your password alone.