Some questions about Cloud Backup in Microsoft Authenticator

[Rod Falanga]

We've been using Microsoft Authenticator at work for about a year. It's been working fine, but it does have a flaw.

Today I discovered that there's an option in Authenticator to backup Authenticator to the cloud. If I turn it on, which seems like it would be a good idea, then it will backup to OneDrive. My question concerns that backup, what happens if I uninstall MS Authenticator from my phone, then put it back on again. I'll give you details.

For some reason which I've never understood, sometimes entries in MS Authenticator get disabled. There is nothing I can do about it. Especially, I cannot delete it. I cannot re-enable it. It sits there, useless to me, just taking up space. I've spoken with Microsoft about this before. The only solution they have given me is to uninstall MS Authenticator from my Samsung phone, then re-install it. Basically, start all over again. It's a pain, but it's the only solution that gets rid of those useless entries. And over time, I'll accumulate so many of these useless entries in Authenticator that it necessitates the whole uninstall/reinstall rigamarole. So, if I enable this backup to the cloud feature, won't that just work against my need to get rid of those useless entries? If so, then backup to the cloud defeats the only workaround I have of cleaning up useless entries in MS Authenticator.

[#2]

Such entries usually represent "accounts" added to the device, and you can remove them from the Android settings app.

[#3]

Thank you, Vasil, for responding to my question. Currently, there are three disabled and unresponsive entries in my MS Authenticator app. Two of them are related to work email addresses. (We recently went through a change in domains at work.) The third one is related to my current personal email address. I certainly don't want to get rid of that.

So, how do I go about getting rid of the other two in Android's settings?

[#4]

On my device, one can find them under Settings > Accounts & Sync, but it might vary from vendor to vendor.

[#5]

I've found it on my phone. I'll have to spend more time at looking it over, but one thing I saw stuck out at me. My personal account/email address is there. (This is my personal phone, not a work issued phone.) It's just there associated with my Outlook account.

But it is also listed in Accounts with an icon that's got a blue background with white for a person's outline, with the words "Work account". That doesn't make any sense. My personal email address is not my work account, nor has it ever been my work account. Why is my personal email address there, in two different capacities?