Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Email from Gmail: "You may lose access to some of your third-party apps"

  • 6 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 16 views
  • Last reply by DuanesNumb

more options

I use Thunderbird 91.6.1 (32-bit) to download mail from my gmail accounts to my PC.

I received this email this morning and don't have a clue what it means or what I need to do to keep receiving email from my gmail accounts:

On May 30, you may lose access to apps that are using less secure sign-in technology

"To help keep your account secure, Google will no longer support the use of third-party apps or devices which ask you to sign in to your Google Account using only your username and password. Instead, you’ll need to sign in using Sign in with Google or other more secure technologies, like OAuth 2.0. Learn more

"What do you need to do?

"Email software, like Outlook 2016 or earlier, has less secure access to your Gmail. Switch to Office 365, Outlook 2019 or newer, or any other email software where you can sign in using Sign in with Google.

Will in Seattle a.k.a. "Clueless"

I use Thunderbird 91.6.1 (32-bit) to download mail from my gmail accounts to my PC. I received this email this morning and don't have a clue what it means or what I need to do to keep receiving email from my gmail accounts: '''On May 30, you may lose access to apps that are using less secure sign-in technology "To help keep your account secure, Google will no longer support the use of third-party apps or devices which ask you to sign in to your Google Account using only your username and password. Instead, you’ll need to sign in using Sign in with Google or other more secure technologies, like OAuth 2.0. Learn more "What do you need to do? "Email software, like Outlook 2016 or earlier, has less secure access to your Gmail. Switch to Office 365, Outlook 2019 or newer, or any other email software where you can sign in using Sign in with Google.'' Will in Seattle a.k.a. "Clueless"

All Replies (6)

more options

Gmail has high security settings, more than many others. This is generally the issue when the receiving mail supporter (in this case, Gmail) cannot confirm that the sending domain matches the domain of the host sending site. For example, if your business is pumpkinpie.com and your business hosting provider is bluehost.com, Gmail sees that the actual host domain is bluehost and looks for confirmation that the settings for cakes.com are reflected there. This ties to DKIM and SPF settings on the server and are beyond anything TB can do. My suggestion is to check with your hosting provider. This is generally a simple fix by web host. This is not an issue that TB can correct. (Background: spammers like to send emails, pretending to be someone else, and that is what Gmail is trying to prevent.)

more options

With all due respect, except for the first and last sentences, this answer is gobbledy-gook to non-techo geeks.

Many ordinary folk are getting the same message from Google. What we want to know is, will our .gmail email account be unavailable to TB after 30 May; and what specific steps should we take now to avoid any disruption?

A clear answer with step by step instructions would be most helpful. Thanks so much.

more options

Hi DuanesNumb,

I had the same problem with David's reply, i.e., I didn't understand the technical jargon, and he seemed to be assuming I had a web page of my own, which I don't.

But, as it turns out, after posting my question I discovered that David had already posted, in another thread, a clear answer to the same question, in plain language understandable even to a geriatric non-techie like me:

"Using OAUTH2 has been an option for several years and now it will soon be mandatory for Gmail. TB has that option and it's rather straightforward. You need to change authorization by going to tools>account settings>server settings and changing authentication method to OAUTH2 and then going to tools>preferences>privacy&security and remove the gmail passwords. After that, shut down TB and restart. You will be presented with a menu to log into gmail to grant access to TB. Once done, life should resume." https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1369658 https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1369658

Will in Seattle, a.k.a. "Clueless"

more options

OOPS! my error. On occasion, when I am responding to many topics, I sometimes give the response to a different question. I was responding to a person who was getting an error when sending, being told that the domain in his email id didn't match the domain of how website host. Sorry about that. I'm glad you found the solution. Please mark this topic closed, if you're all set. Thanks.

more options

Hi David! Thanks for checking in.

I haven't tried your instructions yet, out of fear that I may end up messing up my access to my gmail account. So I've put that on the top of my to-do list, and then once I've got OAUTH2 up and running I'll mark this problem as solved.

Will in Seattle a.k.a. "Clueless"

more options

After noting that the first answer was not helpful, I continued to poke around these forums, and soon pieced together an answer that is exactly the same as David's update. These instructions are very clear, and -for me - have worked flawlessly. I guess we'll know for sure come May 30, but I encourage you to go ahead and make the change. If disaster strikes, you could always return to the old password, and use the next month and a half to trouble-shoot!