Thunderbird suddenly can't access gmail account
Thunderbird has worked exceptionally well for many, many years on my laptop running Windows 8.1 Pro. Currently using Thunderbird 68.8.1. I use POP to get my gmail and send mail. I bought a new Android phone a few days ago and it seems that when the new phone was activated, Thunderbird on my laptop quit working. The last mail received was May 17. I use my Android phone to set up a hotspot to run my laptop, so they are actually connected somehow. Various error messages, all seem related to the google server not recognizing my email or password. Latest error is The STAT command did not succeed. Error getting message number and sizes. mail server pop.gmail.com responded: Username and password not accepted. I've set Gmail to allow unsafe apps, that didn't work. I've changed setting from Password to OAuth2, and it says it gave me a new password, but it still doesn't work. I don't want to use IMAP, I only get mail on my laptop, and want all mail stored locally. I don't want to sync multiple devices. I've removed my google account and re-added it to my phone, that did nothing. I've made sure I'm signed out of all old accounts. It appears to me that google suddenly decided to not allow access to their mail via 3rd party apps, because the built in email app on my phone gets similar messages relating to "unsafe apps". It worked on the old phone, but not on the new phone. I'm at a loss, and don't know what to try next. Any help appreciated.
Chosen solution
I finally fixed it. Apparently, when I first set up Thunderbird 20+ years ago, there was difficulty getting emails, and it appears the original bellsouth account was CHANGED to the gmail information, rather than a NEW email account being created for Gmail. So on the surface my account said Gmail, but behind the scenes it still said bellsouth. I moved all my old emails from the bellsouth/main file folder section to Local Folders, set a different email account as "default", then deleted the bellsouth/gmail account I had been using, shut down/restarted Thunderbird, cleared out old passwords that had been set for the Bellsouth account, and set my existing Gmail account up again, as a "new account". Set the new Gmail account to "default". All works great now.
A new understanding of Thunderbird for me - mail comes into the "account" folders, into the "account file cabinet" for that account. Emails can be stored there, and new folders created if desired. There is another "file cabinet" called Local Folders. All incoming/sent mail can be moved to the Local Folder(s), where new folders can also be created, and stored there. What I didn't understand is that if an "account" is deleted, ALL THE EMAILS IN THE "account file cabinet" are DELETED. That section just "disappears". To keep emails forever on your computer, all emails must be periodically moved to the Local Folder section. I set up Year folders for Inbox and Sent so that it would create smaller email storage files in the background.Read this answer in context 👍 0
All Replies (3)
Try the following in the order specified.
Make sure you can logon to webmail account via a browser and double check the pop is selected. Gmail will also detect what computer you are using to logon.
- Sign in to Gmail webmail account using normal password
- Click on Gear icon and then select Settings.
- Click on Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.
- Select Enable POP.
- Click Save changes.
In Thunderbird Go into offline mode by clicking on the 'two blue screen icon' located in bottom left of Status bar. It will become a 'two black screen icon' when in offline mode.
Access where password is stored.
- Menu app icon > Options > Options > Security > 'Passwords' tab
- click on 'Saved Passwords'
- click on 'Show passwords'
- Remove the gmail lines, mailbox, smtp, oauth.
- click on 'Close'
- Right click on pop gmail account in Folder Pane and select 'Settings'.
- click on 'Edit SMTP server'
- Edit the Authentication method: OAuth2
- username = full gmail email address
- click on OK
- Select 'Server Settings'
In order to download/connect to get gmail emails via pop on more than one device you need to change to use 'recent'. See info at this link:
look at the info under section called 'I want to download emails on multiple email clients'
If only downloading to thunderbird, then remove the gmail access to account from the phone now and you do not need to change to use 'recent'.
For POP:
- server name: pop.gmail.com
- port: 995
- username = full gmail email address
- Connection Security: SSL/TLS
- Authentication method: Oauth2
- Select 'Leave message on server'
- click on OK
Exit Thunderbird.
Start Thunderbird and it will restart in online mode.
When Thunderbird attempts to logon to gmail server, a verification window will open in browser. Enter the details as requested - note password will be normal password and click on Allow button. This should put an OAuth2 token into saved passwords area in thunderbird.
Check the token has been stored in the saved passwords; it will have a oauth line and the token password will be a long line of various letters and numbers. You will never need to enter that token ever as a password. It is used by thunderbird to access server.
Thank you for such detailed instructions, they were very helpful.
Discovered the problem, but don't know how to fix. I am pulling multiple accounts into Thunderbird. My Gmail one is 1st on my list of accounts, a bellsouth.net/yahoo was second in line, and there are some others. I only changed the settings for my main vickilais@gmail account. But when the oauth gets set, top of the screen says enter credentials for the bellsouth account, but won't take the bellsouth login, have to tell it the gmail account information to log in. So it then sets the oauth for the bellsouth account, instead of the gmail account. I deleted the bellsouth account from the list, restarted Thunderbird, and it did the same thing so it apparently it has that bellsouth account stored somewhere as a default. I virtually never use it anymore. Many, many years ago, I originally set up my Thunderbird with the bellsouth account, then added the gmail account much later.
Chosen Solution
I finally fixed it. Apparently, when I first set up Thunderbird 20+ years ago, there was difficulty getting emails, and it appears the original bellsouth account was CHANGED to the gmail information, rather than a NEW email account being created for Gmail. So on the surface my account said Gmail, but behind the scenes it still said bellsouth. I moved all my old emails from the bellsouth/main file folder section to Local Folders, set a different email account as "default", then deleted the bellsouth/gmail account I had been using, shut down/restarted Thunderbird, cleared out old passwords that had been set for the Bellsouth account, and set my existing Gmail account up again, as a "new account". Set the new Gmail account to "default". All works great now.
A new understanding of Thunderbird for me - mail comes into the "account" folders, into the "account file cabinet" for that account. Emails can be stored there, and new folders created if desired. There is another "file cabinet" called Local Folders. All incoming/sent mail can be moved to the Local Folder(s), where new folders can also be created, and stored there. What I didn't understand is that if an "account" is deleted, ALL THE EMAILS IN THE "account file cabinet" are DELETED. That section just "disappears". To keep emails forever on your computer, all emails must be periodically moved to the Local Folder section. I set up Year folders for Inbox and Sent so that it would create smaller email storage files in the background.