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Yahoo Security Notice Now I Cannot Send Messages

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  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by petejc

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I recently got a notice from yahoo that my yahoo and ymail accounts would have a security update. They said, for Thunderbird I should delete the account they add it back.

That worked for the yahoo accounts but the ymail account can't send messages. I get, "Outgoing server (SMTP) smtp.mail.yahoo.com timed out."

I seem to be able to receive messages from the ymail account.

Trying to get help from yahoo is useless. It is like ymail doesn't exist anymore.

I recently got a notice from yahoo that my yahoo and ymail accounts would have a security update. They said, for Thunderbird I should delete the account they add it back. That worked for the yahoo accounts but the ymail account can't send messages. I get, "Outgoing server (SMTP) smtp.mail.yahoo.com timed out." I seem to be able to receive messages from the ymail account. Trying to get help from yahoo is useless. It is like ymail doesn't exist anymore.

Chosen solution

The authentication is under Server Settings in Account Settings for the incoming and Outgoing Server (SMTP) at the bottom of the left pane of Account Settings. Is the ymail account using imap.mail.yahoo.com and smtp.mail.yahoo.com? If it is, OAuth2 authentication should work just as it does for the Yahoo account, although it may have to be set manually, while the setup routine automatically applies OAuth for Yahoo. Remove any obsolete passwords.

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No need to remove the accounts, but open Tools/Account Settings and change the authentication method for the incoming and outgoing servers to OAuth2, check that cookies are enabled in Options/Privacy, remove the passwords from Options/Security/Passwords/Saved Passwords, restart TB, and enter the account password in the OAuth browser window when prompted.

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Could I have created a problem because I deleted the ymail account then added it back? I ask because OAuth2 was already set under Server Settings. But I don't see any designations for incoming and outgoing, just "Server Settings, Authentications". Cookies were enabled. I removed the password for the ymail account and restarted TB. It didn't ask for any password and when I looked at the Saved Logins for this account there was some incorrect password. In fact it was an old password for one of the yahoo accounts but I changed that account's password years ago. Now, to add to the confusion, I still can't send messages from the ymail account (same server timeout) but TB can get new messages from the ymail account, even with the wrong password in Saved Logins.

Note I did just remove and add back the yahoo accounts and all is well there

Modified by petejc

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Chosen Solution

The authentication is under Server Settings in Account Settings for the incoming and Outgoing Server (SMTP) at the bottom of the left pane of Account Settings. Is the ymail account using imap.mail.yahoo.com and smtp.mail.yahoo.com? If it is, OAuth2 authentication should work just as it does for the Yahoo account, although it may have to be set manually, while the setup routine automatically applies OAuth for Yahoo. Remove any obsolete passwords.

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Yes, incoming is as you said. But for the yahoo accounts the outgoing port was 465 and connection security was SSL/TLS. For the ymail account the port was 993. and security was STARTTLS even though it was SSL/TLS on the Server settings page. And the outgoing authentication method was Normal password for all three even though on the Server Settings page it was OAuth2.

So I changed ymail to 465 and SSL/TLS and I was able to send messages through the ymail account.

SUCCESS! Thank you so much.