My Thunderbird has stopped connecting to ATT mail servers.
Yesterday afternoon, without my having done anything (no changes made of any kind), suddenly Thunderbird stopped being able to access ATT's server and download my email. I got a "server error, try again later" message. This morning (about 20 hours after the problem started), I called ATT support, but got nowhere. The tech seemed mystified (as was I) by the fact that I couldn't seem to find WHERE in Thunderbird to enter or change a password or a Secure Mail Key (which he said is now required for Thunderbird to access ATT's servers -- first I have ever heard about this). I am desperate for help to solve this problem -- have tried a few things through Thunderbird's help pages, but with no success. Will be immensely grateful (and am willing to pay $$) for help.
All Replies (5)
The correct settings are here:
https://www.att.com/support/article/dsl-high-speed/KM1010523/
Create a secure mail key on the AT&T site, remove the passwords from Options/Privacy & Security/Passwords/Saved Passwords, restart TB, enter the key when prompted for a password.
Thanks for the quick reply, but there are two problems with your suggested solution: (1) when I go to "Saved Passwords," there *are* no saved passwords to be deleted; and (2) when I restart TB, I am *not* prompted for any kind of password: the program just opens. (I have created the secure mail key on AT&T -- that was part of my session with the tech this morning -- so I do have that, but can't figure out where to put it.)
In addition, when I go to Server Settings in TB, it states that I'm still using a POP server -- there's no option to change it, and it doesn't automatically change even though I've entered the imap server info in the box just below.
First, you can't switch from POP to IMAP just by changing the settings - you have to add the IMAP account starting from File/New/Existing Mail Account. Copy the mail from the POP account to subfolders of Local Folders, confirm the copy, then remove the POP account from Account Actions in Tools/Account Settings. There is a link under 'See also' on the right side of this page.
If there are no saved passwords, and you aren't prompted for one, check that you don't have passwords managed by some 3rd-party app or a component of a security program.
Well, I "solved" the problem, after a fashion (but to my satisfaction) by reverting to the use of the POP server, rather than following your instructions and switching to IMAP. (The key was to use the Secure Mail Key, that I generated during my phone session with the ATT tech, as my password.)
I'm afraid you rather lost me with your latest instructions. This is not a knock on you, but rather an admission of my own tech limitations. For instance: I didn't understand the "copy the mail from the POP account to subfolders of Local Folders" etc. instruction. Under my main account I have 28 subfolders; are you saying that I would have to create "matching" subfolders for each one, under Local Folders, then copy all the emails in each "old" subfolder to its matching new subfolder? (Is the idea then that I wouldn't lose a huge amount of old email when I deleted the POP account and set up the new IMAP one?) Firstly, that sounds like a LOT of work, and secondly, it seems like it carries the potential for great loss if I were to screw it up.
Anyway, THANK YOU for your attempts to help me out. It's just possible that I'm beyond the kind of help you were offering. (I'm sure the more tech-savvy among the readers of this thread are probably rolling their eyes at how stupid I am.)
If you want to easily retain the POP mail and subfolders before removing the POP account, then copying it to Local Folders is the best way. If you don't do that, but just remove the account, the POP mail will still be in the profile folder, but not visible in TB unless it's moved to the Mail/Local Folders location in the profile - a maneuver that is straightforward, but slightly more involved. You could also use the ImportExportTools NG add-on to export the POP folders and re-import them to Local Folders. That would be done within the TB interface, but that too requires a bit more learning than you may wish to undertake. Which is why I usually try to recommend the simplest method first.