Thanks, I think I looked at Sea Monkey but I'm not paying for a mail client until I've had chance to test it.

I installed Sea Monkey but I can't even find where the mail is. Where is it?

Thanks

Do you use two factor authentication with Google? If so, have you set an application password for Thunderbird?

That would be factor, not tractor

I have no idea what you are talking about so I guess not. I think the problem was I was trying to do stuff from Safari and not firefox

do Google send you a text when you log in?

Thanks for the screen shots. I'll work on it tomorrow.

I actually had Thunderbird installed first.  I didn't realize that Sea Monkey was a web browser too.  Although my mail comes in there and with MailTab and with Mac mail.  I have an MBP so it's fast.   It's just me and recreational stuff so I don't need fancy.  I was fine with Mac mail when it was POP but to fix a bug it went IMAP (I didn't know the difference) and not very unhappy with my mail.

I'm going to get rid of sea monkey and install Thunderbird and see if that'll work for me, if i can get the fonts bigger.

Thanks for the help.

No. I'm always logged into Gmail but I don't use google.

Ok, Based on what you said, i'd rather use Thunderbird.

Can you please give me dumbed down instructions on how to

1. Enlarge the fonts on the side bar. 2. Enlarge the the fonts in the list of emails in my inbox 3. Configure the tool bar where I can add a printer, options to enlarge the font, something so it looks like Apple Mail.

Thanks.

BTW I don't get the preferences option shown in your 2nd screen shot.

see https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/thunderbird/addon/theme-font-size-changer/ Does 1 and 2.

Install instructions http://chrisramsden.vfast.co.uk/3_How_to_install_Add-ons_in_Thunderbird.html

Right click the toolbar (command click) and select customize. Can't tell what apple mail looks like as I have never seen it, so you need to make your own decisions.

I think this thread became something quite different...... However I can not get Thunderbird to work with my gmail account. Error message is "Username or Password invlaid" Now; a) have tried both POP3 and IMAP. Same issue. no resolution... b) gmail account perfroms OK if I log into gmail on web browser and/or Android device. c) have tried variations on; 1 - user name (w & w/o the "@gmail.com" ) 2- server name ( pop3.googlemail.com v's pop3.gmail.com) 3 - the forward POP/IMAP settings in GMAIL. 4- new gmail password. d) have done the 2 step authenticication with google e) have looked into the use of "recent:".... doesn't seem to work Can not get anywhere..... Now; my gmail email adress is of format xx.yy.zz@gmail.com - shouldn't make an issue - correct? Am running - Windows Vista & TB v30 Thundrbird works fine for other email accounts.

@Thomen, if the solution here does not work for you, the expectation is you will start your own rather than email all the existing poeple on this one with our question.

However most times user name password errors on account setup for major providers like Google which Thunderbird does know how to set up are caused by anti virus programs. Nortons is perhaps the worst, followed by avast. They simply block communications between Thunderbird and the internet or make a mess of the probing because they don't understand it.

Try setting up the account in Windows safe mode with Networking. If it works without issue then your looking at your anti virus or other external application. (The US military security token is anther regular culprit )

Why do people give answers that lead nowhere and waste other peoples effort and time??? Here we are supposed to help each other, with solutions that we have tried and seen that they WORK.

The problem here is that google needs a new password in order to allow various clients apps to operate. So, if you get an application specific password from here, https://support.google.com/mail/answer/1173270?hl=en and use it instead of your gmail pwd in the client app, it will sync straight away

@Nikos, your answer applies only to those using Google two factor authentication. I asked about that at the beginning of this thread and was told no, not in use. So to paraphrase your statement. Why are you giving an answer that leads nowhere and wastes other peoples time and effort.

Nothing in support is black and white, only thousands of shades of grey. Sure you had the same error message and that solution worked for you and will for everyone using two factor authentication. Unless they are suffering from another cause in which case it will not work.

So we start with the obvious are they using two factor authentication , No then advice about it is irrelevant.

Next move to anti virus as it is another very common cause of trouble. Windows safe mode with networking bypasses idiot anti virus firewalls (they are that shoddy mostly) and the account miraculously sets up and everyone is happy.

That did not work perhaps they just did not set up their Gmail account correctly for IMAP. https://support.google.com/mail/troubleshooter/1668960?rd=1#ts=1665018,1665141,2769074 Perhaps I should start with that, but I just refuse to think most people don't do it right

@Matt et al....... thanks for the replies. All good now. Culprit was the google 2-step authenticication. I had thought that I did fix that, but upon re-checking turns out I hadn't completed all the steps required. re-reading here from the start got me thinkning again. Plus https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/6010255

Well Matt I appreciate the fact you spend quite some time helping others. However it seems to me here, the obvious IS that most people use 2-step verification, since google insists on it and finally it is a pain not to... So my answer is more relevant than not, as it has already helped.

The point I tried to make was only to give answers that HAVE WORKED. Not statistical data and mere suggestions about firewalls, client apps, port numbers etc. I would never waste my time (and others) just to say what might be the problem and a possible way out. I wasted a lot of time, following useless suggestions regarding this, and that's why I replyed to this post with what I found to WORK.

Thanks for the "less secure" link. I'm new to G-Mail (though not new to Thunderbird) and I had this same problem. I've never heard of two-step authentication but I guess that comes with progress.

It would be nice if Thunderbird mentioned this somewhere that it could be found easily. Google mentions Thunderbird as one of the applications that doesn't support the two-step authentication.

I followed the Google link, lowered my shields, and now Thunderbird is happy (and so am I until someone steals my G-Mail account).

Thank you guys for your contributions.

I was able to add my gmail accounts after trying several steps above and here is what I did to nail it.

went to the gear icon on my gmail account at the top right then Settings>forwarding/IMAPandPOP3 tab and enabled the IMAP.Then I saved.

I then followed this link: https://www.google.com/settings/security

at the 'access for less secure aps' I went to settings and enabled.

On going back to Thunderbird, it worked like Charm. Hope this helps someone and fast, because this error can waste lots of time.

The above manoeuvre in Gmail (Tab: Security), i.e. using “Account permissions” and enabling “Access for less secure apps” is all well... except for the fact that you actually have to lower your general security for the account. Of course, Gmail is inherently insecure when it comes down to business, but shouldn’t there be some easy way to add permissions under the tab “Apps and websites” and “View all” (also under Account Permissions)? At a glance inside this tab, and after having browsed the help-section for... well, help, I realize I started to feel claustrophobic when there seemed to be absolutely nothing for me press, let alone change, the exception being the button “Revoke access” (I’m afraid that’s a translation from Swedish, it’s on the right-hand side); the only address with account access being Mail.google.com on my PC.

 In short: is there really no other way as to how Thunderbird can verify a gmail account, than to let Dick-and- Harry-stuff  through by enabling “Access for less secure stuff”?

Ok I have listened to this rot long enough.

Access for less secure apps. Lets translate that hey, access for ALL applications.

If you can nominate a single mail application of any sort that supports two factor authentication please speak up. The "Less secure" is just Google marketing hype. I would really take it badly if my mail program locked up every 15 minutes until I put in a code that had to come from Google by SMS. Just keep in mind that there is no ADD revenue for Google unless your using their browser based mail site. Mail applications cost them money.

Application Passwords

When Thunderbird connects to a sever it identifies itself as such. Google allow you to create application passwords. So lets look at this less secure approach.

Google will lock your account is you suddenly start connection from Latvia when in the past your have only ever connected from Manilla. They have done that for years. Second Only an application that identifies itself as Thunderbird can use that password.

Now lets look at this wonder of the age, Two factor authentication. It has a long and sad history. Decades ago little tamagotchi type devices were issued by corporations to allow their staff to use two factor authentication. The devices generated the code at the press of a button. But the device and the machine required the time to be synchronized to the second... They were generally a failure.

Google now have them using SMS. But how secure are they. If you are logging in via another web site or phishing site, all that occurs is you provide your new authentication key and the third party site or phishing site changes your phone number while it logs on and you loose control of your account just as effectively as you did without two factor authentication, except now you phone number belongs to someone else so the reset requests will not go to you.

Now to this idiotic claim that Mail application do not support the latest standards in Security. Just in case Google forgot to mention it, and they did, The standard in question is oauth 2.0. The fact that it is a web not a mail authentication framework would mess with their carefully crafted security spin, hence they have had to label all mail programs as "Less secure" because for some reason web authentication protocols are just not in the standards for mail.

So, all I get form the great two factor authentication debate is Google are using it as a method to build a nice garden wall around you and their advertising revenue, and the truth be damned.

Would you sign up for a process that requires you to get an SMS before you can start your car? What about unlocking or locking your front door? Sorry folks but the process is just silly and Googles attempts to blacken other secure authentication methods for their commercial gain is saddening.

Well, Matt… ... there’s little I can object to in your assessment of gmail in general, and the “Two factor authentication” in particular. And, of course I feel as if I’m taken for a ride every time I start looking for security settings in gmail. But this time, for me at least, the question wasn’t that philosophical – not entirely at least. I do appreciate the lengthy and fiery entry, but with this in mind, isn’t the question valid anyhow, i.e. that there should be an easy way to make exceptions as described above? Even if a problem is of the ad hoc-type, as you’ve explained nicely to us, couldn’t there still be user-friendly solutions to it - just to keep them from aggregating in a forum like this, if nothing else? So, I’ll try and rephrase my question (ad-hoc or not):

 Is there any way to add addresses to the “account control” – list; "manually" make a direct exception to whatever quasi-security measure gmail tries to enforce – letting Thunderbird through?