Try adding the Verizon account manually or offline with AOL settings:

incoming IMAP: imap.aol.com, 993, SSL/TLS, OAuth2, email address

outgoing SMTP: smtp.aol.com, 465, SSL/TLS, OAuth2, email address

Enter the account (not app) password in the OAuth window.

Thanks for taking a stab at this.

I am looking at the “Set Up Your Existing Email Address” page: Is that the right place to be looking?

Manual Thunderbird Configuration. 1. I am aiming to replace IMAP with POP3 - This is my primary goal 2. Hostname? I’ve tried “verizon.net” “@verizon.net” “.verizon.net” 3. My “connection security” is SSL/TLS 4. OAuth2 - there is no such “Authentication Method” option that I see which is why I chose “Normal Password”, but that didn’t work before.

Nevertheless I was unaware of the account password vs app password. I have four passwords(?) in my notes. I assumed the last one was the “correct” one. Who knows?

      I see now that there is an “Advanced config” link at the bottom right. I’ll not click

that.

Clicking Re-test ( bottom-left )

      “Thunderbird failed to find the settings for your email account”  i.e. didn’t work

There are many permutations to try here. My subsequent attempts are failing, which suggests I am way off the mark for whatever reason.

It is remarkable how easy switching my outlook account was, vs @verizon.net and dreamhost.com have proven to be. BUT MS wants me to move to outlook(new) which is ... well ... not what I want to do, to be polite. -m

Detail: I never got the opportunity to try any of my collection of aol.com/verizon.net passwords. i.e. never got a password prompt.

sfhowes gave you the correct information to set up the account. You may need to click 'manual configuration' to be able to enter the information. To verify it, I just set up my verizon account on a version of thunderbird. If you are using ver 140 of thunderbird, I suggest clicking settings>general and UNticking the experimental setup option first, as that is experimental and has a bug or two.

For POP, use the same settings as IMAP, except pop.aol.com on port 995.

I made two changes today that seemed to make some progress, but I still did not succeed.

First, I restarted thunderbird, got back to the "Setup your existing email address"

Second, I experimented with different passwords and usernames and ultimately one combination produced the message, " The following settings were found by probing the given server"

Specifically, the one that worked was ....@verizon.net, where I had only typed the "...." part. This is one step further than I got yesterday.

Third, I retested to make certain I wasn't dreaming. Retesting produced the same result.

Fourth, It appeared that clicking "Done" was the correct next step. BUT, it wasn't. I have just rerun this to get to the same point to capture the message I get.

Clicking "Done" again now after starting from scratch. At the bottom of the window I get the message: @~3:39 am "<my username> on pop.verizon.net: Host contacted, sending login information..."

@~3:42 am At the top of the screen, I get >>>>>> "Unable to login at server. Probably wrong configuration, username or password"<<<<<<<<<<<

I added the timings because yesterday this step could take 10-15 minutes

There are eleven different settings, each setting has at least 2 possiblilities, most have more. Perhaps I have some correct, but I can't tell from this message.

Is there any way to get a more detail about what failed?

My current settings are: Incoming Server

    Protocol:                         POP3
    Hostname:                      pop.verizon.net
    Port:                                995
    Connection Security:     SSL/TLS
    Authentication method: Normal Password
    Username:                                                 # Such info is not to be in these replies yes?

Outgoing Server

    Protocol:                                                     # This field is not present but smtp is the only option Correct?
    Hostname:                      smtp.verizon.net
    Port:                                465
    Connection Security:     SSL/TLS
    Authentication method: Normal Password
    Username:                      same as incoming.

This puzzles me. Sfhowes gave you the correct settings, yet you continue to ignore them.

David, You are correct. I misread/miscopied what Sfhowes suggested for some reason. No excuse. I just noticed my error. Thanks. My apologies.

Trying again I now have:

    Incoming Server:                       
    Protocol:                                    POP3
    Hostname:                                 pop.aol.net
    Port:                                           995
    Connection Security:                SSL/TLS
    Authentication Method:           Normal Password
    Username:                                ....@verizon.net

    Outgoing Server:                      
    Hostname:                                 smtp.aol.net
    Port:                                           465
    Connection Security:                SSL/TLS
    Authentication Method:           Normal Password
    Username:                                ....@verizon.net

With these settings I get the response from Thunderbird:

     "Thunderbird failed to find the settings for your email account"

Does "your email account" mean "my aol.com account"?

Perhaps I should just start a new session, and make sure I get everything correct from the start.

-m

I am running thunderbird on windows 11, which appears to mean that "thunderbird app" is running, not an exe.

I have seen that distinction elsewhere. Does that make a difference?

-m

egad I have ".net" instead of ".com" in the hostnames,

What is wrong with me?

Correcting. -m

And I get back to the message: " The following settings were found by probing the given server. " Good!

Hurray! We're that all is good again. :) Thanks for sharing your success.

Not quite success yet. At least not from my side. I DO get the message above, but actually connecting after probing is still a problem. I think a clue is in the "four passwords" that I mentioned that I have accumulated. I presumed that the most recent was the most likely working one. Maybe not. I signed into aol with one, but now I find I cannot sign out, or at least it is taking a long time: 10 minutes plus. Sound familiar? Just completed sign out.

AOL does warn that it takes a while to sign out. Thunderbird may not wait long enough before declaring failure. That would make sense.

Now I'll try the other three.

-m

I have determined the correct AOL account password.

On testing I get the Thunderbird message

    "The following settings were found on the given server"

That's good I think

I click "Done" in the lower left of the Thunderbird page

I see

     "checking password" And then:

Unable to log in at server. Probably wrong configuration, username or password.

I wonder, "How can it check my password without a dialogue with AOL where I enter the password?"

Just realized that 0Auth2 probably implies 2-step verification.

I guess I have ignorantly enabled AOL two-step verification turned on for Thunderbird which requests a 6 digit verification code sent to my cell phone, BUT which calls me and leaves a message. Like many people I have ignore calls from unknown numbers.

I go through the login cycle again, watch for the message,

and listen to where the pertinent action is given, which is:

"Please press 1"

which does nothing.

I also observe that I have several similar messages from different numbers.

This looks like an AOL problem at this point. I don't knowingly have two-step verification on for AOL. When I directly log on to AOL.com, I only have to input my password.

Others must have encountered this before. Perhaps someone can recommend a authentication strategy.

Having posted that last message, I finally have Thunderbird downloading email from AOL. So far 2000+ messages primarily junk, that I hope I can finally delete.

AOL provided a 2 - level authentication unexpectedly. Unfortunately, I can't repeat much less recall what I did in detail, except bang my head against the wall a lot under your wise direction.

Thank you for your patience and input. There were many confusing details and clues in the whole exercise. Your input helped me discover different perspectives and approaches. It was more and language and terminology problem than a technical problem.

To be clear, one reply alone did not solve the problem. It was the collection of replies. Several replies as a group helped me solve the problem.

Thanks for the feedback. :) The forum works when we share.