I have Outlook and can no longer connect to Gmail
Posted on June 10, 2022 at 01:10 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums
If you are seeing this you aren’t alone. Gmail made a security change and clearly didn’t communicate well about it.
I’m reposting a solution posted by Roger in the forums on the main page so that others can see it: It should work on other versions of Outlook as well.
Topic: How to use MS Outlook 2003 to access a Gmail account with 2-Step Verification @ AskWoody
How to use MS Outlook 2003 to access a Gmail account with 2-Step Verification
For many years, my wife and I have used MS Outlook 2003 to access our Gmail accounts. Because MS Outlook 2003 has some security issues, Google has for years required the “Access to less secure apps” option to be turned on in order to use Outlook 2003 with a Gmail account. However, Google has announced that this option will be removed at the end of May, 2022. At that time, Google says it will require 2-Step Verification (Two factor Authorization) on all Gmail accounts.
However, Outlook 2003 doesn’t work with 2-Step Verification (later versions of Outlook do, I think). Therefore, it is necessary to use an “App Password” generated by Google instead of the usual Outlook password. After a day and a half of effort, I have learned how to do that. I summarize below what worked for me because I have not seen it documented elsewhere.
First, turn “2-Step Verification” on in your gmail account and make sure it works. For me, this required at least two automated phone calls from Google to verify my identity. After that, I could access my gmail account with the gmail app with no problems.
Then select the “Security” tab on your Google Account, then look for “Signing in to Google”, and select “App Passwords”. Google asks for type of computer (Windows PC for me) and program (“Outlook” is NOT an option and “Mail” does not work; instead Select “Other” and then type “Outlook”) Google then creates and displays a 16 character alphabetic password. Write down this password.
Return to Outlook 2003, and try to access your gmail account. I got a pop up screen asking for my password, then entered the 16 character Google “App” password, and everything worked !! I had to save the Google Password within Outlook, and enter it “blindly” since Outlook 2003 does not have an option to display the password as it is entered. I had to enter this password a couple of times because I forgot to save it. But now, I can send/receive emails to/from my gmail account, and also use the Outlook 2003 “Test Account Settings” option with no problems.
We continue to use Outlook 2003 because it works and is sufficient for our needs, but is obviously a very old program.
Susan note on 6/10: While I’d LOVE for you to get on a supported platform I’m also a bit of a realist. Also I know that many times you need to get into your email asap and then you’ll deal with upgrading later. Note that you may see this on other platforms as well as your newer versions of email may have been set up with older auth technology.
I’ve also found that some email (uh like my vintage pacbell.net account that has no ability to set an app password) can’t be used on Outlook but can be used on Windows 10 mail app. You may have to move to another email app to get a comfortable email flow again. Don’t get stuck on Outlook forever. Try such mail platforms as em.
