Outlook for Mac adds new authentication flow for Google IMAP in Insider Fast
Published Jan 31 2018 10:45 AM 82.9K Views
Microsoft

Last updated: 6/18/2018

 

6/18/2018: This feature is being slowly rolled out to Production beginning in 16.14 (18061302)

 

Original post:

 

With the release of the Insider Fast version 16.11 (18013000), Outlook for Mac now supports OAuth for authentication for Google Accounts configured via IMAP. This feature will start rolling out slowly to our Insider Fast users.

 

If you have a Google Account added via IMAP, you'll be asked to authenticate using the new workflow. The two key benefits are:

  • No longer need to set “Allow less secure apps” for account
  • No longer need app password when 2-Step Verification is enabled

 

Previous authentication flow:

 

Basic authentication dialogBasic authentication dialog

 

New authentication flow:

 

Sign in to Google via browserSign in to Google via browser

 

Clicking on "Sign in to Google" (above) will launch the web browser to complete authentication.

 

Browser sign inBrowser sign in

 

We would love to hear from you, so please provide feedback and report bugs, via Help > Contact Support. If you would like to see enhancements and additions to this feature, (or Outlook for Mac as a whole), please vote for the idea on our UserVoice site (Help > Suggest a Feature).

 

6/18/2018: Please ensure the "User name" field contains the full email address and matches "E-mail address" field in Account preferences for your Google Account configured via IMAP.

 

92 Comments
Copper Contributor

This is not working for me.  I see the sign-in box but when I choose an email address (e.g. xxxx@gmail.com)and put in the password, I persistently get a pop-up box which says that I have signed in to an email account which is not "xxxx@gmail.com".  Is there any way I can opt out of this feature?  I need to get on with work - it was all working yesterday and now I cannot receive and send via Outlook.

Microsoft

Hi Jenny, please contact using Help > Contact Support so we can look into it.

 

Thanks,

Sunder

Copper Contributor

Please help -- my Outlook for Mac stopped working this afternoon with gmail for no apparent reason.   It asks constantly for my password and when I enter it I receive the error that "Mail Cannot be Received at this Time" with the details

 

The server for account "rrmax1@gmail.com" returned the error "[AUTHENTICATIONFAILED] Invalid credentials (Failure)." Your username/password or security settings may be incorrect. Would you like to try re-entering your password?

 

I have re-entered my password with no luck.   What happened?   Gmail still works with outlook on my iPad and iPhone.   Help!!! 

 

Ron

 

Microsoft

Hi Ronald, please reach out to our team via Help menu > Contact Support within Outlook. 

 

Thanks,

Jeff

Copper Contributor

Same problem as the other commenters. I can go through the sign-in process with Google, but then the same pop appears again. Can go 3 or 4 times. Can we have the old system back please?

Microsoft

Hi Edward, thanks for the post.

 

We're investigating an issue where the browser is redirecting to google.com after about 3 seconds after clicking "Allow" in the permissions page in the browser (this is after successfully authenticating in the browser). The dialog presented by the browser to redirect back to Outlook is only staying up for 3 seconds in Safari. For Chrome, the dialog stays up but after the page loads google.com the button to "Open Microsoft Outlook.app" no longer works. 

 

If you're experiencing this issue, the workaround is to click "Allow" (Safari) or "Open Microsoft Outlook.app" (Chrome) before the browser page loads Google.com (within about 3 seconds after clicking "Allow" on the permissions page). This will successfully redirect back to the Outlook app and authentication will complete. 

 

If you're experiencing another issue, please reach out within Outlook via Help menu > Contact Support. 

 

Lastly, this feature is only in Insider. If you'd like to go back to the previous auth flow, please uncheck the Insider checkbox in AutoUpdate (Help > Check for Updates) and relaunch Outlook. No need to install a new build, just need to leave the Insider audience. 

 

Thanks,

Jeff

Copper Contributor

Hi there,

 

I am an Office365 subscriber (on MacBook) and am having the same issues as outlined in this thread. I am not on the Insider Program but it looks like Microsoft have rolled this out beyond the Insider Program to the Office365 Subscribers. I updated my Office365 today and now i cannot connect to my gmail via Outlook. 

 

I have tried the workaround mentioned above but that hasn't worked. I have already reached out within Outlook via Help menu > Contact Support (about 4 hours ago from the moment of posting this) and progress is unsatisfactorily slow and no solution identified. Each individual response is taking on average 30 minutes. My day has been wasted. Is there a solution, please?

 

It looks like Microsoft has been aware of this issue via Insider Program for more than 5 months now (according to this thread). Is there a solution? My day has been wasted.

 

Thanks,

Chris

 

 

Microsoft

Hi @Christopher MacKenzie. Thanks for reaching out, and for opening a ticket with in-app support. I'm reviewing the ticket now, and we'll work with you via the ticket. 

Copper Contributor

ahhh microsoft, you have done it again! for mac users, go to tools>>accounts  and under server information be sure that the user name is your complete email address. then close and restart Outlook. This worked for me, after much frustration with popups repeatedly telling me that i was signing in with the wrong account.

Copper Contributor

None of the above helped me - and when trying to contact support through the app itself it cant even do that. I'm left with very little choice here. Any updates on the problem? I'm just constantly being redirected to "open browser to sign into Google". It just goes in a loop and I can't access any email on my outlook app.

Copper Contributor

Where is the support for gmail Oath for the Windows version of Outlook? 

Copper Contributor

I am having the same problem after installing the most current upgrade yesterday, Outlook 2016 for MAC is unable to access Google Mail. The prompt to log into Google account keeps appearing and fails to sync outlook with gmail.

 

This is a major problem I am unable to use email and access folders that have very important information!

 

Also Help is not working it says that the Keychain cannot be accessed.

 

Is there a work around?

Copper Contributor

I am an Office365 subscriber on Mac and am having the same issues as outlined in this thread. I did the update now I cannot connect to my gmail via Outlook. 

 

I have tried the workarounds mentioned and have wasted hours trying to get the last 2 weeks gmail on my Mac.  Everything was working fine before the updates.

Copper Contributor

This does not work for me. I end up in a loop asking me over and over again to login my google account.

all my gmail settings are ok and as described. 

Please help since I cannot use Gmail anymore work outlook.

Microsoft

Hi @Iris Dalley and @Frank Nolden. Please message us via in-app help (Help > Contact Support). We'd like to learn more about how your accounts are set up, and we'll help you get back connected. 

 

Hi @Ezell Kendrick: have you tried locking all keychains (via Keychain Access)? Sometimes locking then unlocking resolves this issue.

 

Best way to reach us is via Contact Support within the app. 

 

Thanks,

Jeff

Copper Contributor

"I am having the same problem after installing the most current upgrade yesterday, Outlook 2016 for MAC is unable to access Google Mail. The prompt to log into Google account keeps appearing and fails to sync outlook with gmail.

 

This is a major problem I am unable to use email and access folders that have very important information!

 

Also Help is not working it says that the Keychain cannot be accessed.

 

Is there a work around?" Ezell Kendrick

 

I have the EXACT SAME PROBLEM, INCLUDING the Keychain issue. Using the lower security setting and IMAP enabled gmail account. No problem until the latest update.

 

 

Copper Contributor

Update, 

 

After reading the help suggestion for locking and unlocking Keychain access (may have been locked in OS X High Sierra update), I tried it and it worked to both unlock the keychain and allow outlook to validate the gmail login.  Note to the programmers - the fact that I could not save my other passwords (exchange, aol - which was my next problem to debug) in keychain even when i clicked on it at signin should have been a warning about keychain as a possible cause.

Copper Contributor

Isn't this abuse that Microsoft requires access to Google Drive, Contacts and Calendars without any option to restrict this for users that only want to use Outlook for Google Email via IMAP ?

Our Outlook suddenly stopped working with our Google Email accounts without any further advice, and for authentication we are forced to accept Microsoft access to Google Drive a.s.o.

Not nice. We will have to change from Microsoft Outlook to other options.

 

Microsoft

@Marcus Nunes thank you for your post here. Very interesting to hear about the keychain issue resolving both the in-app Help and auth issues. We'll investigate further and update this post and our other help docs as necessary. 

Microsoft

@Patrick Koerner thank you for the feedback. In 16.15 (July production release) we did make a change to request only Email permissions when adding your account via IMAP. You are correct -- adding your account via IMAP only syncs Email, so Outlook only needs to request permission to Email. (Note that while the auth flow is updated (now using OAuth instead of Basic) there is no change to the sync via IMAP). If you are using IMAP, please update to 16.15.

 

For O365 subscribers, the new default for Google Accounts now syncs Calendar and Contacts, and as part of the new sync functionality we do now need to request permissions for Email, Calendar, Contacts, and Drive (the Drive access is required for attachments). You can still click "Not Google?" during setup and then select IMAP if you would like to configure your account as IMAP instead. 

 

OAuth support has been a long-time request, due to having to set "Allow less secure apps" and using app passwords when 2-Step is enabled. I understand there may be some confusion after upgrading. We have a "What's New" entry on support.office.com with links to more information: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/what-s-new-in-office-365-95c8d81d-08ba-42c1-914f-bca4603e14...

 

Thanks again for your post. 

Copper Contributor

The new entry is not helpful at all, it does not work for me.

I am using subscription based Outlook 16.15. Today I suddenly started to receive the popup for every gmail account (I have a few). Even if I follow every popup to the browser and log in, it's Groundhog day the next time the account is polled via IMAP.

In my Google account settings I have configured access for "Microsoft apps & services". I am not using any app passwords an no 2-step login. In fact it worked very well until Microsoft chose to impose this "update that most users want" and mess up everything.

 

Tech support Ivan was not helpful and suggested to revert back to v15. Great idea. Why not let me use Gmail the way it was?

 

What is your suggestion to fix this situation?

Copper Contributor

Our company decided to cancel use of Microsoft Outlook Subscription if they don’t revert back.

Why should we allow access to Google Drive ro Microsoft if only want to use the Email client?

Privacy first.

We don’t support Abuse.

Copper Contributor

I had the same issue which was frustrating. For some reason it started to work now. I tried random things but not sure which one worked or MSFT fixed it. Dont know but it works now!

Copper Contributor

Good Evening,

 

I appear to have the same problem. I was using Microsoft Outlook with a Gmail email account which was working fine until today. Now it keeps on asking me to sign into my Google account repeatedly. Any advice would be grateful.

Microsoft

@Patrick Koerner Thanks for your reply. 

 

As mentioned in my earlier post, you can continue to sync your account via IMAP which is Email-only, and the Google permissions page in the browser will only request Email permissions. Nothing has changed in terms of how the account syncs (IMAP) only the use of OAuth instead of Basic Auth. This is starting in version 16.15 (latest Prod release). In 16.14 the permissions page did mention Drive for IMAP accounts and that has now been changed, thanks in part to the feedback from posts like yours. 

 

The new Google Account support which syncs Email, Calendar, and Contacts, does require Drive permissions for sync of attachments in this account type. If you only require IMAP for syncing Email, you can continue to use IMAP instead of the new Google Account support. If you have any questions about setting up accounts in different ways, please reach out via in-app support (Help > Contact Support).

 

Microsoft

@Steve MITCHAM thanks for reaching out. Please contact us via Help > Contact Support for assistance.

 

Here are few tips we're advising with existing IMAP users:

 - Ensure "User name" field contains the full email address and matches "E-mail address" field in Account preferences

 - If you have period characters in your email address, try without the period characters (both in Account preferences & Google sign-in)

 - Try locking and and unlocking your keychain in Keychain Access app

 - Try adding the account again (before removing the existing account), note the default for subscribers is new Google Account (not IMAP)

Copper Contributor

Well, since the last "update" I am having the same annoying problem.  Every time I try to access my gmail account in Outlook, which has never had a prob, I get the annoying "open browser" pop-up window.  It sucks.  I spent over an hour on the phone with Microsoft yesterday and at the end when there was an update notification, we the tech person wanted to get off the phone so I could install it.  Guess what?  Google pop-up still comes up when trying to access gmail.  I've tried a lot of the so-called "fixes" the tech tried along with doing my own research and nothing has helped.  Come on Microsoft, have some genius over there figure out what happened and spill the beans with those of us who don't have time to hang on the phone with customer support who have no real solutions to the problem either.

Copper Contributor

Karen, sounds exactly like my problem listed earlier. Try to lock and unlock all of your keychain passwords etc using the keychain access app in Utilities. The reason it keeps calling up the window seeking google access is because it can’t save the login so it repeats. MS should fix or publish this. 

Copper Contributor

@Jeffrey Kalvass . Thanks for you reply.

We updated to 16.15 and it worked. Browser asked only once for E-Mail authentication.
 
 
I have not expected to get a solution that soon. Thank you. We passed some annoying days, as this change without advice hit us directly in a production period. Solved now.
Copper Contributor

After trying to work with the "tech" support, I finally told them good luck and got off the phone.  I did what Jeffrey Kalvass and Marcus Nunes suggested, and since all of my gmail is backed up, I went ahead and deleted/ re-added gmail account.  Everything went great, took 5 mins.  The pop-up came up as I added it, followed instructions to allow access and haven't had another pop-up problem since.  It baffles me that microsoft didn't communicate these simple fixes and that tech support pple were wanting to take me down the whole export outlook olm/re-create outlook rabbit hole.  Anyway, thanks to this forum, all is well.  I'll be checking here first in the future.

Copper Contributor

Any update on Outlook 16.16.?

I tried all advices as discussed here, but Google refuse to accept both the normal password and 2 FA app password.

Enable less secure apps is no option as our admin says no.

Copper Contributor

In case it helps anyone, here's a workaround I found:

 

1. First, create an ordinary IMAP account that does NOT refer to Google servers, but to some other provider. Let's call it mail.myprovider.com. If Outlook gets clever and tries to create an Exchange account, you have to click "Not Exchange?" at the top right to access the IMAP/POP option. This accomplishes two things: a) It removes the "authenticate with Google" popups completely and b) It enables display of "Advanced" options.

 

2. Then change the incoming server to imap.gmail.com or whatever you actually want. If you're now using a different username or password, click "More Options..." to set those. If you are NOT using smtp.gmail.com as your outgoing server, you will probably want to click "Advanced" then "Folders" then select the option to "Store sent messages in this folder:", otherwise they won't be saved anywhere. 

 

Obviously this is all unnecessarily complicated - the price you pay for trying to mix poorly tested products from different vendors.

Copper Contributor

 - Ensure "User name" field contains the full email address and matches "E-mail address" field in Account preferences

 

This!

 

Why on earth would something simple like this not work? Of course one logs into Gmail without the Gmail.com suffix, because it worked for 10 years without it. So, after this update I had to drive over to my 77 year old mother because her email stopped working. 

Copper Contributor

I became a victim this week too. Who knew... locking my login keychain did the trick. 

I am primarily a Windows user (because MacOs doesn't have the single line view/sortable column headers like Outlook on Windows). I am not very savvy about MacOS and don't understand the keychain very well. Glad this workaround worked and I found this thread.

 

Copper Contributor

I'm having this exact problem.   It tells me to authenticate and takes me to the web, I allow it and it just keeps cycling through those screens.   So annoying.   I've tried some of the recommendations but no success...

 

Deleted
Not applicable
Are you certain you are using the full email address (including the domain, such as name@gmail.com) in the username field?
Copper Contributor

Yes, I'm certain.    

 

Deleted
Not applicable
OK, so the fix that worked for me doesn't work in this case. Have you tried re-creating the complete account in Outlook?
Copper Contributor

I have.   I've completely removed my outlook account, uninstalled and reinstalled.  I have the latest update for the mac and the latest update for outlook, I think it just updated a day ago which is when I ran into this issue.  I've doublechecked the permissions for my computer through the online gmail account.  I'm able to get my other email accounts through outlook.   I've tried many times to remove the email account and add it back.   

 

Copper Contributor

I locked my keychain and it seems to be working.

 

Copper Contributor

Same trouble here, but my Outlook V 16.17 (180813) indicates the Google account as "connected" with green light but it doesn´t work at all

Copper Contributor

After locking MacOS keychain, Outlook ask constantly for using the keychain and stops meanwhile syncing all accounts. Where I am going wrong?


Copper Contributor
@Jeffrey Kalvass . Hi. Today we encounter the same problem. Outlook cannot be used. This is really annoying. We updated to the last available update. Any new solution on this ? Thank you.
Copper Contributor

ever since the new microsoft update as of last week, google mails are not syncing to outlook, what gets repeated is sign in to google account and first it say browser to be launched and then says browser opened and done. 

 

Unfortunately this is only leading to additional google windows opened for validation. Has anyone faced a similar situation.

If yes could you please help with a solution

Copper Contributor

I have a similar problem, once the Google popup comes up and i click on the "Sign in to Google" button", safari is fired up to the authentication page, however the popup says "Browser never opened? Click below", even if i go through the motions nothing obviously happens,hence I have to cancel all the time and the window keeps popping up. Very very annoying 

 

Help

Copper Contributor

I solved my issue described here by completely deleting Office 365 and installing a new Office 365 package (Version 16.16) but no insider program (nether slow or fast) and -wonder, wonder- now it works.

Copper Contributor

I have the same problem as described by Adebola Omoboya. Any solution besides delete and reinstall outlook?

I'm missing Apple email client :(

Copper Contributor

Hi,

 

any solution for this annoying bug?

 

Many thanks 

Copper Contributor

please delete this post.  please remove my tech community profile.

Microsoft

Wanted to post a quick recap here to all the recent comments.

 

Here are the four most common solutions to issues mentioned here:

 - Ensure "User name" field contains the full email address and matches "E-mail address" field in Account preferences

 - If you have period characters in your email address, try without the period characters (both in Account preferences & Google sign-in)

 - Try locking and and unlocking your keychain in Keychain Access app

 - Try adding the account again (before removing the existing account), note the default for subscribers is new Google Account (not IMAP)

 

If these four solutions do not help, please reach out via in-app support (Help menu > Contact Support) for assistance.

 

Thanks,

Jeff

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Last update:
‎Jun 18 2018 02:02 PM
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