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
Hi, Not of these work for me and it's now been a week without accessing Outlook. The "Help menu > Contact Support" doesn't work either. Clicking it doesn't produce any reaction. Philippe
Microsoft

Hi @Philippe Coullomb, sounds like you might have the keychain issue if you're also not able to use Contact Support: try locking and and unlocking your keychain in Keychain Access app. 

 

The best way to get help is to use Contact Support so we can request any logs or other information needed to troubleshoot the issue. 

 

Thanks,

Jeff

Copper Contributor

Hi, after mojave update outlook would no longer connect to our gmail accounts.

 

Had the same problem a month ago before mojave. 

 

Open Keychain access

Deleted all references to google, microsoft and office.

locked and unlocked keychain

 

connection now established

 

Hope this helps.

Copper Contributor

I get repeated requests to go through this authentication process with Google.  It sometimes asks three or four times.   Then it will go away for a while and then some time later will come back again.  It's very odd.  The fact that it goes away and email appears to come into the relevant account indicates that its passing authentication, but it appears to come unstuck and to need to ask again and usually a few times.  At least I can access this account through GMail direct, but it does rather undermine the plan which was to consolidate email accounts into Outlook.  

Copper Contributor
El servidor IMAP desea alertarle sobre lo siguiente: LOGIN DENIED -- IP IS BLACKLISTED
Copper Contributor

How can I disable the web login of gmail?

I do like the traditional login method.

Copper Contributor

I have the same issues as everyone else, i all of a sudden cannot access my gmail in outlook365 on mac and it prompts gmail authentication which i click allow and it just goes in circles.  i tried accessing contact support in the help menu in outlook however it doesn't function.  can someone direct me where to get this resolved?  i've never had an issue with gmail until it prompted me to connect with MS apps.  this is very frustrating


@Sunder Raman wrote:

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.

 


 

Copper Contributor

I have to sign and re-sign every two to three days in all my google accounts. It doesn't work and it's getting quite frustrating.

 

1. Already had the server full email name

2. Already did the delete-add account, same results

3. Already unlocked-locked key chain

 

This is getting ridiculous, help, please!

Copper Contributor
16.21 Same problems as others, but I can't send or receive Google mail via Outlook. I tried Chrome as a default browser. No difference. I tried an app specific secure password I Google for Outlook. No help. 2 factor authentication is off. I've tried less secure and regular more secure. Office does show up in my Google account as an approved app. Keychains locked unlocked. Deleted Microsoft, Office, Google keychain items. Keychains locked unlocked. Again. No help Confirmed Outlook account settings as suggested. This is nuts. Sure I'll open a ticket, but...
Copper Contributor

Also the same issue with one of my users.

 

None of the above troubleshooting steps mentioned worked - keychain deletions, all keychains locked or unlocked, Chrome or Safari, deleting Outlook profile in library and deleting and reinstalling Office 2019 altogether.

 

One of the errors mentions being logged into the wrong Gmail account -- this is incorrect, he's only logged into the single account he's trying to add.

The office 365 software is however licensed under a different email address from the Gmail/G Suite account we're attempting to add.

 

We can't work around this issue at all via the old app password method and have exhausted our options. We can't even "trick" Outlook into doing things the traditional way by choosing IMAP/POP and entering incorrect info as there's no way to add an account that doesn't "verify" the username/password is correct.

 

This issue began suddenly on Friday Feb 22, 2019 - not sure what may have changed - nothing on the Gmail side and the only thing that may have occurred was an Office app update.

Copper Contributor

@wizdomonwheels im running into the exact same issue! SO FRUSTRATING! 

Copper Contributor
We are now dealing with users that are being prompted to add a Google account every time they open Outlook on their Mac and we don't want to or have Google accounts to add. There doesn't seem to be any resolution for this.
Microsoft

Folks,

 

We had a recent issue where Google Authentication was problematic for some users. It has been addressed in latest 16.22.1 for Production and Insider Slow customers. It's also fixed in latest 16.24 Insider Fast build. If you continue to have issues. please use Help > Contact Support so our team can take a look at it and provide support.

 

@cscherer - that shouldn't be possible as the prompt is designed to show up only once per device. Are you resetting preferences on the device? Please report this via Help > Contact Support we we can diagnose it.

 

Thanks,

Sunder

Principal Product Manager | Outlook for Mac

Copper Contributor

We'd already reached out to support without luck (engineering researching the issue), and this set of troubleshooting steps is one of the only results Google has on the issue.

 

Good news, your response inspired a little more digging and a final solution!

 

I'd advise anyone else with issues who has played with the Insider Fast Build feature and then disabled it, please re-enable the feature then apply the newer versions of Office -- at least getting you to version 16.24.

 

The version we were running is 16.23 as the client had been using the Insider Fast Build (not on my behest), and while troubleshooting I'd switched back to the Production/Insider Slow settings and the reinstall somehow put version 16.23 of Outlook back -- perhaps because I still had those versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint loaded.

 

Bottom line is once our version matched one of the ones you mentioned above (16.22.1 or 16.24) the issue was resolved.

Thanks again,

- David

Copper Contributor

@wizdomonwheels how does a "lay" person fix this issue? I am not completely ignorant with technology but have no idea what Insider Fast Builder is, etc. 

Copper Contributor

In one of your Office applications (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook) click the Help menu and choose "Check for Updates".

Apply any updates that appear.

If you see Outlook on the list, pay attention to what version it mentions -- 16.22.1 or 16.24 will both work and hopefully will resolve the issue.

 

If your Auto Update app says "no updates found" or something like that, and you're still dealing with the issue, try checking the box that says "Join the Office Insider program to get early access to new releases". Then where it says "Choose how you get Insider builds" select "Office Insider Fast".  Click Check for Updates again, and apply the latest Outlook update and any others.

Hopefully that does it!

Copper Contributor

@wizdomonwheels  you are my hero! Thank you so much! It worked! YEAHHHHHHH

Copper Contributor

So, I was on 16.22.1 with my outlook - suddenly got stuck in a loop about 4 days ago.

Researched web, found nothing that helped (reseting the keychain messed up my other accounts!)

Tried contact support - held on phone for 2 hours and gave up, tried in app contact and got limited responses. still no help.

Getting really narked here!!

Need to have access to my Outlook asap so any help gratefully appreciated!

 

Screenshot 2019-03-09 at 12.00.08.png

 

Did the whole delete account and recreate and I get the attache

Tried what @wizdomonwheels  suggested and all other components updated to 16.24 but not Outlook.

 

 

 

 

Copper Contributor

I am delighted to say that the Insider Program offered me the 16.24 update tonight and all is now working again.

Thank you @wizdomonwheels and everyone else who provided support and help.

Copper Contributor

Hi there,

 

I got this same problem since Feb 2019, and did all the fixes and workarounds and nothing,

 

Suddenly yesterday update got the 16.23 Version (190309) and its all working again on MacOS Mojave version 10.14.3 (18D109)

 

Thanks for all the hard work to fix this!!!!

Copper Contributor

@Jeffrey Kalvass

 

WTF - SERIOUSLY ? ALL THIS **bleep** HAPPENING AGAIN AND AGAIN ?

This allows App Microsoft apps & services the following actions:

  • Read, Write, Send and Exclude permanent all your e-mails from Gmail
     
    I just updated after this message to the last  Version: 16.24 (19041401)
     
    THIS IS MORE THAN ANNOYING AT A COMPANY LEVEL. LOCKS TOTALLY THE OUTLOOK APP.
     
    WE DO NOT AGREE WITH THIS AUTHORIZATION TO MICROSOFT ACCESSING OUR EMAILS!!!
Copper Contributor

@Jeffrey Kalvass 

 

I just upgraded the app to version 16.24 and keeps routing me to We need to launch a browser so you can sign in to xxxxxx@yyy.com even after successfully login and allowing the services 

 

This will allow Microsoft apps & services to:

  • Read, compose, send, and permanently delete all your email from Gmail
     
  • See, edit, create, and delete all of your Google Drive files
     
  • See, edit, download, and permanently delete your contacts
     
  • See, edit, share, and permanently delete all the calendars you can access using Google Calendar
     
  • View your email addresses
     
 
Copper Contributor

@Jeffrey Kalvass 

@rtandon 

 

We haven't tried to allow the Microsoft Services to access our information as this should not be necessary.

 

I hope Jeffrey can help with this as he did last time.

But it is annoying that this error is coming back from time to time, when people rely on their Outlook daily.

By now all employees using G-Mail, but its not a solution.

Copper Contributor

@Patrick Koerner 

 

This is very annoying for me. it was working on Friday and now it doesn't. I agree with you that people rely on outlook heavily and they should consider this on priority.

Copper Contributor

This is broken and ridiculous!  Just fix it, so when I sign in once, Outlook works.  Your security process is very questionable!

Copper Contributor

When I click Send/Receive, I keep getting the prompt to Sign into Google.  I click Sign In to Google and it opens up Chrome and I sign in  and click Allow. Unfortunately, it just keeps asking to Sign into to Google and it won't connect.

 

How do I solve this problem?

Copper Contributor

Im having the same problem. Every time my gmail account tries to sync I get the prompt to sign my gmail account via launching my browser. I follow the steps and I get back to outlook, where I get the same prompt asking me to sign my gmail account via launching the browser.

 

I've updated my outlook to the last version available. Its not working. Please help.

Copper Contributor

My issues started this afternoon.  I've  been using outlook 2016 for a year+ and never had an issue.  

 
This may be the reason this trouble started.  Check this link:
 
 
May be just a coincidence.  So we'll see.
 
Hope this helps.
Copper Contributor

HI Everyone,

 

I just opened Outlook at 1239am EDT and it connected to Google without a problem.

 

So I think it was the outage that I posted earlier from Digital trends that was the issue.

 

Thanks,

 

cestep6

Copper Contributor

Microsoft Outlook Developer Team continues to abuse their customers.

From time to time (probably upon updates) they simply force the users to update Outlook with more than 300Mb of downloads, that are not Always possible when you are on the road. And as long as you don´t update Outlook simply stops working.

How can such abuse be accepted by na Software Achitect or Manager and approved by a company.

 

Outlook for MAC stopped again working - even after installing download 16.25.0 . - Ask's for G-Mail account password and doesn´t accept correct password. Just stupid, anoying and a total abuse !!!!!

I don´t lik Google. But I start getting sick from Microsoft now.

Copper Contributor

So the whole company has to stop working again with Outlook, as it returns (AUTHENTICTIONFAILED) Invalid credentials (Failure).

Just waiting until Office Signature expires in order to purchase another solution.

Copper Contributor

This is an old thread but I thought I'd post an update here because I think there's more than one cause for this issue and problems with Outlook seem to come and go regularly (and are different on a Mac and a PC, by the way).

 

  • Recent versions of Outlook no longer seem to accept account usernames that are not email addresses. There are still many old accounts out there that have simple text usernames - if they can't be changed, or won't accept an '@' character or periods then you can't use Outlook. 
  • Recent versions of Outlook don't allow you to set advanced settings until the initial automatic setup attempt fails. Since the initial setup process typically guesses the servername based on the user's email address and that will often fail for an address that uses a personal domain (different from the mail server name) that means you have to accept a "certificate mismatch" security warning before you can configure the account correctly.
  • Recent versions of Outlook won't work with an account name that is different from the "from" address that messages are sent from. That means if you want to forward incoming personal mail to Gmail (for storage, spam filtering and mobile access) but reply from your personal domain, you must first set up the account in Outlook for the outgoing domain, then reconfigure the incoming server settings. This is a bit counter-intuitive.
  • Recent versions of Outlook wouldn't allow you to set up the account for a personal domain then change the incoming server to Gmail. This seems to have been a bug that has now been fixed at least in the Windows version. One workaround was to move all mail to live.com but I had big problems there with spam filters silently discarding wanted emails so I no longer recommend that.
  • Outlook tries to use port 465 (which has been deprecated for years) instead of port 587 for outgoing encrypted connections, which sometimes causes connections to fail.
  • Gmail often blocks Outlook passwords even if "Allow insecure applications" is set in Gmail settings (and even after initially accepting the password). The solution is to use an "App password" for connection to Gmail, which is only possible if you have enabled two-factor authentication in Gmail, which is only possible if you have a mobile phone.

All of these things can (in my experience) cause very similar symptoms to the authentication problems discussed here. The solution is to get an experienced person to sort them out for you, or try a different client (many people now seem to use Thunderbird, a web browser or a phone app if they can - they tend to use Outlook only at work, connected to Exchange and managed by someone else).

Copper Contributor

I'm facing this still. Happens all the time. Happens at the worst of times. And no I will not go opening my KeyChain app or whatever. This is freakin email. Storing credentials on a Mac shouldn't be some complex Advanced Support and Consulting Vendor Opportunity where Someone Who Truly Understands the Intricacies of Outlook the Email Sending and Receiving Magical client should be necessary. Sorry for the vent. The response I expected is, "We're sorry, we're adding more logs, we'll fix it."

Copper Contributor

Also for the love of everything that is decent, I clicked on Report Bug on the Outlook Client. Why would you add that button and then not want email? Why add personal email instead of customer support if you don't want feedback? I'm sure the metrics look great though. :)

 

 

Screen Shot 2019-06-30 at 11.31.53 PM.png

Copper Contributor

Hi

 

It appears that i have the same issue as many. My outlook was working fine yesterday until around 3pm then i was logged out asked to enter my password and i just end up getting the same message 'sign in with google browser". Now becoming frustrated. Uninstalled and reinstalled outlook.

 

Any help?

 

Thanks.

Copper Contributor
I'm having the same issue - i deleted all of my gmail accounts (i have several for separate work accounts), and now i can't even add them back onto OUTLOOK. This is terrible. I'm also being asked to login to every single account (exchange, icloud, etc) every time I launch Outlook on my Mac. About to switch to a new platform - i can't work like this.
Copper Contributor

I have been experiencing the same issues. 

 

Google have decided that Microsoft Outlook for Mac is a 'Less secure app' and blocked my access to my Gmail.

 

janenovodente_0-1589457761569.png

You need to go into security settings in your Google account and turn on 'Allow less secure access'

 

janenovodente_2-1589458009397.png

 

 

janenovodente_1-1589457939143.png

I have 6 different gmail accounts and had to do this for each one.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Copper Contributor

I'm glad I found this blog post because I have been going crazy trying to figure this issue out. Our CEO intermittently gets prompted to sign into google. He is using Outlook for Mac on the latest Macbook Pro 16". The microsoft update utility says that Outlook is on the latest version. He will sometimes get prompted multiple times back to back. I have tried all of the following to resolve:
Delete duplicate keychain entries for gmail and outlook

Delete and Re-add the account

Uninstall Office and reinstall
Change the IMAP and SMTP settings from *.gmail.com to *.googlemail.com

Finally, today, after finding this post, I locked the keychain and then unlocked it and then deleted and re-added the gmail account to outlook.

 

Hopefully this resolves the issue but if not , we have a real problem on our hands here.

 

I also use a Macbook Pro with outlook and connect it to my work gmail account and I do not have this issue. It would be great if Microsoft could provide a definite answer to this problem.

Copper Contributor

This has become a nightmare.  I am asked to authenticate (Google <---> Outlook for Mac) via the new mechanism above at least every other day; sometimes more than once a day.  I leave MS Outlook for Mac open 24x7 on my Mac.  I don't know what changes during the course of a day but the constant, ceaseless authentication is ridiculous.

Copper Contributor

Outlook for Mac app (not web)? Version #, and build suffix? Version of macOS? Are you using a VPN that may be disconnecting and reconnecting through the day (giving a new IP address, socket)? 

 

I had this issue, but no longer do. I'm not sure what fixed it. I'm on app beta v 16.61 build xxx0301, macOS 12.3.1, use VPN, MacBook Air M1, and do not need to re-authenticate throughout the day, or across many days.

Copper Contributor

I have the same problem. Until two days ago no problem syncing my google accounts for work (3) using outlook. now I can not receive my emails at all. I get popup we need to launch a browser that you can login to... this is for security reasons it says.

 

However I can not sign in. 

 

But I can sign in to my google accounts, see docs and access gmail.

Copper Contributor

@R_Wortmann and others.

 

When windows shows up “We have to launch a Browser..”, try to open first a new Browser Window from with the same Google Account you are using for the Outlook Authentication.

After that switch back to the “launch a “Browser request” and click on the Button.

A new Tab will open on you last Browser session with the correct Google Account.

Confirm all, and it should work.

 

works for me (without signing out from other existing Google Accounts)

 

Good Luck.

 

Obs: continues being one of the most annoying issues…

Version history
Last update:
‎Jun 18 2018 02:02 PM
Updated by: