Gmail less secure apps being locked down

[KeithLaKey]

On May 30, 2022 Google is locking down "less secure apps".

See Google's announcement here:

https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/6010255?hl=en

I'm using Outlook 2019, ad use Gmail via Outlook for 95% of my Email traffic.

I would think Microsoft is aware of this. Will using Outlook require a manual 2FA intervention every time a connection is made with Gmail?

[#2]

@Peter_Rosner 

I use Outlook 2010 - At 3am this morning Outlook pulled down an email from the gmail server - It is the last gmail message I have been able to get through Outlook. After that I started getting requests from Outlook for a working password for my gmail account. I was getting this response:

Log onto incoming mail server (POP3): Your e-mail server rejected your login. Verify your user name and password for this account in Account Settings. The server responded: -ERR [AUTH] Username and password not accepted.

I know this is not the problem because I can log into gmail on my browser and see the new emails I have gotten since the one at 3am. Clearly I am dealing with this "less secure app" issue. It took me 3 hours to find this thread to figure out what is going on.

You propose a solution with the caveat, " I'll only know for sure after May 30th." Well, it is after May 30th - I have the problem you were addressing - does your solution still work? Or, will it be an even greater waste of my time to try and implement it?

I use Outlook so I can have my own record of my emails because clearly Google feels they can shut access to my emails anytime they like - ironically because the Outlook app isn't secure enough. Well, they have proved that.

So again, does the solution you suggest for Outlook 2010 users still work?

Paul

[#3]

RE: My previous post about Google shutting down "less secure apps"

Found a workaround that works.

After changing the POP and SMTP servers from POP/SMTP.GMAIL.Com to POP/SMTP.GoogleMAIL.COM without success, the article said change your Google Password to 16 characters.  Mine was set to 12.

After resetting my password, Outlook began exchanging both POP and SMTP mail. However, it seems like it synced back to when the tablets came off the mountain..... At least my Outlook is working again.

V/r

Retired (or so I thought) I.T. guy

[#4]

My Outlook 2010 is still working fine. In other words, my proposed solution works, at least for me.

[#5]

Please see the solution that I posted on May 08th at 11:08 AM. My Outlook 2010 is still working fine, so this solution appears to work, at least for me. Disclaimer: I have ZERO tech background. Not an IT person. I use Windows 10 Home Version 21H2. The exact steps might be slightly different for other versions of Windows.
Peter

[#6]

I'm using Microsoft Office Professional 2016.  The 2010 solution didn't work.  I've spoken to some former colleagues, and they seem to feel that going to a 16 character password would work across the board.

I've been retired from the I.T. field for 12 years, but just can't seem to get away from problem solving for friends and family.

[#7]

My solution appears to be the same as the solution previously posted by Stewart Goodin on Apr 08 2022 at 01:09 PM. Not having an I.T. background I did not understand his solution when I first read it. It works for me.
Peter

[#8]

Your instructions are excellent - clear, precise and accurate - and they worked flawlessly. I have my Outlook gmail connection back. Thank you for doing this. Shame on MS for not being more out front with this solution or any other instead of leaving users hanging.

[#9]

@Iceman-FL 

hello sir

I am checking to see if you have resolved your outlook problem

be very careful about creating a new outlook profile

this can leave you with a damaged account that can take hours to put back together

I am not sure if posting my email address is proper but having been in this system for 

years here we go

If anyone needs help email me [Email removed by Admin] I will help. 

Stewart Goodin 

[#10]

My issue has been resolved. Here are the steps that I took:

In Outlook, changed server settings to point to pop.googlemail.com and smtp.googlemail.com File>Account Settings>Server Settings.

When that did not resolve the issue, I logged into my GMAIL account, and changed my password from 12 to 16 characters.

Restarted Outlook (Microsoft Professional Version 2016) and when prompted, entered my new 16 character GMAIL password.

Outlook started the sync process at that point.

I have not encountered any other issues using Outlook 2016 since then.

[#11]

Thank you
We had an internet outage yesterday and now my wireless card has crapped out. I am just getting on the internet now - dealing with a day's worth of stuff that has accumulated.
Thank you for your advice - this seems promising - we will see - I will keep you up to date with my efforts.
Paul

[#12]

Hi Stewart,
Yes, my issue has been resolved. Your solution worked. Thanks.
Peter

[#13]

To those who have helped me resolve my Google / MS Outlook 2010 "Less Secure App" issue:
First, thank you for your support - I have resolved the issue and I believe everything is working. Outlook is sufficiently complicated that I cannot be 100% sure.
When this began on Thursday, it was a perfect storm. I had the problem with Google, then my wi-fi adapter card crapped out on my laptop and finally there was a regional collapse of internet access from our cable provider. I had some critical emails to address on Thursday. As of today everything is done and it is all recorded in Outlook which was my goal.
Here is the solution I used (Please read my notes at the end)

Iceman-FL (Occasional Visitor) posted a new reply in Outlook on Jun 03 2022 08:11 AM:
Re: Gmail less secure apps being locked down
My issue has been resolved. Here are the steps that I took:
In Outlook, changed server settings to point to pop.googlemail.com and smtp.googlemail.com File>Account Settings>Server Settings.
When that did not resolve the issue, I logged into my GMAIL account, and changed my password from 12 to 16 characters.
Restarted Outlook (Microsoft Professional Version 2016) and when prompted, entered my new 16 character GMAIL password.
Outlook started the sync process at that point.
I have not encountered any other issues using Outlook 2016 since then.

Notes: I had seen the suggestion of changing the server addresses before and tried it and it did NOT solve the issue. I followed the instructions above and changed the server addresses and the password so I am not sure the address change made any difference. It may only be going to a 16 character password that made the difference.
Secondly, once the login issue was cured, Outlook started downloading emails in 400+/- size blocks of emails, downloading thousands of emails to my Inbox - oldest to newest. It totally baffled me, I could not figure out what they were or where in Outlook they were going. This went on for about an hour until finally my inbox was populated with the emails that had been sent to my gmail account since Google cut off access through outlook on Thursday.
Now I know my Outlook needs a lot of cleaning up and I have to go online and clean up things in my Gmail account. But thank you all once again for your help in resolving the issue
CPaulC

[#14]

To those who have helped me resolve my Google / MS Outlook 2010 "Less Secure App" issue:
First, thank you for your support - I have resolved the issue and I believe everything is working. Outlook is sufficiently complicated that I cannot be 100% sure.
When this began on Thursday, it was a perfect storm. I had the problem with Google, then my wi-fi adapter card crapped out on my laptop and finally there was a regional collapse of internet access from our cable provider. I had some critical emails to address on Thursday. As of today everything is done and it is all recorded in Outlook which was my goal.
Here is the solution I used (Please read my notes at the end)

Iceman-FL (Occasional Visitor) posted a new reply in Outlook on Jun 03 2022 08:11 AM:
Re: Gmail less secure apps being locked down
My issue has been resolved. Here are the steps that I took:
In Outlook, changed server settings to point to pop.googlemail.com and smtp.googlemail.com File>Account Settings>Server Settings.
When that did not resolve the issue, I logged into my GMAIL account, and changed my password from 12 to 16 characters.
Restarted Outlook (Microsoft Professional Version 2016) and when prompted, entered my new 16 character GMAIL password.
Outlook started the sync process at that point.
I have not encountered any other issues using Outlook 2016 since then.

Notes: I had seen the suggestion of changing the server addresses before and tried it and it did NOT solve the issue. I followed the instructions above and changed the server addresses and the password so I am not sure the address change made any difference. It may only be going to a 16 character password that made the difference.
Secondly, once the login issue was cured, Outlook started downloading emails in 400+/- size blocks of emails, downloading thousands of emails to my Inbox - oldest to newest. It totally baffled me, I could not figure out what they were or where in Outlook they were going. This went on for about an hour until finally my inbox was populated with the emails that had been sent to my gmail account since Google cut off access through outlook on Thursday.
Now I know my Outlook needs a lot of cleaning up and I have to go online and clean up things in my Gmail account. But thank you all once again for your help in resolving the issue
CPaulC

[#15]

Thank you again - My Outlook 2010 is working again

[#16]

Thank you again - it took awhile but I am up and working

[#17]

@Peter_RosnerI am sorry to report that sometime after 5:39PM EDT yesterday 6/6/22 (the anniversary of D-Day), Google began again to refuse to accept my username and password when my MS Outlook logs-on to download my emails from my gmail account. So, at this point updated server addresses and a 24 character passwords are no longer a work-around to deflect Google's demand for a 2 factor authorization scheme and, presumably, the only second factor they will accept is a working personal cell phone number.

So 3 comments:

1) The price for a free gmail account is the surrender of your personal identity

2) Google is right - MS Outlook is a less secure app - Google has the ability to beak the security I have put in place and has willfully denied me the use of this app that I use to retrieve and store my emails on my own computer, demanding that I accept its escalated and arbitrary terms. Clearly MS Outlook cannot provide the security I need against a big tech giant like Google or Alphabet or whoever they are

3) And they are so big that I fear - with the phone companies - soon no electronic communications will be secure. They will own all our emails, all our texts, all our phone conversations, all our digitally transmitted images. They will be able to search and produce them at will - they will be able to erase, alter or invent them at will - in short, there is no longer any legal framework left robust enough to really protect a free American citizen, not, at least, against the likes of these people. We are each on our own and our only option is to join a tribe that we hope can provide some protection.

[#18]

Thanks Stewart,

This step-by-step explanation helped me after my gmail IMAP-account stopped working in Outlook 2010.
Google itself wasn't clear that I could reactivate it and how.

I feared I would have to do a 2-factor login every time IMAP was queried.

Fortunately I haven't.

[#19]

Stewart - the solution worked perfectly to get my Outlook 2007 back up and running with gmail.

Thanks you very much!

Pat

[#20]

Stewart - you are a legend!
I read through reams of Microsoft and Google help text/gobbledegook that turned out to be useless but this really works!!!

[#21]

G'day Stewart.

I have to admit I can't fathom Microsoft's lack of clear advice to it's users over this issue as there's bugger-all info available via any web searches. As per some of the responses in this thread, it seems the geeks are happy to throw solution grenades without answering the underlying question of the person writing the post. Not everyone is a computer guru. Frustrating and annoying.

Alas, I didn't find this post till after I'd spent an hour and half online to Microsoft. But after having had to speak to two, yes, two Microsoft reps (the first one didn't have a clue what Google had done with less secure apps) I'm finally mobile. But I had to get the guy to dial into my PC to do it.

Long story short, from what I saw him do I think he followed the steps you've outlined above.

So, pat on the back and an elephant stamp for you Stewart! :)