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Thunderbird cannot verify email account, correct password is being used. Why did my gmail suddenly stop connecting?
For years I have used Thunderbird, several machines and installs. Never have I had a problem with my gmail accounts. Around Dec 20 I started getting "cannot connect to gmail.pop" error messages when connecting to one of my gmail accounts. Yesterday I noticed that both of my gmail accounts are now affected. I enabled both imap and pop on both gmail accounts, and still nothing changed. I wondered if maybe re-adding the accounts to Thunderbird might solve the problem, instead I have an new problem. I cannot add my gmail accounts back to Thunderbird. I went back to gmail and changed the password setting and still, I cannot add my gmail accounts back to Thunderbird. I get the error "cannot authenticate... are the username and password correct?" I know for sure that my passwords are correct. I've logged out of gmail and logged back in with no issues.
How do I get my gmail accounts to work through Thunderbird again?
All Replies (3)
You may need to 'Allow less secure apps'. https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/6009563
I had previously changed my accounts to allow less secure apps. I also turned off the 2-step verification through google on both accounts. These are changes I had previously and do not explain or resolve why after years of working my accounts suddenly stopped connecting and now I cannot add them back to my Tunderbird program.
An gyara
If you set up your Gmail IMAP account with OAuth2 authentication 'Allow less secure apps' isn't needed.
Also make sure to read the entire Google support article.