Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

smtp.gmail.com: xxxx "Offline" - Fix

Just FYI -

I have 2 gmail accounts configured under "Mail" and over the last few days 1 of my accounts when sending a new email shows the "smtp.gmail.com:xxxxx" as "Offline", if I forced a send from it, I would have to type my password in again. Then it would send, but go back offline.

Even when resetting the password under the Mail Account Prefs, no difference.

Here's what worked for me.

1. Start a new message
2. Pull down the "smtp.gmail.com: xxxx" menu and select "EDIT smtp server list"
3. Click on the account that's going "Offline", select "Advanced"
4. Fill in the password and close.

I don't know why, but the account that was having issues did NOT have my password saved (even though it was "saved" under the normal account preferences area).

All seems well again, even after closing and opening mail etc.

The very strange thing is, the "EDIT smtp server list" seems to be a sub-menu under the normal Account preferences, that can't be accessed except the above way. Odd.

Hope this helps.

Mac Mini 2k10 - MacBook Pro 15 2k11, Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Mar 9, 2011 2:47 AM

Reply
6 replies

Jul 9, 2014 10:37 AM in response to osx86er

Just encountered this myself on Mavericks and have some clarification.


In Mail.app I created a Gmail account like user@example.com and it was able to get mail just fine from Google. But it could not send.


The outgoing SMTP server turned out to have the username (e.g., "user") but NOT the domain name ("example.com"). Of course there are probably a billion people with the same username trying to connect to smtp.gmail.com, it's gotta have the full address including the domain part to distinguish between them. So I set it to be the same as I had originally supplied, user@example.com (and made sure the password was still OK). After a restart, Mail.app was able to send via Gmail.


This is a nasty and subtle bug in the account setup for Gmail in Mail.app: it should preserve the same email for outbound SMTP as it does for inbound from Gmail.

Dec 2, 2014 1:34 PM in response to shentonfreude

I have the same issue with my main gmail account but none of the above has worked. I even deleted the account and then setup again with a new "App Password" and it didn't work.


I checked the SMTP and it has the username as the full email address. Everything looks the same as my 2nd gmail account so I'm stuck.


Any advice would be much appreciated? 😉

smtp.gmail.com: xxxx "Offline" - Fix

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.