"Mail can't connect to the account 'Gmail'"

I've been having the exact same problems.

I tried EVERYTHING in this chain of messages!!!

This is what worked for me.

I just put the complete email address on the "login" information at the SMTP configuration and it works!

I'll give an example:

>Open the mail app

>>Click on the "Mail" tab in the top toolbar of the Mail app and go to preferences. Another window will open.

>>>In this window click on the Accounts tab.

>>>>Next go to the tab next to Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP): which is the last option under the Accounts tab. and click on Edit SMTP Server List...

>>>>>Here is where I made my change. At the bottom where it says User Name and Password my username was JohnDoe and needed to be JohnDoes@gmail.com

Once I changed the username from JohnDoe to Johndoe@gmail.com everything has been perfect.

Hope this helps. I've been trying to fix this for weeks on my system and came by this method.

I've just spent a couple of hours with the same problem when setting up new account for my husband's new iMac. Tried everything - setting up account via Gmail option in Mail, then the manual method. Still came back saying couldn't verify account. Then I removed the 2-step verification. Then I set up the gmail account manually (chose "Other") and NOT via the Gmail option on Mail. Thought it wasn't working and presto mail started to download. It is still downloading 4,000 messages that have been archived into folders via Gmail so I gather that's why my test emails haven't been sent. Will let you know if they don't when the system finishes downloading. At least things are communicating now...

If you haven't yet upgraded to OSX 10.9.2 you may want to try this. In this update they have configured several fixes for the issues Mac Mail is having with Google Mail. This solved quite a few of the issues for me.

If this does not fix the issue, and you have no already, I highly recommend investigating the 2-step verification, as this is where many of the problems stem from.

As always, be sure to back up your computer BEFORE the upgrade.

Good Luck!

I found the solution to the problem for me. Maybe it'll help some of y'all. I went to Apple Mail > prefrences > Accounts > Account Information > Edit SMTP user list (under the drop down menu by "Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP):" My username was missing the "@gmail.com". I added that, hit save, and went to the Apple Mail app. It asked me to enter the password one more time and it worked!

I know this is an old thread but I was having this issue and none of the solutions here were working but I finally got it. I signed into gmail from my browser, went to Settings, over to the Forwarding/POP and IMAP tab and clicked "enable IMAP." Doh. It finally seems to be working now.

FWIW, saw that exact behavior today. Ended up re-entering the password in Network Accounts and rebooting, and the problem cleared. I'd suspect that Google may have changed something in their configuration, or has some creeping crud somewhere in their server configuration.

I don't know if this was mentioned in the previous replies, but what worked for me was basically:

Changed my username to be my email address instead of just a nickname.

You can go to mail app then click on the gear icon > click on Edit Gmail > a window will pop up then from there you can change the username to your email address if it is not.

That's basically the issue I was having. Maybe you have the same... Try it.

Lots of the same issues. Finally trashed the gmail account in preferences and added via 'add other account' rather than 'google' and so far it works. Won't sync notes though for some reason, but at least gmail is back in my MAIL box...couldn't get used to working in the googlemail page!

Hey there

I was having the exact same trouble until I turned off the 2 step verification on my gmail account. for some reason I stopped being able to get any mail on my machine of iphone if this is activated.

Hope that helps.

The final solution for me was the elimination of the two step verification process on my Gmail account. After that my Apple Mail program worked flawlessly and in its most recent iteration it literally flies!

I could not be happier and find no need for any other Mail application.

I had problems (got prompted continuously for my password, and couldn't send out email) until I went into Mail preferences and unchecked Outgoing Mail use only this server. After I unchecked, I saved my changes and it worked!

I fixed mine. After hours of password reapeating and tweaking here and there, I saw a post here and disabled the "two step verification" and the account connected again. My god…

Here's the link with explains how to do it:

https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/1064203?hl=en

Cheers

Hi, thanks a lot!

You can't imagine how frustrating I was because I just couldn't set up a new google account email to Mail, two days trying...

Than after finally setting up the account, Mails kept saying that my username or password was incorrect, and it was indeed!

You gave me the solution (quite simple...), your username should be you full email addressname@yourdomain.com (not just the name, which is tricking because there is a box just for your email address!), anyway, thanks!!!

1. Create an Application-specific password - Google help
2. Go to /Applications/Utilities - launch Keychain Access
3. Search for imap.gmail.com and delete the entry for that (presuming you connect via IMAP, otherwise search for pop3.gmail.com)
4. Repeat for smtp.gmail.com
5. Go back to Apple Mail and check your email, you will be prompted for your password
6. Paste in the password in the password prompt, making sure the "Remember this password in my keychain" is enabled

I just had this problem and I did something much less complicated;

log out of google/gmail

log out of Mail

log back into gmail...

log back into Mail...

Mac Mail couldn't accept the new password without a clean slate I guess.