GoldenA

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

This issue arose this morning. Mail requests my Gmail account password and, after having entered it numerous times, continuously fails to connect to the account. Mail is failing to connect to both the incoming and outgoing servers, despite the correct information being entered for each. Furthermore, Mail now fails to connect to the IMAP server of the added iCloud account. I'm on a 2012 iMac running Mountain Lion and Mail 6.3. I've tried readding the Gmail account, to no avail. Any ideas?

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion, 13-inch, Mid 2009

Posted on May 15, 2013 11:02 AM

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

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  • by Olespice,

    Olespice Olespice Oct 2, 2014 10:59 AM in response to twlaakso
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 2, 2014 10:59 AM in response to twlaakso

    I found a similar problem but with the Gmail password.   How or why Mail changed it I can't figure out but it has  happened to me twice now.   Turned the password into a previous one and if I hadn't been able to note the difference in password length I may not have had a clue for some time.   Now how does that happen!

  • by Twitchin Kitten,

    Twitchin Kitten Twitchin Kitten Oct 2, 2014 11:04 AM in response to Olespice
    Level 1 (11 points)
    Apple Pay
    Oct 2, 2014 11:04 AM in response to Olespice

    LOL Gremlins!

  • by EbrahimAK,

    EbrahimAK EbrahimAK Oct 19, 2014 4:17 AM in response to GoldenA
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 19, 2014 4:17 AM in response to GoldenA

    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.

  • by Olespice,

    Olespice Olespice Oct 19, 2014 8:03 AM in response to EbrahimAK
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 19, 2014 8:03 AM in response to EbrahimAK

    Thanks for the input.   However, I've gained my email connection; just came back without warning!    There's worse.

     

     

     

    What's now happening is much more drastic.   I believe I have a form of malware (been in touch about it in another thread) and whilst I have mail  back, my printer is now not connecting and my editing is suffering badly from jittery flow in the timeline together with sound loss and vision weakening; also my list of favourites in the Safari bookmarks column has diminished to about five from around eighty.   All my address book content has also gone.   There is more but I think I've supplied enough.  Really worried at the moment and will seek a local guru to see if he can help

  • by danielgluk,

    danielgluk danielgluk Nov 11, 2014 5:07 PM in response to GLee719
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 11, 2014 5:07 PM in response to GLee719

    Hi I'm having the exact problem, mail can't suddenly send any mails, I can receive them without any problem.

  • by akarve,

    akarve akarve Nov 11, 2014 5:27 PM in response to jacquir
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 11, 2014 5:27 PM in response to jacquir

    Here's what worked for me:

    1. Back up your data
    2. Delete accounts that aren't syncing
    3. System Preferences > Internet Accounts > + > OTHER ACCOUNT (not Gmail)
    4. Works

    *Thanks to an unnamed IT dept hero for this idea

    **Might be necessary to flush DNS first (Terminal `dscacheutil -flushcache`). Apple, if you're listening, blowing away the dnsCache in com.apple.internetaccounts.plist *does not work as expected*. Even after flushing DNS, something somewhere repopulates dnsCache with the same old info every time the user closes System Preferences > Internet Accounts.

  • by Method Mike,

    Method Mike Method Mike Nov 21, 2014 8:24 PM in response to GoldenA
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 21, 2014 8:24 PM in response to GoldenA

    I got mine to work. After attempting all of these listed fixes with no luck. I went into my gmail settings, go to security, go to the account permissions box. There was an option to enable access for less secure applications. Once I did this it began to load.

     

    Good Luck I hope this helps

  • by Zenblues,

    Zenblues Zenblues Nov 30, 2014 1:28 PM in response to GoldenA
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 30, 2014 1:28 PM in response to GoldenA

    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

  • by Sugar Fish,

    Sugar Fish Sugar Fish Jan 16, 2015 4:05 AM in response to GoldenA
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iLife
    Jan 16, 2015 4:05 AM in response to GoldenA

    My problem may have been the same as yours, and LooseNeutral'ssolution is very much like the one that found.  Long story, not sure whether I should shorten it because hey, who knows, the details might be helpful to someone.

     

    I'm running Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6.8) on my tower and Mavericks (Mac OS X 10.9.5) on my laptop.  I hadn't been receiving email on the tower since it died two years ago, bought the laptop, decided to start using the tower again a few days ago, and couldn't get my gmail accounts to send or receive.  An Apple tech suggested that it may have had something to do with kerberos .plist files I had deleted—a kerberos problem was intermittently slowing down my system, removing the kerberos .plist files solved that problem but we thought it might be responsible for the problem with gmail.  I jumped through a lot of hoops over several days trying to solve this, including putting a spare hard drive in my tower and partitioning it for fresh Snow Leopard and Yosemite (10.10.1) installs.  Gmail accounts could send and receive from the fresh Yosemite partition, but not from the fresh Snow Leopard partition.

     

    As I tested Apple Mail Version 4.6 (1085), I kept receiving warnings from Google at the gmail address—which was able to send and receive from Mavericks on my laptop running Apple Mail Version 7.3 (1878.6)—that Google had blocked sign-in attempts.  Checking the security settings on my gmail account, I found that Google was referring to an "Unknown Device," meaning Apple Mail 4.6 on Snow Leopard on my tower.  One solution they suggested was to run "DisplayUnlockCaptcha," which didn't help.  Another solution was to enable "Less Secure Apps" to work with my gmail account.  I was unable to find a list of "Less Secure Apps," so I don't know whether Apple Mail Version 4.6 is on it.  Enabling Less Secure Apps did not work at first.  I tried it again, following advice on another thread, and it appears to have worked.  Here's the exact process I followed:

     

    Quit Apple Mail.  Log out of the Google account on Safari.  Log back into the Google account on Firefox.  Enable Less Secure Apps.  Open Apple Mail.  Problem solved.

     

    Google keeps telling me that my browser (I'd been using Safari) is out of date: "This version of Safari is no longer supported. Please upgrade to asupported browser."  I get that message at the top of the browser window in the most up-to-date versions of Safari that work with 10.6.8 and 10.10.1, so I tried Firefox.  Also, googling "make unknown device known to gmail security" returned no relevant results.

     

    So.  I don't know where I went right, but I did.  I do hope this helps someone!

  • by JulieLJ,

    JulieLJ JulieLJ Feb 13, 2015 2:56 AM in response to saintjohnsue
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 13, 2015 2:56 AM in response to saintjohnsue

    That worked for me - thank you so much!

  • by jeffsa,

    jeffsa jeffsa Feb 23, 2015 12:46 PM in response to GoldenA
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Feb 23, 2015 12:46 PM in response to GoldenA

    So I couldn't access my main gmail account that I'd had forever after changing the password following what Google said was likely a breach.  After changing the password, a number of my Mac devices quit working and wouldn't send e-mail through that account anymore.  Drove me nuts.  Entered and reentered password. 

     

    Then I realized I was getting an e-mail from google (on my contact e-mail account (a yahoo address) that is related to my main google email acct) each time I tried unsuccessfully to access my man in Google account, saying "We blocked an attempt to access your account" with a google link for more info.  There I was able to downgrade a security setting - forgive me, can't tell you which one, but it was pretty apparent just following the e-mail link.

     

    Anyway, I change that security setting at the Gmail site and Bravo!  my other mac devices work fine.

  • by phillipchao531,

    phillipchao531 phillipchao531 Mar 19, 2015 12:38 AM in response to Christopher Corbettis1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 19, 2015 12:38 AM in response to Christopher Corbettis1

    Lifesaver!

  • by Kristin620,

    Kristin620 Kristin620 Apr 16, 2015 6:40 PM in response to GoldenA
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 16, 2015 6:40 PM in response to GoldenA
  • by BakerBruceW,

    BakerBruceW BakerBruceW May 15, 2015 3:18 AM in response to GoldenA
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 15, 2015 3:18 AM in response to GoldenA

    I had this problem, too, for several staff members attempting to switch to Gmail accounts.  Eventually I discovered there is a bug that prevents you from adding a Google account, but only if you call it a Google account.  When you arrive at this panel, simply select "Add Other Mail Account..."  Enter your gmail credentials and you will have no problems at all.  No matter how many times you select "Google," you will never be able to add a Gmal account.Screen Shot 2015-05-15 at 5.15.28 AM.png

  • by portable_soul,

    portable_soul portable_soul May 17, 2015 9:40 AM in response to GoldenA
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 17, 2015 9:40 AM in response to GoldenA

    Hi all, I had the same problem with accessing my Mail, Calendar, Notes account from my MacBook. This was happened after I activate my 2 step verification security on my Google account, but thanks God, I just solved it.

     

    If this problem came because of the same reason, so go to your Google account settings > Go to "Signing In" box > Select "App Passwords" > On the bottom you'll find "Select App" button, click it and to me I chose "Other (custom name)" > Then I wrote "Notes" (You might want to write "Mail" or something else) > Click Generate > Then you will get notification like this… It has an unique & randomly generated password > Next step, go to your Mac system preferences > Select Mail, Contacts, & Calendars > Select Gmail > Click "Details" button > Then retype your new randomly password generated by Google (the one on yellow box) > Solved!

     

    Hopefully it helps, mine works already, my Notes keeps updating again after several days can't get any updates.

     

     

     

     

     

    Screen Shot 2015-05-17 at 11.26.07 PM.png

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