Level 1

9 points

Where are internet account passwords stored? (not in keychain)

I know the general answer is that you can find passwords in keychain, however, I can only find google.accountsync and google.oauth passwords, which do not correspond with the password of my account. Despite the password not appearing in keychain, when i open the mail app, i receive new email and appear to be logged in into that account. I just want to have access to the password so i can log into the account on web browsers and other computers.

Thank you in advance.

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Aug 19, 2016 10:49 AM

29 replies

Rysz

Level 8

44,449 points

Aug 19, 2016 10:59 AM in response to Alvei

Mail stores passwords needed to access your various account servers.

Keychain stores all passwords. Safari stores/accesses website passwords.

iCloud Keychain syncs the stored passwords to your other iDevices and Macs.

If you're not seeing this behaviour, you have not enabloded these functions. Check your settings.

Alvei Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 19, 2016 11:05 AM in response to leroydouglas

There is no such entry as "password". Being in Spanish, it should say "contraseña". You can see in the screenshot i´ve taken that the password does not show under your indications. Nevertheless, thank you.

Alvei Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 19, 2016 11:24 AM in response to Rysz

Hello Rysz, thank yoy for your answer.

I understand the different functions each app carries out, however, this is not a question of iCloud sync, or safari password. My issue lays with the discrepancy between mail stored passwords (the one my gmail account) and what appears to be registered in keychain (no password for that account). If keychain were to save all passwords, it would show the password I´m looking for. Plus, if keychain was the only app where passwords are stored, mail would show an error message saying it cannot access the account.

leroydouglas

Level 10

199,416 points

Aug 19, 2016 11:57 AM in response to Alvei

Hard to understand, I would poke around and see where it pops up; it has to be there somewhere.

El Cap screenshot:

Aug 19, 2016 12:25 PM in response to Alvei

Is this true with both the Gmail and the iCloud accounts?

Alvei Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 22, 2016 9:05 AM in response to tim.rohrer

@tim.rohrer

No, I have several accounts and I can find their password in keychain. Only one gmail account has this problem.

@leroydouglas

Aha! I know what´s happening... Your´s is not a gmail account, that is why you can see the password and i cannot. Nevertheless, even if I could see the password, it would show as dots, and my intention is to somehow recover it.

Aug 22, 2016 10:19 AM in response to Alvei

Right, the password field shows up for my accounts, but I'm not using Gmail. In either case, I'm pretty sure it should be there. If the password field exists for your other accounts, then I suspect it is simply something anomalous with that account.

I would start by trying to disable the account (uncheck the box), quit Mail.app, start Mail.app, and then see if the GUI gets fixed.

If this doesn't work, I'd probably delete the account and try reconfiguring it. As it uses IMAP, the actual data should not be lost even if it is removed from your computer (but always have backups!) There are some other things that can be done to reset mail, but in this case the problem seems to be the account configuration/Mail.app, and not so much with the mail itself.

Tim

Aug 22, 2016 10:22 AM in response to Alvei

Have you gone into apps > other > Keychain Access and looked there? (Your original post implies that, but I want to make sure.)

Is it is possible you are simply signed into gmail and didn't save the password? You are getting into gmail because you aren't signed out, not because your password is sent each time (?)

If all you want is to retrieve your password, it may be simpler for you to try to get into your gmail from a web browser and tell it you lost your password, and follow the hoops to reset it to something new.

Alvei Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 24, 2016 5:19 AM in response to tim.rohrer

@tim.rohrer

I´ve tried disabling my account, quitting the app and then restarting, nothing happens. I´m not quite sure about deleting my account, doing so would probably mean that when I try to reconfigure it, the password will have to be introduced again. As you say, backups might help but I do not know if I can backup all the information related to internet accounts saved in my mac.

@Bob R Oregon

Yes, I have indeed checked if my password is stored in keychain access, it is not. And yes, what you mention is a possibility, however, I would find it strange that even when I turn off my computer, disable the gmail account, etc. I am still connected and no password is asked for. Finally, I have tried to retrieve my password through gmail, but was unable to do so. Nevertheless, I am curious to know why my password isn´t saved in keychain if mail.app is (at least what it seems) using it.

Feb 25, 2017 8:19 AM in response to Lexiepex

Sorry when you say 'look under logins' which app should I be looking in first?

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,108 points

Feb 25, 2017 8:41 AM in response to Jack Blackwell

"Keychain Access" in Applications->Utilities.

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,108 points

Feb 25, 2017 1:56 PM in response to Jack Blackwell

You add a gmail account in Mail, period.

And it is added as imap, period.

Feb 26, 2017 12:38 PM in response to Lexiepex

Yeah I understand that, but it isn't there. Please read what I have typed above.

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,108 points

Mar 3, 2017 11:43 PM in response to Jack Blackwell

exactly as I said above.

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Where are internet account passwords stored? (not in keychain)