Mail keeps changing SMTP authentication to "none"

Question

Mail keeps changing SMTP authentication to "none"

For about a week now, Mail has picked up the maddening habit of dropping the password authentication from the SMTP settings for a gmail POP account. Everything connects, sends, and receives when the authentication is set to "password." After a few hours pass, however, when I try to send email from that account, I get an error message. When I open the SMTP server settings for that account, the authentication has mysteriously changed to "none."

I go through this sequence several times a day now. Mail is also occasionally forgetting which outgoing server to use for an IMAP account. For that one, I just have to select the SMTP server for that account, but I don't have to make any changes to it.

I have worked all sorts of troubleshooting suggestions from earlier posts. I deleted keychain elements. I deleted the original gmail POP server and re-created it. I removed com.apple.plist bits. Nothing I've done so far has prevented Mail from dropping the password authentication for one account and forgetting the default server for another. Three other email accounts also configured in Mail are working perfectly.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, macOS Sierra (10.12.6), 2.7 GHz Core i7, 16 GB RAM

Posted on Dec 12, 2017 8:14 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Timothy Elliott1 Author

Level 1

147 points

Dec 12, 2017 12:16 PM in response to Eric Root

Hi Eric. Thank you for the suggestion. You're right, I forgot to mention it earlier, but I have had the "automatically manage connection settings" box de-selected for the POP SMTP server setting. When the settings change, sometimes that box has been selected again, but sometimes it remains unselected and the only thing that has changed is the password authentication reverting to "none."

I just checked the IMAP account that's missing a default outgoing mail server setting. I can select the correct outgoing server in the "Outgoing Mail Account" pulldown menu. Unfortunately, there's no apparent way to save it. After about five seconds, it reverts back to "none." The server settings are accurate; I can receive mail with no trouble. And I can send mail from that account one at a time by being prompted to select an outgoing server.

Both of these gremlins appeared on accounts that have been operating as expected for years. The only recent change that I can think of is a password re-set for the Gmail POP account. I did have to update the password associated with the authentication. The account works fine on all my other gadgets with the new password. Only Sierra's Mail app seems to be having a hard time retaining these outgoing server settings for these two accounts.

Thanks again.

Reply

Answer 2

Eric Root

Level 10

684,033 points

Dec 12, 2017 8:28 AM in response to Timothy Elliott1

Try Mail/Preferences/Accounts/Advanced - deselect Automatically detect and maintain account settings. You must do this for each account.

Reply