Thunderbird Not Retrieving Gmail

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The wife & I both use Thunderbird email client. On my laptop everything is fine.
On the wife’s laptop though, at the beginning of June, T’bird stopped getting email off her Gmail account.  Her Gmail is accessible via a web browser, but T’bird keeps referring to her Google account: asking for the password; then denying anything input.
Something about Authorization being set to OAuth2 but that doesn’t fix it.
One not normal thing is that the wife has been lousy at deleting emails. She has over 7000 (yes 7000) emails in her T’bird inbox.
Got any ideas what the problem is?
Can still see & delete & move the old emailswithin T’bird, but just can’t retrieve new email.

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Have y0u tried deleting the account and resetting it back up again?

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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Hi

There seems to be a change in authentication method for Google Mail after 30 May 2022 to modern authoutication (oAuth 2.0):

1) Ghacks – Thunderbird 91.8.0 makes important changes to Google Mail Accounts
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https://www.ghacks.net/2022/04/06/thunderbird-91-8-0-makes-important-changes-to-google-mail-accounts/

“The biggest change in the point release changes the authentication method for Google mail accounts. It is an automatic conversion that should work without issues for most users. The conversion to oAuth 2.0 is required as Google plans to drop username and password authentication options for third-party apps and devices on May 30, 2022.”

2) Google Help Centre – Less secure apps & your Google Account
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https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/6010255?hl=en

“To help keep your account secure, from May 30, 2022, ​​Google no longer supports the use of third-party apps or devices which ask you to sign in to your Google Account using only your username and password.”

In the past whenever there is a change in configuration required for Thunderbird in order to access and retrieve web-based email provider e.g. Google mail, I find using the portable version of Thunderbird useful for trial and error as they do not mess up your registry and can be deleted thereafter. I don’t use Thunderbird now though.

Mozilla Thunderbird, Portable Edition
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https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/thunderbird_portable

HTH.

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Additional Info:

Mozilla Support – Automatic Conversion of Google mail accounts to OAuth 2.0 Authentication
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https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/automatic-conversion-google-mail-accounts-oauth20

HTH.

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Paul T wrote:

Google finally changed my email so Thunderbird login no longer worked.

The fix is to change the TB connection method to Oauth2.
And allow cookies from https://accounts.google.com/.
Thunderbird > Preferences > Privacy and Security, Web Content, Exceptions

cheers, Paul

1 user thanked author for this post.

windbg

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When I made the jump a little over a month ago, I also had to delete the password for my GMail account so T’Bird would then be forced to try oAuth/2. Worked like a charm.

Pointing out the need to accept cookies from Google is very important, as after a while the token in T’Bird from Google will expire, requiring T’Bird to go get a new one.

When I made the jump to o/Auth2, I was on T’Bird 91.9, but am now on 91.10 with no problems.

At the time, I also seem to recall having to add T’Bird as a trusted app to access my GMail account.

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I did not reset my password or tell Gmail to trust TB.

cheers, Paul

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