Google had service problems this morning https://downdetector.com/status/google/

Thanks But all other accounts work now

I have ALMOST the same problem, but not exactly, so for the sake of completeness and accuracy, I will here post the full details. So apologies for some degree of repetition. I'm using Mozilla Thunderbird email client version 78.5.1 on Windows 10 Professional 64 bit. I have two own-domain email addresses plus three Gmail addresses of my own, together with a further three Gmail addresses I monitor on behalf of my immediate family. Every time Thunderbird fetches emails, it pops up a message at bottom right of my screen saying "Authentication failure connecting to server imap.gmail.com" In spite of that error report, new emails for all six of the Gmail addresses always arrive and are displayed correctly by Thunderbird, so it seems reasonably safe to assume that there is nothing wrong with the settings for each address that I have give to Thunderbird. I can also successfully reply to those emails if I wish. I have therefore been simply ignoring that error message for a long time now, but it's an irritation that should not be taking place as far as I can see. Not that it's relevant, I wouldn't have thought, but Thunderbird is also successfully sending and receiving emails to and from my two own-domain POP addresses. Suggestions would be appreciated.

Solution

1. Close thunderbird
2. Remove the file "logins.json" from the profiles directory

Solution

1. Close thunderbird
2. Remove the file "logins.json" from the profiles directory

RiscAlex2, that helped you??

Thank you for your very swift reply - it is much appreciated. That may well be my solution, but it has not worked just yet. To explain: You said: 1. Close thunderbird 2. Remove the file "logins.json" from the profiles directory As you didn't specify where that profiles directory is, I made an assumption, so please feel free to correct me.

I presumed that you were referring to this particular directory being located in C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox, or possibly in C:\ Program Files(x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird. However, I found neither a "profiles" directory or a "logins.json" file in either of those two.

So next I did a search on C: looking for "profiles" but that only gave me a whole load of irrelevant folders in C:\Windows\WinSxS.

Finally I searched C: for "logins.json" but - ah! Hang on, I was just about to type that nothing at all was found after waiting ages with no files or folders appearing, but now just one item has appeared - the one I'm after!

For the benefit of others who might be as ignorant as me (!!), I'll report that "logins.json" has been found hiding in C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\y55b6nzx.default

Progress! So first, I took the precaution of saving a copy of "logins.json" elsewhere, just in case. Next I closed Thunderbird, and then deleted "logins.json" in the above location as advised.

So has that cured my original problem? Yes it certainly does appear to have done. Three or four test fetches by the re-launched Thunderbird have not provoked any further sign of that irritating error message, so that is good, and thank you again for the help.

However, a couple of follow-up comments: 1. Be prepared! Re-launching Thunderbird after doing this cure will result in you having to type in the password for every email address that you have got T-Bird handlng for you! In my case it caused a very high degree of frustration as I have 8 addresses there - the frustration exacerbated by me not having up-to-date passwords handy, so had to jump through several Google hoops to "forget" the password, get a code on my phone, get another code to verify, etc etc - you get the picture! It took me almost half an hour to deal with all that as TBird/Google interrupts the process of simply running Thunderbird to demand these details. I wish someone had warned me that all this would be necessary. Given that the original issue was nothing more than a very mild irritation, I dare say that I wouldn't have bothered, or at least postponed doing it to a more convenient time than just now.

2. And just for the record, this aggro has also resulted in creating a new copy of "logins.json" in exactly the same location as the original. Thinking about it now that I have calmed down a bit from the frustration, that does make sense, of course, but I do hope that this new copy doesn't decide to get awkward at some future point. To the best of my knowledge, the old copy was holding the same details as my phone email client, and that has never thrown a wobbly, so it's all very odd.

But to finish, nevertheless, I am both thankful and appreciative of the help I've had here, so thank you again.