Google Harassment for using Thunderbird
Google is harassing me because I have two email accounts using Thunderbird client, Gmail is one of them. This set up has worked very well for my personal requirements now for about a year. I can check both accts at one time and update my folders if necessary, all in one place.
But now Google has apparently decided it is not happy with my use of Thunderbird. No reason given. Nothing communicated explicitly. So first, a few days ago, it blocked my Gmail. "Authentication failure while connecting to server imap.gmail.com." Then Google demanded I “recover” my account, which Google must have taken down, ‘cause I sure didn’t. Said this would take up to 5 days.
I jumped thru all the Google hoops and did a recover. I was told a “review” of my account could take 5 days.
I just received notification from Google my account is recovered. Enter NEW password.
Though I have NO IDEA why all this is happening, I did as asked. New password.
Back in Thunderbird now, whenever T-bird downloads a Gmail email a Google popup obscures a large area in the center of my screen telling me to sign in to Gmail with a convenient “NEXT” to make moving me over to Gmail client nice and easy. Now every time I click on a Gmail email, I get this popup.
Clearly, Google does NOT want me using T-bird, regardless of how well it works for ME. If I got an explanation for this, it might help. There might be what Google thinks is a justification all of a sudden to not want Gmail emails in T-bird. But no reason/explanation has been given. Just what feels like harassment.
So right now it seems to me I am being pressured to do it Google’s way or get harassed with this string of tedious demands and impaired service until I do.
I would love to know why this is happening and why Google seems so uptight about using T-bird client and if there is any way to get back to how I use T-bird and Gmail for the past year.
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You are using an imap mail account, but you do not say what 'Authentication Method' you are using.
Gmail is a pain in the proverbial if you are not using OAuth2 as the 'Authentication Method' both both receiving and smtp outgoing servers.
If you use POP or Imap and use 'Authentication Method' = Normal Password, then in gmail webmail, you have to set up to use 'less secure mail' option even though it isn't less secure. It's just gmail scare tactics. You will still find gmail will block the account from accessing server on random occasions forcing you to access webmail and reset that option and usually they want you reset passwords and sometimes use 'Captcha' to get access. They claim they are only safe guarding your account.
I strongly recommend that you access the Account Settings and select 'Authentication Method' = 'OAuth2' and also do the same for outgoing smtp settings. Then restart Thunderbird and the first time Thunderbird needs access to emails you will be prompted by gmail to enter email address and normal password to confirm you really are you. Then gmail applies an OAuth2 token which is stored in same place as passwords. From then onwards access to server will use that token. You should get a lot less hassle from gmail. But please remember, that you still use normal password when needing to access webmail.
Thank you Toad-Hall. I'll give it a try.
Just took a look at the Gmail account settings you recommended in TB. Already set to 0Auth2. Google baffles me. I used to be able to use TB to email photos out of Adobe Lightroom, a post processing system for digital photographs. Then one day Google said this was a problem. LR is not secure. It's a security risk. After some work I found how to let LR run using less secure option. Then one day not much later Google said, "Sorry. You can't do that anymore, either." Double authentication needed. More hoops to jump through. And now this. Out of nowhere Google takes down my Gmail account and demands I "recover" it; lots of steps and a 5 day wait for Google to "review" my account. Still have no idea why. It FEELS like harassment because I don't use the Gmail email client. If there's a legitimate reason for this, I would think they'd tell me. But they don't.
Anyway, I appreciate your thoughts. Thanks. As of right now, Gmail is up and working in TB, but it may go buggers again as it has a few times in the past week. ??