If you are using a Yahoo, AOL, CompuServe, AT&T and other ISP accounts hosted by Yahoo and are having problems signing when you use Outlook desktop software, this is for you:
If you are unable to set up an Yahoo or AOL account in Outlook desktop, receiving an error that your username or password is wrong, you need to use an app password.
If the account is already configured in Outlook, you'll see this error message in the Send / Receive Progress dialog:
Task 'Synchronizing subscribed folders for ***@***.com.' reported error (0x800CCC0E) : 'Outlook cannot synchronize subscribed folders for ***@***.com. Error: Cannot connect to the server. If you continue to receive this message, contact your server administrator or Internet service provider (ISP).'
You'll see this message when you add a new account:
Something went wrong
We couldn't log on to the incoming (IMAP) server. Please check your email address and password and try again.
Unlike Gmail, iCloud and Outlook.com, you do not need to enable 2-step authentication or the secret key feature to use an app password.
To generate an app password to use in place of your "real" password:
- Log into your account security settings in Yahoo or AOL and click on Manage app passwords.
- Select your app from the list and click Generate. (Choosing the app is to make it easier to delete (revoke) a specific password if you need to later. You can use the app password in any application.)
- Copy the password and paste it into Outlook’s password dialog. If you type it in, don’t include the spaces, they just make the password easier to read.
To change the password in Outlook 2016 and newer, use the File > Account Settings > Server settings menu.
Use Ctrl+V to paste the password in the password field then click Next.
In older versions of Outlook, you can change the password in Account Settings. Go to File > Account Settings > Account Settings. Double click on the account and change the password.
I recommend copying and pasting the password into OneNote, Outlook Notes, or Notepad (or wherever you save things) so you have a copy if you need it with another mail client. The app password is valid until you revoke it.
Yahoo Security settings page
Articles explaining the change:
Ways to securely access Yahoo Mail
Ways to securely access AOL Mail
AT&T Yahoo accounts
For AT&T email accounts hosted at Yahoo, you need to log into your AT&T profile to create the app password.
- Select the email account that you want to get a secure mail key for. (You’ll find a drop-down menu at the top if you have multiple accounts.)
- Go to Profile > Sign-in info.
- Scroll to Secure mail key and select Manage secure mail key.
- If you have more than one email address, select the one you want to use.
- Select Add secure mail key.
- Enter a nickname for the secure mail key to make it easier to recognize.
- Select Create secure mail key.
- Select Copy secure mail key to clipboard.
- Paste it into the password field in outlook.
I have been searching for months for how to fix this same situation and I was so frustrated I was about to give up. But then tonight I stumbled on your explanation and it worked. I am SOOOOO thankful to you. I was really at my wits end with this. THANK YOU!!!!
I have concerns but first will describe my situation I use desktop version of outlook 2013 to access my verizon.net email setup as pop3 from my pc (this is the one time perpetual pay version of office 2013 which includes outlook 2013 not the online version). AOL (which took over the verizon.net email addresses) said that on/after Oct. 28th 2021 I will need to generate and use a third party app password with outlook 2013 if I wanted to continue using outlook to access my verizon.net email because outlook 2013 doesn't support Oauth2. They define third party app as logging into aol and going to security page as you describe. concern 1) if I follow the steps you outline above will I still be able to use my existing password to login into my verizon.net email on the aol website login for mail ? (note I rarely login to my verizon.net email on the aol mail website but if I have a power outage this is always an option to check mail in a bind) concern 2) will your steps work for outlook 2013 for a pop3 account? or are they steps somewhat different? concern 3) will changing the password… Read more »
Since July 10 my AOL emails were not downloading into Outlook, and I tried what I thought were the POP and SMTP passwords for many days. I found this solution from Diane after hours of dedicated searching, and it worked. It brought tears to my eyes, I am so happy that it is fixed. Thanks a million. Really.
Thank you -took me two days to find this - but the app password generation worked !
OMG Thank you SO MUCH for this! This fixed my issue on not one, but TWO devices!
Thank you so much for this information. I've been looking /searching online for several days for an answer as all of my 3rd party email apps (Android & Tbird) suddenly stopped working. The app password generator restored functionality on all my devices. I have a verizon.net email account that is now managed (NOT!) thru AOL, no one from AOL or VZ was of any help. BIG kudos!
I don't know who slipstick is or what your particular business is, but thank you for posting this fix!!! It was a couple of hours googling before I hit on this article, but the description of the issue and the suggested solution worked perfectly. Thx again!
It worked! Thank you!