Forgot IMAP password

Hi William,

This situation typically occurs when an email account is moved back to a legacy or IMAP-based configuration and the original IMAP credentials are no longer available. Outlook itself does not store or recover IMAP passwords in a usable form, so once the password is forgotten, Outlook cannot authenticate the account.

The root cause is that IMAP authentication relies entirely on the email provider’s username and password, not on Outlook or Microsoft credentials. When you reverted from a modern sign-in method (such as OAuth or a newer account type) back to legacy IMAP, Outlook again required the raw IMAP password. If that password is unknown or was previously replaced by app-based or token-based authentication, Outlook has no way to proceed.

The correct resolution is to reset or regenerate the email password at the email provider, not in Outlook. You need to sign in to the web portal of the email service that hosts the mailbox and either reset the account password or generate a new app-specific password if the provider uses modern security. Once a new password is created, the Outlook profile must be updated with that password, or the account must be removed and re-added so Outlook can authenticate cleanly.