Trying to connect outlook 2016 to aol webmail after password change

Question

Trying to connect outlook 2016 to aol webmail after password change. Case #7100425229

Answer 1

After changing the AOL account password, Outlook 2016 must be updated to use an app password instead of the regular AOL password.

Follow these steps:

1. Generate an AOL app password
   1. Sign in to the AOL webmail account in a browser.
   2. Go to the AOL security settings page and create a 3rd‑party app password for email clients (instructions are in AOL’s article "Create and manage 3rd-party app passwords").
   3. Copy the generated app password. This is what Outlook must use instead of the normal AOL password.
2. Update Outlook 2016 to use the app password
   1. Open Outlook 2016.
   2. Go to File > Account Settings > Account Settings.
   3. Select the AOL account and choose Change (or remove and re-add the account if needed).
   4. When Outlook prompts for the password, paste the AOL app password (not the regular AOL sign‑in password).
   5. Finish the setup and let Outlook test the account.

If Outlook shows a message like “Please create an app password for Outlook on your email provider's site,” this confirms that an app password is required. Once the app password is entered, Outlook should connect and send/receive mail normally.

If authentication still fails and the password contains special Unicode characters, change the AOL password to one without Unicode characters, then generate a new app password and repeat the steps above.

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References:

• Add an email account to Outlook for Windows
• I can't send or receive messages in Outlook
• How to set up an Internet email account in Outlook 2013 or 2016
• Authentication fails when you use an IMAP server in Outlook 2016