cant receive gmails on my outlook account

Question

I can't receive my gmails on my outlook account I get a message saying to grant access to google on the IMAP it was working previously

Answer 1

Hi Nancy Barker

Thanks for sharing the details, I understand this is frustrating, especially since it was working before.

I can see that @Gabe Bratton already shared the step about clicking the yellow bar in Outlook and signing in to Google to grant access. To avoid repeating that, could you please confirm first:

• Have you already clicked the yellow “Sign in via browser" bar and completed the Google sign‑in?
• If yes, did you see an error, or did it complete successfully but mail still doesn’t sync?

If you already signed in but Gmail still won’t sync, please try this workaround:

• Close Outlook.
• In your Google account > Security > Your connections to third-party apps & services, open Microsoft apps & services and choose Remove all access.
• Open Credential Manager in Windows. Under Windows Credentials, remove the entries that start with MicrosoftOffice16_Data:OAUTH2 and include tp_google_imap_Oauth2. Microsoft identifies these as the stored Google IMAP credentials for the Gmail account.
• Open Outlook again and sign in to Gmail once more, making sure that the permission box for “Read, compose, send, and permanently delete all your email from Gmail” is selected.

Please feel free to let me know how it goes. Thank you for your time and understanding.

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Answer 2

Follow these steps to restore Gmail IMAP access to classic Outlook:

1. Confirm IMAP is enabled in Gmail
   1. In a browser, go to Gmail.com and sign in.
   2. Select Settings (gear icon) > See all settings.
   3. Open the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.
   4. Under IMAP access, select Enable IMAP.
   5. Select Save Changes.
2. Verify IMAP/SMTP settings in Outlook
   1. In Outlook, open the Gmail account settings.
   2. Make sure these server settings are used:
      • Incoming (IMAP) server: imap.gmail.com, SSL required, Port 993.
      • Outgoing (SMTP) server: smtp.gmail.com, SSL required, TLS required if available, authentication required, Port 465 (SSL) or 587 (TLS/STARTTLS).
   3. Confirm the username is the full Gmail address and the password is the correct Gmail password (or app password if using one).
3. Ensure Gmail folders are exposed to IMAP
   1. In Gmail settings, open the Labels tab.
   2. For Inbox, Sent Mail, Trash, and All Mail, make sure Show in IMAP is selected.
   3. Optionally enable Show in IMAP for any other labels that should appear in Outlook.
4. Refresh Outlook
   • After changing Gmail settings, restart Outlook or trigger a send/receive.
   • It can take up to 15 minutes for sync to resume after IMAP/folder changes.

If Outlook still prompts to grant access or cannot set up IMAP even though Gmail settings are correct, update Outlook to a build that includes the Gmail sign-in fix described for classic Outlook. The fix changes sign-in to open another browser window and resolves errors such as “We weren’t able to set up your Google account with IMAP. You may need to make changes to your Gmail settings.”

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References:

• Fix problems connecting your Google account to the Microsoft Cloud
• Unable to sign in or add a Gmail account to classic Outlook