Outlook wants to setup email accounts each time I open it

Question

I have Microsoft 365 at home, at work, a THS account and an education dept account, none of which sync to the other ( of course). As I have an android phone I also have a gmail account which syncs everywhere I want it. On my home and Work PCs Outlook I also have my gmail email. I also have a second home PC as as well as a laptop, and use the free outl;ook because it syncs with other devices. When I start a PC with Office 365 Outlook starts perfectly with all accounts present, even if I have been away on holidays for a month. If I do not use a PC with the free outlook on it for evene a couple of weeks it persistently wnats to set up 2 of the 4 email accounts I have on it. Two are ok, these are microsoft email accounts, but my gmail and iinet email accounts keep wanting to set up again. Why? How can I stop it?

Answer 1

Outlook profiles and account setups are stored locally on each device. When Outlook is not used for a while on a device that is using the free Outlook (new Outlook for Windows or Outlook.com profile), the local profile or cached credentials for non-Microsoft accounts (such as Gmail and iinet IMAP/POP accounts) can become invalid or be cleared. When that happens, Outlook no longer has a valid configuration or token for those accounts and prompts to set them up again.

Microsoft accounts (Outlook.com, Hotmail, Live, Microsoft 365) typically re-authenticate silently using modern authentication and cloud-stored settings, so they appear to “just work” even after long periods of inactivity. Gmail and other third‑party accounts often rely on OAuth tokens or saved passwords on that specific device; if those expire or are removed, Outlook treats them as new accounts.

To reduce or stop repeated setup prompts on the PCs using free Outlook:

1. Ensure each PC is using the same Outlook profile consistently and that the profile is not being recreated or reset (for example, by cleaning tools or profile resets).
2. For Gmail, confirm that the account is configured with the recommended method (OAuth, not basic IMAP with stored password) and that any required app passwords or two‑factor authentication settings are correctly configured on the Gmail side. If tokens expire, re‑authenticate once and let Outlook save the updated credentials.
3. For the iinet account, verify that it is added as a standard IMAP/POP account with correct server settings and that credentials are saved. If the account is repeatedly prompting, remove and re‑add it once in Outlook so that a fresh configuration is stored.
4. After adding or fixing each non‑Microsoft account, let Outlook fully sync and then close Outlook cleanly so that the profile and settings are written to disk.

If the behavior continues only on specific devices, completely removing and re‑adding the Outlook profile on those devices, then adding all accounts again, can help ensure a stable configuration.

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References:

• Add an email account to Outlook for Windows
• Add an Outlook.com or Microsoft 365 account