Prepare for Disabling Less Secure Apps

Prepare for Disabling Less Secure Apps

Blocking sign-ins from Less secure apps helps keep accounts safe. For these reasons, TSC will be limiting password-based programmatic sign-ins to Google Accounts. This may have an impact on older email clients that don't support OAuth2 and other applications that don't offer the "sign in with Google" option.

TSC recommends that all users start using alternatives to Less secure apps as soon as possible.

If you are having an issue with an email client, You can still access your email and calendar using the Gmail website via any modern web browser.

Note: When 2-step Verification is turned on for an account, access to less secure apps is automatically disabled.

Settings for Commonly Used Email Clients

Outlook

Install/upgrade to the latest version of the client, 2016 and newer is required.
Open Outlook
Click File → Account Settings → Account Settings
Double click the account name

If you are already using Outlook in Office 365, you can migrate your Contacts, Calendars, Notes, etc. from Office 365 to Google Apps/Outlook using this procedure.

Otherwise, click Create Profile. Be sure that "Import data from an existing profile" is unchecked.

Click Start Microsoft Outlook.
Select the profile you just created and click OK
Let the account synchronize. It will take a very long time (approximately 1GB may take 4 hours).

Thunderbird

Install/upgrade to the latest version of the client
Open Thunderbird
Right-click on the email address in the left column → Settings

Click Done, the Account Settings window will close. Click on your Inbox on the left hand side to download your messages and folders (depending on the amount of email you have, it will take hours). Once your folders appear, you can continue with this configuration guide. Right-click on your email address at the top of the left column, and select Settings.

At the top of the left column, click on your email address to reach the Account Settings. The Account Settings section allows you to update Your Name, Email Address, and create your Signature. Type the text you would like at the bottom of each outgoing message in the Signature text box. You can.

Click on Server Settings on the left column. Under Security Settings, ensure the Connection Security is set to SSL/TLS and the Authentication Method is set to OAuth2. For existing Thunderbird accounts, if the Authentication Method is set to Normal Password or any other setting, change it to OAuth2.

Under Server Settings > When I delete a message section, pick Move it to this folder, then under the [Gmail] parent folder, select Trash.

Apple Mail

Install/upgrade to the latest version of the client
Open Apple Mail
Mail → Preferences → Accounts → Server Settings
To confirm the server settings are correct:

click on Mail > Preferences > Accounts > Server Settings > then the Summary tab. 

The Incoming Mail Server should be imap.gmail.com, the Outgoing Mail Server should be smtp.gmail.com, and SSL should be On for both.

Alternatives to less secure apps - App Passwords

If you're using an application or email client that does not support OAuth2, you can use Google's App Passwords(link is external) feature. In order to use this feature, you must first enable Google's 2-Step Verification.

Click your Google profile icon.
Click Manage your Google account.
Click Security from the left navigation bar.
Under "Signing in to Google", click App passwords.
Enter your Connect account password.
Select the Application and/or Device from the drop down options. Select "Other..." to type the name of the application
The App Password is the 16-character code in the yellow bar on your device
Click Done
Go to the Settings section of your app and replace your password with the 16-character password. This app password grants complete access to your Google Account. You won't need to remember it, so don't write it down or share it with anyone.