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Unable to connect to your IMAP server.

  • 8 cavab
  • 3 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by pradhansb

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Unable to connect to your IMAP server. You may have exceeded the maximum number of connections to this server. If so use the Advanced IMAP Server Settings dialog to reduce the number of cached connections.

It keep throwing this problem for a week. And I've tried all the suggests like "reducing the maximum number of server connections to cache from 5 to 1" "modifying the antivirus soft" but it does not work. How can I solve this issue?

Unable to connect to your IMAP server. You may have exceeded the maximum number of connections to this server. If so use the Advanced IMAP Server Settings dialog to reduce the number of cached connections. It keep throwing this problem for a week. And I've tried all the suggests like "reducing the maximum number of server connections to cache from 5 to 1" "modifying the antivirus soft" but it does not work. How can I solve this issue?

All Replies (8)

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Hello narukami, can you give us more information like your email server? Then we will check together if your configuration is wrong?

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IMAP: imap.gmail.com 993 SMTP: smtp.gmail.com 465

I do not think it is caused by the email server configuration. I've worked with this configuration for a long time.

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Are you using an iPhone or iPad on this account? The Apple Mail program has an unfortunate habit of creating multiple IMAP connections and consuming all the connection capacity.

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No, I don't have iPhone or iPad.

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You have 2 problems. probably the same thing with different error messages. So we will start again at the beginning.

Do you use two factor authentication with gmail? Have you allowed less secure apps on the Gmail web site. What is the connection security being used in your account settings? What anti virus are you using?

It is possible the to many connections may simply be a failure to authenticate successfully. As is the other message about passwords and user names.

One thing to be aware of it Thunderbird knows the correct settings for Gmail, so if you get and error about the settings not being found you have problems with your firewall. If you have difficulty authenticating with oAuth2.0 and an app password when you use two factor authentication Th problem wil almost certainly be either your firewall or the app password. They are application specific. so one created for outlook does not work with Thunderbird for instance. If you have difficulty with username and password errors checking that allow less secure apps is allowed on Gmail and checking that IMAP and POP are allowed in your gmail settings. That your firewall allows Thunderbird (whatever version down to the 54.4.1 type level and that your anti virus is not scanning email are all first steps in diagnosing the issue.

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I've closed the two step authentication of Gmail and I've tried opening and closing less secure apps. It does not work. I have only opened windows defender on Windows and no anti virus soft on linux.

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Is it the last Thunderbird version? Have you tried behind different network (ie: from home, friends, family, ...)? According to Google, if a client does not connect, you have to remove it to add again. I think this solution is not the best so can you check your configuration is reight:

It may be an SSL/TSL issue

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I have a variation of this problem (and may need to start a new thread). My notebook connects and downloads fine but my desktop fails. Seems to get hung at connecting to IMAP server. Now the interesting part is that they are the exact same configuration. In fact, the same profile. Same version of TB. Everything is precisely the same, yet desktop will not connect/download. Any new ideas?