Because the account is already configured in Thunderbird, it might not work. You actually ask a very specific question that makes me think what you are doing is really something about trying to fix something that is broken, not about adding a mail account at all.

Why are you adding it again?

Because about 9 months ago it stopped getting my gmail messages. My cell phone still gets the mail and an older laptop pc still gets the gmail messages but my newer desktop doesn't. the only difference between the laptop and desktop is the laptop was set to imap ans the desktop was set to pop. and the laptop has the older version of thunderbird TIA

When I tried to change the desktop to imap it gave me some error about pop so I figured I'd just delete the gmail account and start over this time choosing imap but I keep getting that "incoming server already exists" error... I really don't understand why the account in thunderbird quit working in the first place

When I tried to change the desktop to imap it gave me some error about pop so I figured I'd just delete the gmail account and start over this time choosing imap but I keep getting that "incoming server already exists" error...

please go to the mail and new accounts section of the More troubleshooting information on the help menu and drag your mouse over the table to select it. Use Ctrl+C to copy that and paste it into a reply on the forum.

account10 (imap) imap.gmail.com:993 SSL/TLS OAuth2 smtp.gmail.com:465 SSL/TLS OAuth2 true account12 (imap) imap.gmail.com:993 SSL/TLS OAuth2 smtp.gmail.com:465 SSL/TLS OAuth2 true account13 (imap) imap.gmail.com:993 SSL/TLS OAuth2 smtp.gmail.com:465 SSL/TLS OAuth2 true account14 (imap) imap.gmail.com:993 SSL/TLS OAuth2 smtp.gmail.com:465 SSL/TLS OAuth2 true

none of these are the account in question since I couldn't get it to add it was account 11 account 10 is my wife's gmail which for some reason only receives mail when I restart thunderbird account 12 is a gmail account I had for about 5 years and then someone hacked it and google won't allow me to recover it even though In have hundreds of emails over a five year period account number 13 works as it should account 14 works

So clearly you already have four gmail accounts configured. Have you checked in account settings none of them are for the address you are having issues with.

yes I explained what each one of them are in my previous post

When you go to outgoing server STMP do they all have unique names for the outgoing accounts. If not you might want to ensure they are. I am guessing that is where the"server name" already exists. Although the check is supposed to be on the list titles (names) not the server names as such.

I don't see outgoing server anywhere, in server settings it just shows server type server name user name

it is in the list of accounts along with your incoming accounts, not the server settings pane.

I think you lost me

the list in account settings or folders? those are the only places I see a list of accounts

The list in account settings.

In account settings there is no SMTP at all in any of the accounts including hotmail accounts and the gmail account I'm having the issue with is not listed

Did you give up on me?

I did. Every account that is created has an SMTP server and they are listed in the list of accounts in accounts settings under the account outgoing server (SMTP).

Offering support to someone that can not find what is in a list is rather difficult. It is not like I can lean over your shoulder and go "Here it is"

Ok look over my shoulder. Since I can't add the account here's another gmail account with pic of every tab in settings. please show me where SMTP is...

So is there anyone here that can actually help me? Someone who doesn't ask me to look for things that don't exist? TIA

I have a similar list of issues. I had 5 gmail/gmail organizational accounts, and another IMAP form a private provider. I have been weeding thru this problem from a couple of hours. I will probably just remove Thunderbird. There should not be this level of dysfunction configuring email access to gmail, a platform literally used by hundreds of millions of users for over 16 years.

Steps to Resolve.. Removed (hopefully also completely deleted) all the old email accounts. Upgraded from a VERY old version to 102.0.3.

Re-established two email accounts, one a pure gmail.com account, the other a gmail organizational account. 1- Regarding the Pure gmail.com account.. I successfully login, but mail never syncs via imap, and "smtp errors occur" everytime I manually check messages. all the imap and smtp config info is accurate/correct.

2- Regarding gmail organizational account:

"Enter Credentials for (email@domainname.com) on imap.gmail.com"

appears every few minutes. I login successfully into google/gmail on the pop-windows, selecting Organizational Account (the other option will not work AT ALL, so dont suggest I try it.. it's even worse than the Organizational Account dialog.) I grant Thunderbird access to gmail. I click on Get Messages.. Start over at the beginning of 2-.. Enter Credentials.. Endless Loop.

I am not really going to proceed with the tedium of trying to troubleshoot this. I have the correct settings. The software has a bug, and not much I can do about a bug on this end except wait and see... but.. if there's a bug such as this on a mainstream email app for a mainstream email service.. then.. once the bug is fixed, I anticipate similar service issues in the future.. and I simply dont have time in my life to manage that. If my job were dealing with this sort of thing, I could justify the investment in time. However, I dont earn money supporting Firefox, and I can access my email accounts using other more reliable software.

It's a sad state of affairs.. Thunderbird used to be amazing 10 years ago.. then Mozilla abandoned it, and now we have this great looking, but dysfunctional tool to observe and admire.

Good luck. Hope it improves.

You never scrolled down far enough to see the SMTP servers. It appears at bottom of listing of accounts.