Have you been travelling? I notice you use a phone, so have you set up 2 step verification on gmail ?

when you try to access mail in Thunderbird on either MacBooks (Pro and Air) , what happens? What error message do you get...word for word?

stanwilson said

I have two MacBooks (Pro and Air) and an iPhone. The MacBooks both have OS X 10.10.2 and Thunderbird 31.4.0. The iPhone has iOS 8.1.3. I use map, and I have two Gmail accounts (mine and my wife's) which I use on any of the three devices. Everything was working fine until about the time upgraded to Thunderbird 31.5.0 on the Pro this morning. Since then I have been continued to be able to send and receive emails for my wife's account on all three devices, as well as via the gmail.com website. I have been able to send and receive emails for my account via the gmail.com website, but I cannot connect with the gmail server from either the Pro or Air. I have been able to send and receive emails sporadically using the iPhone. I've tried restarting the Pro with Thunderbird 31.5.0 with all add-ons disabled, but the problem persists. Meanwhile, my wife's email account continues to work just fine on all three devices. Any suggestions?

I have not been traveling, and I am not using 2-step verification...although I have gone to my gmail account and confirmed in a 2-step process that I am who I am supposed to be.

I get no error message....I just keep seeing the spinning little wheel for minutes and then it says 'failure to connect with the server'.

So, this first occurred all day yesterday, from morning until ~7 PM and then everything worked fine...emails available in a timely manner for both accounts from each of the three devices. Then this morning, the problem recurred and I was unable to connect with the mail server with the three devices. Then I went on a trip. Now I am ~500 miles away, was not attempting email all day, and when I got to my new destination, everything is working like a charm.

Toad-Hall, I really appreciate your suggestions.

although I have gone to my gmail account and confirmed in a 2-step process that I am who I am supposed to be.

When you use different methods of accessing gmail, they may think someone is trying to access your account and block it until you go through the hoops of signing in and answering a few questions to prove it is you. Annoying, but at least they are trying to kep your data safe.

In gmail, they like you to choose whether you want to:

1. use 2 step verification
2. or use (what they call) a less secure app.

2 step verification is designed for people who use more than just one computer at home. eg; people who also use a phone or who travel.

Once you have set up two step verification for the phone, you would need to then get an application password which you would use in Thunderbird, because Thunderbird cannot use the 2 step verification code.

here are the links: 2 step verification

• https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/180744?hl=en
• https://www.google.com/landing/2step/

then create an application specific password for Thunderbird, which you use instead of the original password you created.

• https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/185833?hl=en

If you do not want to use 2 step verification, then you need to select the option to use an insecure app.

• https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/6010255?hl=en