Computer Act!ve - UK (2022-05-11)

63

Allow apps to access your email

Open your email client, such as
Outlook, go into your account settings
and select your Gmail account. Enter the
code into the password box instead of
your usual password and sign into your
account. As a security precaution, Google
may require you to complete an extra
step, such as completing a Captcha, but
once this is done you should see a
message saying ‘Account access enabled’
and you’ll be able to keep using Gmail
through your preferred app after 30 May.
You should only need to enter your app
password once, but you’ll need to
generate a new code for every device you
use. You can create as many as you want.

Switch to another email
program
If the app password method doesn’t work
for you, or sounds like too much hassle,
consider switching to an email program
that Google doesn’t classify as a ‘less
secure’ app. This will allow you to send
and receive Gmail messages after the 30
May deadline, without needing to open
the Gmail website in your browser.

The obvious alternative is the Mail &

Calendar app built into Windows 10 and

11, which offers the option to ‘Sign in

with Google’ when you add your Gmail

account. However, you may find this too

basic for your needs – indeed, Microsoft

is planning to replace it with a new email

client called One Outlook (www.snipca.

com/41647). You could also upgrade your

old version of Outlook (2016 or earlier) to

the more secure (in Google’s opinion)

Outlook 2021, by subscribing to Microsoft

365, but this will cost you at least £59.99

per year or £5.99 a month for the

Personal plan.

Your best option is to switch to

Mozilla’s email program Thunderbird

(www.thunderbird.net), which is free to

use and is regarded as secure by Google

because it uses an ‘authorisation protocol’

called OAuth 2.0 (www.snipca.

com/41648) to authenticate Gmail

accounts. Download, install and run

Thunderbird, then enter your name,

Gmail address and password on the Set

Up Your Existing Email Address tab. If

you close this accidentally, click Home,

then Email to reopen it. Click ‘Continue’

and Thunderbird should automatically

detect your email configuration.

You can then choose between IMAP

(recommended), to keep your emails

and folders synced on your email

server so you can access them from

any device, or POP3 to download

messages to your computer. To ensure

that Google will let you access your Gmail

account, click ‘Configure manually’ and

choose OAuth2 in the Authentication

menus for your incoming and outgoing

servers – if it isn’t already selected (see

screenshot above). Sign into your Google

account (you’ll need to have two-step

verification enabled), allow Thunderbird

access and it will download your Gmail

messages and let you use the email

service from your desktop.

You can import emails and contacts

from Outlook into Thunderbird by

clicking the three-line menu button

and choosing Tools, then Import.

Select ‘Everything’ or just Mail or

Address Books, then click Next, choose

Outlook and click Next again to import

the content.

One common problem

with accessing Gmail

from a desktop program

is caused by Microsoft

rather than Google

because of settings that

are disabled in Windows

• you may even have
  changed them yourself
  when tweaking your
  privacy settings. If you
  encounter an error while
  trying to sign into your Gmail account
  using the methods we’ve described, try
  the following.
  Open the Settings app in Windows
  10 or 11 and select Privacy, then click

Email in the list of ‘App

permissions’. In the ‘Allow

access to email on this

device’ section, ensure

‘Email access for this

device’ is switched on.

Next, select On under

‘Allow apps to access your

email’ (see screenshot)

and check that access

is enabled for the email

program you want to use.

If that doesn’t help, open Gmail in your

browser, click the settings cog and choose

‘See all settings’. Click the ‘Forwarding

and POP/IMAP’ tab and ensure that either

IMAP or POP access is enabled.

Get an app passcode to sign into Gmail
securely by selecting an app and device

Once you have your code, copy it into the

Gmail password box in your email client

Thunderbird uses OAuth 2.0 to authenticate

your Gmail account so you can sign in

Once you’ve downloaded your Gmail

messages, you can import Outlook emails too

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Issue 631 • 11 – 24 May 2022