Microsoft Outlook is one of the most widely used email clients out there, offering various features to its users some of which includes a calendar, task management, and a lot more. When integrated with a Gmail account, Outlook can definitely provide you with a lot of utility. However, there are a lot of issues that users are facing that mostly pertain to outlook not connecting to Gmail. In this article, I try to offer some solutions. So, stick to the end. 

Enabling IMAP access

Internet Message Acess Protocol or IMAP is mainly used by email clients like Outlook to get emails from a particular server that as Gmail. So, if your Gmail account is not already configured to enable IMAP access then it would become the reason for you facing issues. So, to solve that we will have to configure Gmail account settings. IMAP, for instance, ensures that an email item is marked as read in the Google interface when it is opened in Outlook. Because of how modern mail operates, everyone abandoned POP because it does not provide these useful functions.

As IMAP is always enabled for all accounts in Gmail by default, this step is not really necessary. Just make sure it is enabled; if not, connecting a Gmail account to Outlook can prove challenging. To make sure that the IMAP is enabled, do the following things

Firstly, from the top right corner select, See all settings followed by selecting the Forwarding and POP/IMAP options. 

There, you have to ensure that the IMAP status is enabled. 

Re-Enabling the basic authentication

It no longer makes sense to actually configure Gmail in Outlook by turning on Basic Authentication again in your Google Account Settings because it has now become redundant. 

Formerly, you could do this by turning the “Allow less secure apps” setting to “On” on the Less secure app access page.

The setting is now listed as being unavailable, and a link to the Less secure apps & your Google Account help page is provided for further information.

Since the second part of 2014, Google had disabled Basic Authentication by default for all new accounts and accounts that hadn’t synchronized in the previous 30 days.

Two Factor Authentication

Gmail Outlook problems sometimes root from the Two Factor Authentication itself in the sense that if you are using older versions of Outlook can’t connect to your Gmail account unless the 2FA is enabled or followed by using a temporary one-time password. If you believe the app password has been obtained, you can revoke it without impacting your original or actual password. In order to change the settings or check the status you would be required to follow the below steps:

Open your Google account settings after logging into Gmail to check or modify your settings.

You can generate new app passwords at App passwords if you enable two-factor authentication. You can disable a password for a specific app in Gmail by selecting the trash can icon next to the device name.

Adding your Gmail account to Outlook

Firstly, open your Outlook account, and then from the top left corner select File. From the resulting tap select the Info tab. 

Now, in order to start the adding process select the Add account option lying on the top.

In the required field enter your Gmail address and then select Connect. 

Outlook will then request your Gmail password. Input it, then click Connect once again. Instead of using your standard Gmail password, enter the app password you created by following the instructions above.

If you somehow get a failure text then you may have entered your password incorrectly. Click OK when you see the Account setup is finished. Given that you undoubtedly already have the Gmail app on your phone, you can uncheck the box labeled “Set up Outlook Mobile on my phone, too.”

Earlier versions of Outlook needed you to manually enter the connection settings for Gmail, but recent versions make it much easier.

How to connect Gmail to Outlook version 2019

Outlook 2019 is essentially a newer version of Outlook and Gmail account settings here are pretty much easy to carry out. The connection here is pretty much easy relative to the older versions, so it wouldn’t be much of a hassle to configure it. 

• Firstly, click File in the top-left corner of Outlook, then select Add account. Input your Gmail address in the new, tiny window that is opened as a result of this operation. such as user@gmail.com. 
• To ensure that Outlook automatically detects the required server settings, you must enter a complete email address in the required field. After you click Connect and wait for the app to collect the relevant data, Outlook will launch a new window where you may sign in with your Google Account. You must first enter your password, and then the two-factor authentication password that can be found in any Google, Microsoft, or another authenticator app that generates 2FA codes.

I hope now you can finally solve your Outlook not connecting to Gmail issue. For more such email-related informative articles, do follow EmailsDesk.