Why does Mail periodically forget my email password?

[tekno]

Probably around once a week, Apple Mail throws up a box asking for the password to my email server - even though it's saved in my keychain.

It's one thing that has always annoyed my about Mail and something Apple don't seem interested in/able to fix.

Any idea why it does this?

 

[justperry]

Have to agree here, it's been going on for years and they just don't fix this, why does Safari never have issues and mail does.

You could try to repair your Keychain but it probably won't make a difference, it seems like Mail loses it's connection with the keychain.

 

[tekno]

So I'm guessing no-one has any idea why it does this?

Another black mark against the idea that Apple products 'just work'.

 

[justperry]

So I'm guessing no-one has any idea why it does this?

Another black mark against the idea that Apple products 'just work'.

Well, they did more or less but the last 2 OS versions seem to be buggy, I have a new mini, just 4 weeks old and have more issues than all the troubles I had from 10.0-10.5.8!

 

[snberk103]

So I'm guessing no-one has any idea why it does this?

Another black mark against the idea that Apple products 'just work'.

How many email accounts is Mail checking? Is it possible that the email provider is making Mail have to re-authenticate itself as a security measure? Have you double checked to make sure all the settings in Mail are correct for the email provider? Have you checked on the email provider's support forums to see if other Mac users are having a similar issue? Is your OS up to date? When the issue happens next, don't type in the password.... instead Quit Mail and reopen it. Does it then remember the password?

I'm not trying to defend Apple here, but you might consider that your experience is relatively rare and specific to your installation. I can't help you because I have never had that problem. I suspect that the lack of help is simply because so few people have experience with this. In which case... it seems that even though your installation is broken, generally speaking Apple Mail does just work.

You might get more assistance if you were to provide all the steps you have taken to diagnose the issue before just assuming Apple Mail is buggy.

 

[tzus]

When Apple Mail cannot connect to a mail server, it coughs up the same "solution" each time - that your password is not being accepted.

It isn't the case, but it's all that Mail knows to tell you. Stupid little bugger, this Mail.app.

 

[Franny4321]

Happening all the time. No permanent solution. Google and you will see a lot of posts concerning this issue. Apple just does not fix this. I erase all the keychains and start from scratch, and this will work for a few days.