Outlook suddenly not syncing with Yahoo! email

[jayach]

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@JohnSab wrote:

Hi. This is on the desktop. Still not working. Won't recognise the generated passward. It does recognise the main password but then says "an unkown error has ocurred". Thanks.

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That doesn't sound like Outlook.

Outlook (on desktop) doesn't have OAuth capabilities so should treat the account password as simply wrong, I wouldn't expect that unknown error message.

There is no known problems at the Sky|Yahoo server(s) AFAIK at the moment.

The generated password should work, provided it is generated for the correct account.

[JohnSab]

So it looks like the OAuth sign-in window was being triggered by some change on the IMAP or SMTP server. The setup had been working fine for over a year, but once I forced the IMAP and SMTP to tools.sky.com domains specifically in teh settings, it started working again. Strange!

[jayach]

What version of Outlook are you using? The latest versions do OAuth O.K. with Gmail, but not Yahoo. I wonder if they are trying to include Yahoo too?

[Esther-London]

Hello @Blacksheep and everyone,

This just literally happened to me: out of the blue. Exactly as described.

And I have zero IT skills. Would anyone please explain in super dummy terms what the solution is? I am now suddenly stuck.

I have already restarted my laptop.

Thank you!

Esther

[PH67]

Yes it happens regularly. You need an app specific password from Sky, this is the address 

https://www.sky.com/sky-yahoo-mail/manage-apps, but it will only work for 15 minutes before you lose connection again. The you either get a new app specific password, or you wait a few hours, then you will get a short connection every now and again. Sky really don't seem care about it, as they spend no money on their e-mail service, as Yahoo is "not their problem". They are tyring to push you all to go to a different e-mail provider, but they won't reduce your monthly invoice. I have now moved away from Sky, and can you believe the amount of marketing attention I get now?

[PH67]

I should say that to use the app specific password, you need to go, in Outlook, to Tools, Accounts, delete the existing e-mail account, add a new account with the e-mail address, then put in your existing password. This is the usually rejected, saying "you need an app specific password". Go to the webpage above, put in the type of machine you use, click through until you see the password generate screen, you get the 16 letter password (only a one-time use), then put this in the place of your usual password, back in Outlook/Tools/Accounts. Clunky, but it works. Temporarily, until the next time. Another way is to change the version of Outlook to the new one, theis works much better, but the new version of Outlook does not have Notes, so if, like me, you keep your life in notes, you are stuffed, and have to stay with the old version of Outlook.

[Mark39]

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@PH67 wrote:

.....but it will only work for 15 minutes before you lose connection again. The you either get a new app specific password, or you wait a few hours, then you will get a short connection every now and again. Sky really don't seem care about it, as they spend no money on their e-mail service, as Yahoo is "not their problem". They are tyring to push you all to go to a different e-mail provider, but they won't reduce your monthly invoice. I have now moved away from Sky, and can you believe the amount of marketing attention I get now?

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I don't know why that's the case for you, but it's certainly not my experience.  I'm using the same generated password i've used for many months, without problem.

Sky Yahoo Mail is provided free (even to customers who have left) so there's no reduction in subscription to be had.

[PH67]

Do you have the new Outlook version? That does work fine, it is the old version (with Notes) that no longer syncs properly.

[jayach]

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@PH67 wrote:

Yes it happens regularly. You need an app specific password from Sky, this is the address 

https://www.sky.com/sky-yahoo-mail/manage-apps, but it will only work for 15 minutes before you lose connection again. 

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As @Mark39 says that is quite simply not true for the majority of users.

If it is what happens to you there is some problem specific to you, so don't make it sound like that is the norm.

[PH67]

If it is not a pronblem for you, why don't you just pipe down. For those that are impacted by this (and given the number of views and messages) it is clearly a problem. Just because you don't have it, why on earth are you reading these messages?

[jayach]

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@PH67 wrote:

 Just because you don't have it, why on earth are you reading these messages?

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I'm here to try to give good advice, not misinformation.

There really is no general problem with the generated passwords.