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Oliver Jackson
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📩 Having trouble connecting your email account?

Before Mailbird can sync your mailbox, your email provider must allow IMAP access. Many providers disable IMAP by default or require you to opt in from their settings page. This guide walks you through enabling IMAP for the most common providers.

💡 Want to learn more about IMAP? See IMAP Support in Mailbird.

🔗 Jump to your provider

✅ Gmail / Google Workspace

Follow these steps to activate IMAP for your Gmail account:

  1. Log in to your Gmail account in a web browser.
  2. Click the gear icon (⚙️) in the top right corner and select See all settings.
  3. Go to the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.
  4. Under IMAP access, select Enable IMAP.
  5. Click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.

🏷️ Make Gmail system labels visible through IMAP

Mailbird relies on Gmail's system labels to sync properly. These labels must be set to Show in IMAP, except for the Chats label.

  1. Log in to Gmail and open Settings (⚙️).
  2. Go to the Labels tab.
  3. For each system label (except Chats), check the Show in IMAP checkbox.

Google Workspace admins: IMAP must also be enabled at the organization level in the Google Admin console under Apps → Google Workspace → Gmail → End User Access.

✅ Outlook.com / Hotmail / Live (personal Microsoft accounts)

For personal Microsoft accounts (outlook.com, hotmail.com, live.com, msn.com), IMAP is often disabled by default. When it's off, Mailbird shows an "IMAP access is disabled" error or the server responds with "User is authenticated but not connected".

  1. Sign in to outlook.live.com in a web browser.
  2. Click the gear icon (⚙️) in the top right corner, then select View all Outlook settings at the bottom of the panel.
  3. Go to Mail → Forwarding and IMAP. Log in again if prompted there.
  4. Under POP and IMAP, set Let devices and apps use IMAP to Yes.
  5. Click Save.
  6. Remove and re-add the account in Mailbird — the change can take a few minutes to take effect on Microsoft's servers.

Note: If you have two-factor authentication enabled, Mailbird uses OAuth2 to sign in — no app password is required.

✅ Microsoft 365 / Exchange Online (work or school accounts)

For work or school accounts hosted on Microsoft 365 or Exchange Online, IMAP access is controlled by your administrator. If you see an "IMAP access is disabled" error, your admin needs to enable IMAP for your mailbox:

  1. In the Exchange admin center, go to Recipients → Mailboxes.
  2. Select the user's mailbox.
  3. Under Email apps, click Manage email apps settings.
  4. Turn on IMAP, then click Save.

If IMAP is already enabled and you still see the error, your admin may also need to enable Authenticated SMTP and check that Modern Authentication (OAuth 2.0) is allowed for IMAP — Microsoft 365 no longer supports basic authentication for IMAP.

Related reading: Microsoft Office 365 OAuth 2.0 in Mailbird.

✅ Yahoo Mail / AOL

Yahoo and AOL require an app password (not your regular password) for IMAP clients like Mailbird.

  1. Sign in to your Yahoo or AOL account in a web browser.
  2. Go to Account Info → Account Security.
  3. Click Generate app password or Manage app passwords.
  4. Enter a name like "Mailbird" and click Generate.
  5. Copy the 16-character password and paste it into Mailbird when prompted — not your regular login password.

Yahoo has IMAP enabled by default; no toggle is required.

✅ iCloud

iCloud also requires an app-specific password for third-party email clients.

  1. Sign in to account.apple.com.
  2. In the Sign-In and Security section, click App-Specific Passwords.
  3. Click Generate an app-specific password, enter "Mailbird" as the label, and click Create.
  4. Copy the password and use it in Mailbird instead of your Apple ID password.

Two-factor authentication must be enabled on your Apple ID to generate app-specific passwords.

✅ Other providers (generic steps)

If your provider isn't listed above, the general steps are:

  1. Sign in to your provider's web interface.
  2. Look for Settings → Mail → Forwarding / POP / IMAP (or similar).
  3. Enable IMAP access.
  4. If 2-step or two-factor authentication is enabled, generate an app password and use it in Mailbird instead of your regular password.
  5. Note the incoming (IMAP) and outgoing (SMTP) server addresses and ports — Mailbird will auto-detect most providers, but custom servers may need manual entry.

A quick web search for "enable IMAP <your provider>" usually returns a help article with the exact steps.

🤝 Still need help?

If you've followed the steps for your provider and Mailbird still can't connect, contact our support team and include:

  • Your email provider (e.g., Gmail, Outlook.com, company Exchange)
  • The exact error message Mailbird shows
  • A screenshot of the error, if possible

Our team is always here to help.

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