Are you trying to add your Gmail account to Microsoft Outlook, but finding that it won’t
work? Well it is possible, but there are a couple
of settings you need to change first on the Gmail website.
And I’m going to show you how. This is Dave’s Tech Rescue, where I solve
your problems with computers, Internet and technology.
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Today’s question: How can I set up my Gmail account in Outlook so that I can send and
receive emails? Well this isn’t as straightforward as it
should be. For most email programs, like the Windows
10 Mail app, when you go to add an account, there’s an option just for Gmail. This takes
you through to Google’s own sign-in system, and it works perfectly. This is how it works
on your phone, your tablet, and most email apps. But for some reason, Outlook doesn’t
let you sign in this way. So we’re going to set up your Gmail account
in Outlook in a different way. You need to sign into the Gmail website, then
make sure you’re looking at your Inbox. Now click on the Settings icon at the top
right of the Gmail screen, and click on Settings. Now, you’ve got these menus along the top
of the page. Click on Forwarding and POP slash IMAP. Then go down to IMAP Access, and click
on Enable IMAP. Go to the bottom of the page, and click Save Changes.
Next, go over to this circle in the top right that should have your initial on it. Click
on this, then click on Google Account. Then click on Sign-in and Security. Then go all
the way down to Allow Less Secure Apps, and turn this setting On.
But wait – this sounds like a scary choice. Will this really make my account less secure?
Well normally, with this setting turned Off, Google will only allow you to access your
Gmail account using apps that support their secure sign-in technology.
We’ll be turning this on, so yes it would make your Gmail account more vulnerable if
someone wanted to break in. So it’s up to you to decide whether you
really want to use Outlook, or if you would rather keep your account as secure as possible.
By the way, if there isn’t an option for Allow Less Secure Apps, it’s probably because
you have something called 2-step verification turned on, and I’ve got a separate solution
for you later in this video, so keep watching. Anyway, if you were able to turn on Allow
Less Secure Apps, you can now close this page and try setting up Outlook. So open Outlook,
and go into File, then Account Settings, then Account Settings again. Click New, then type
in your Gmail address. Then click Connect. Next, type in your Gmail password, and click
Continue. Now that’s been added, so we can click Done, then Close, and the Gmail account
has been added. If that didn’t work for you, I’ve got
another suggestion coming up, but if it did work, please let me know in the comments below
and don’t forget to subscribe to Dave’s Tech Rescue, and give this video the thumbs
up. Ok, If you didn’t see an option for Allow
Less Secure Apps, this might be because you have 2-step verification turned on. This is
great, it means that when you sign in to Google you need to type in your password and then
respond with another device like your phone, and it makes your Google account really secure.
You can check if you have 2-step verification turned on here – it’s still on the Sign
in and Security Page, and go to the section called Signing into Google, and look for 2-step
verification. Here we can see I have 2-step turned on. So I can get Outlook working, but
I need to generate an app password. This is an extra password that we’re just going
to give to Outlook. So, click on App Passwords, then just confirm your main Google password.
Now we’re going to select an app here, then choose other. And I’m going to type something
descriptive in here, so “Outlook on my Windows 10 laptop”.
Now a password has been generated, and I’ve blurred out the second half of mine. We’re
going to select this, and right-click and copy it, but we’re not going to write it
down or store it with our other passwords because this is only going to be used to sign
in once. So copy the password, then go over to Outlook, and go into File, then Account
Settings, then Account Settings again. Click New, then type in your Gmail address. Then
click Connect. Next, I’m prompted for my password, and I’m going to right-click this
and paste in the password we just generated. And click Continue. Now that’s been added,
so we can click Done, then Close, and the Gmail account has been added.
So hopefully you’re now seeing all your emails and you can send and receive your emails
using Outlook. If this video helped you to get it working,
please give it the thumbs up, and tell me in the comments below how you got on.
And if you’d like to see more videos like this in future, you can subscribe to Dave’s
Tech Rescue – just hit the red subscribe button.
Thanks for watching and I’ll see you next time.