"Too many simultaneous connections" error with Gmail after SP2 update

Anonymous
2012-04-23T09:00:02+00:00

Ever since updating to SP2, I regularly receive these errors from Outlook:

Mail could not be received at this time.

The server for account "Gmail" returned the error "[ALERT] Too many simultaneous connections. (Failure)." Your username/password or security settings may be incorrect. Would you like to try re-entering your password?

I'm connecting to my Gmail account via IMAP. As you would expect, re-entering my password as suggested by the error doesn't resolve the error and it continues to pop up every 10 seconds until I quit and re-lauch Outlook. I suspect it's something to do with the way this new version of Outlook handles multiple connections to the same IMAP server?

Is anyone else seeing this?

Outlook | MacOS | Legacy Outlook for Mac | For business

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2015-03-13T03:37:03+00:00

from Google

Too many simultaneous connections

If you have multiple users frequently accessing the same account or more than one IMAP client accessing Gmail at the same time, you may reach a connection threshold and receive the error message, 'Too many simultaneous connections.'

Gmail currently has a limit of 15 simultaneous IMAP connections per account.

Please note that your mail client may actually open multiple connections in the background. This means it's possible to reach a connection threshold simply by using only two mail clients to access the same account at the same time.

If you often use multiple mail clients or mobile devices with the same Gmail account, we recommend closing and/or signing out of any mail clients you're not actively using.

Was this answer helpful?

2 people found this answer helpful.
0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2012-07-12T01:52:12+00:00

Microsoft appears to have released an update that deals with this problem: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2721015

Specifically, MS says that:

<ul><br><li>This update fixes an issue where some users who have IMAP accounts intermittently receive a “Too many simultaneous connections” error. A setting is now available to control the polling interval that Outlook uses with IMAP servers. <br><br><br><br>To adjust this setting, select <b>Tools</b>, select <b>Accounts</b>, and then select <b>Advanced </b>for the IMAP account. The setting defaults to synchronize all lMAP folders every two minutes. </li></ul>

I updated MS Office on both my iMac and MacBook Air, and I didn't change the new default synchronization setting. The iMac only occasionally had this problem, and I cannot tell if the problem has gone away completely yet on that computer.

On my MacBook Air, I had resorted to deleting my Gmail accounts as I could access them via Apple Mail desktop application and I really didn't need Outlook functions with Gmail. I started to add back my Gmail accounts, but I was getting the error message again. I turned off synchronization of IMAP folder while my mail downloaded, and the error message went away. After all my old email was downloaded, I turned IMAP folder synchronization back on (at the default 2 minutes).

It seems to have solved the problem for the most part. If you still get the error message, GMail folders may still be synchronizing, so you might have to keep hitting "No" a while longer until everything is synchronized.

So, with all due respect, it looks like it was a Microsoft problem after all. Fortunately I didn't try that time-consuming, tortuous fix recommended earlier.

I'll post an update on whether this fix has continued to work.

Was this answer helpful?

0 comments

67 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2013-11-08T17:30:44+00:00

    Has anyone figured out a fix to this issue? 

    I did.   This post is not meant to be a troll post, that being said.  I quit using outlook for Mac and went back to Mac Mail.  Problem solved.

    I also had to quit using Outlook the past month (I've been using Outlook/Entourage since the first Office for Mac, and also use Outlook on the PC). 

    For the past year the Gmail issues were tolerable, but in the past month or so I started getting numerous notifications that was making Outlook on my Macs unusable (I deleted my Gmail accounts on Outlook since they were not critical for work). Then Outlook would not download my @mac.com account, which is my main account in use for many years. Also, for the past 2-3 months Outlook would not synchronize appointments made on Calendar on my Exchange account. Finally, Outlook constantly requires me to rebuild my database.

    I could not work like this and switched to Apple Mail, iCal, and Contacts last month. I miss some of the features of Outlook, but they work well with my Exchange, @mac.com, and Gmail accounts. I don't know what Microsoft has changed in the past few months, but Outlook has become unstable. It appears that Apple had some problems with Gmail recently with the Mavericks Mail update, but they addressed and fixed it after a few weeks.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2013-11-08T14:07:45+00:00

    Has anyone figured out a fix to this issue? 

    I did.   This post is not meant to be a troll post, that being said.  I quit using outlook for Mac and went back to Mac Mail.  Problem solved.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2013-11-08T12:36:52+00:00

    I have disabled "Send and Receive All", but still get asked to enter my Gmail password every second.

    I tick "remember this password in my key chain" but this makes no difference.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments