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

Anonymous

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?

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Anonymous

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.

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Anonymous

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

Specifically, MS says that:

<ul> <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. To adjust this setting, select Tools, select Accounts, and then select Advanced 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.

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67 additional answers

Anonymous

2012-06-15T22:52:08+00:00

I am almost at this point myself. One of the things that stops me is the thought that my MS Exchange account from work will not work with as many features with the Apple products (Mail, iCal, Reminders, etc.) as it will with Outlook. What's your opinion, based on experience, on that?

Thank you in advance.

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Anonymous

2012-06-14T18:50:58+00:00

I agree. This problem DID NOT EXIST before the SP2 update.

Microsoft needs to revert to how the product worked pre-SP2 with regards to the error handling of the "too many simultaneous connections" error that happens with IMAP and Gmail.

The constant spawning of error dialog boxes makes the product unusable.

PS - with all due respect to the MVPs who help keep the forums alive and do provide excellent assistance which we appreciate, the response that "I have never received that error" or "we don't see many other users posting here with the issue" does not mean that it doesn't exist and is not causing a tremendous amount of pain for users (and in our case our business). This is a serious issue for users that are affected. Anyone who accesses their Gmail through Outlook may be affected as well as anyone who uses Google Apps (like our small business) and uses Outlook as the mail client.
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Anonymous

2012-06-08T11:52:22+00:00

Yes, but the problem DID NOT EXIST before the last update. So Microsoft should be able to figure out the difference.
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