Outlook for Mac 2016 - Repeated password prompts still an issue ...

Anonymous
2015-06-20T22:09:21+00:00

All-

As we know, one of the biggest bugs in Outlook for Mac 2016 is the ever-so-annoying repeated password prompt problem. This refers to the constant pop-ups that make it appear like Outlook is forgetting your password every few minutes, etc. The problem was much discussed during the Preview phase of Office for Mac 2016 but never corrected. I did some digging on the forums here and found other threads that covered this problem with slight variances, but the core issue is the same -- credentials are somehow not being stored properly or become corrupted during normal operation of the software. List of the relevant threads I found below. This list may not be comprehensive:

It seems odd that a major bug like this remained unresolved after the official release of Office for Mac 2016 ... and still hasn't been corrected! Per post responses on Microsoft's official Office Blog, they are looking into authentication issues with Exchange Server, but who knows what that means or how long that will take. Based on what I can gather:

  • Bug shows up in Outlook for Mac versions 15.9.x and up, therefore ...
  • Version 15.8 and earlier are not affected, but that is a super old preview version from 2015
  • Changing the way you present your credentials can sometimes help:

            e.g. username@DOMAIN vs. DOMAIN\username vs. username

  • Problems seem to affect Exchange Server authentication as well as IMAP or POP,
  • Deleting your account and setting up Outlook from scratch sometimes helps,
  • The issue seems to be intermittent, comes and goes.

A ticket submitted by forum member *Filip Herman* to Microsoft's technical support around early August 2015 indicated that Microsoft is aware of the problem and has a planned fix in progress. Obviously its been years since that. Others have submitted tickets to support since. Scroll to the end to read the most current progress.

I'd encourage everyone to mark this post, indicating that you "recommend this discussion." This thread has tens of thousands of views and hundreds of comments, so its clearly not an isolated issue. Unfortunately, my company abandoned the use of Outlook for Mac 2016 some while back because of this issue, so I don't have an active platform to test on anymore. However, keep trading ideas here as needed.

Best of luck-

Seattle_Expat

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 No comments

263 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
  1. Jim G 134K Reputation points MVP
    2016-10-03T00:37:59+00:00

    Herre's how to completely remove Office 2016.

    Uninstall Office 2016 for Mac - Office Support

    Unfortunately, usually your profile will not work unless you update to the same update level you currently have or later. You should export everything in Outlook before completely removing Office.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2016-10-02T15:18:14+00:00

    see my most recent post.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2016-10-02T15:15:42+00:00

    See my most recent post.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  4. Anonymous
    2016-10-02T15:13:54+00:00

    There's good news and bad news. The bad: I spent a whole night creating keychains for my POP and SMTP servers which refused to link to Outlook and just as I was about to reach for the straightjacket I came across... The good news: In desperation I did a search for El Capitan and MS Office problems and discovered that Microsoft knew of a problem with servers and released a corrective update for MS Office late last year soon after El Capitan was launched. After downloading and installing it the Outlook password requests vanished (fingers crossed for the last 2 days). The keychains now include two (POP & SMTP) containing my private server details with both keychains linked to Outlook... Eureka!

    These are my Mac and Outlook details along with the update details.

    Mac: iMac 27 inch, model A1312, OS 10.11.6 (Sierra). MS Office 2011. Download address for the Office update (version 14.5.6):

    http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=49183

    After installing (no need for a restart) open Outlook and enter your missing password/s under your account. Then open the progress window (Cmd 7) and select collect mail (Cmd K). Hopefully you won't get a Mac request for a password! If it works then confirm it by opening Keychain located at: Applications/Utilities/Keychain. Look down the Login list for the name/s of your ISP POP/SMTP mailboxes. Open one of them and it should open to show your server details, and if you click on the ACCESS tab at the top then it should have an Outlook icon in the lower box. DO NOT tick the box that says 'Ask for keychain password' since this will then ask for your user password every time you send/collect mail.

    None of this was possible before installing the update, and in hindsight part of the problem was that my web searches had been focused solely on Outlook and not on MS Office which it is a part of.

    Best of luck.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  5. Anonymous
    2016-09-29T20:26:07+00:00

    Going to have a dabble with the Mac keychain when I get some time. I had a look at the keychain list, but none of them appears to hold my ISP account passwords despite the system knowing what they are. It's possible to add your own passwords and account info rather than let the system do it for you, however it's more than likely Outlook will be directed to the original 'unfindable' keychain which contains them. If you don't hear from me then I shall probably be in a soft padded room wearing a helmet and back-to-front lace-up jacket.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments