How to Resolve the Mac Mail Repeatedly Asking for Password Issue

Last Updated on May 27, 2022

Mac Mail is a convenient and widely used application for sending, viewing, and receiving emails on your MacBook. All Mac users prefer using this application for their office, college, personal use, and many other fields of interest. Although the Mail app is very intuitive and user-friendly, the Mac Mail sometimes keeps asking to enter the password to access the app’s contents. This problem can be very annoying, take a bit of your valuable time, and hamper your workflow.

This issue occurs when the users try to open their inboxes or send emails to their clients and other people. Don’t worry, as this problem is not permanent and can be fixed easily with the help of a few methods. This article will discuss the issues and solutions related to the Mac Mail repeatedly prompting for the password for Apple Mail or Microsoft Exchange Email.

Problem 1: Apple Mail Keeps Asking for Password

If you have a question about “Why does my email account keep asking for a password?” and are tired of looking for solutions to fix this problem, you have come to the right place. The following are the solutions that will help fix this problem of yours.

Solution 1: Verify your Mail password in Internet Accounts preferences

If you’re entering the wrong password, the Mail app won’t allow you to access the contents of your account. Hence, verifying and changing the password of your Mac Mail can fix this problem. Here is the answer to your problem: How do I update my password in Mac Mail?

Step. 1→ Close the Mail app if it is already open.

Step. 2→ Now go to Apple menu > system preferences > Internet accounts.

Step. 3→ Then, in the sidebar, click on your account.

Step. 4→ If the password field of your account is visible, delete it and type in the correct password in the specified area.

Step. 5→ Exit from system preferences and try accessing your account in the Mail app.

Solution 2: Try logging in to your account using webmail.

Almost all email applications and providers offer the facility to access the user accounts via webmail. This means that the users can log in to their email accounts using any web browser like Chrome, Safari etc. Suppose you have an iCloud account that you use for sending, viewing and receiving emails. In that case, you can send and receive the emails by going to the iCloud.com website.

Since your email account password is the same across all the platforms, you can use the webmail feature to open your account. But if you fail to access your account even in the webmail, then the password you are using is incorrect, and you can take your email provider’s help to verify and change the email account settings to fix this problem.

Solution 3: Removing your email account and adding it back

Another effective way of solving the problem of “Why does my email account keep asking for a password?” in the Mac Mail is to remove the email account from the app and add it again. The users do this in the following ways.

Step. 1→ Launch the Mac Mail application on your Mac.

Step. 2→ Now select “Mails” and click on Preferences.

Step. 3→ After that, tap on Accounts.

Step. 4→ Then, choose your account and hit the Remove account (-) button.

Step. 5→ Go to Mail > Add account and choose the type of the account.

Step. 6→ Add the account information and ensure that the Mail checkbox is ticked for the account.

Solution 4: Try turning off the internet and switching it on again.

At times the reason related to the problem “Mac Mail keeps asking to enter password” is linked directly to the problem with your network or internet connection. This might happen when you are in the middle of accessing your inbox or sending a message to another user. Hence, turning off the router for a few minutes and turning it on again might fix your problem.

Solution 5: Wait for a few minutes.

However, this might sound ineffective and boring, but waiting for a few minutes has been proven to solve the problem of Apple Mail repeatedly asking for the password. In some instances, the problem is not linked to your MacBook, Mail app, or email account. But this problem is caused due to the server issue from the side of your email providers. So being patient and waiting for some time is the best thing you can do to fix this problem as you cannot control it.

Solution 6: Close the Mac Mail, Open it Again.

The Mac Mail may be asking you to enter the password again and again due to some bug or glitches caused during the application’s startup. Hence, closing the Mail app and reopening it allows your Mac to reload and refresh the application’s resources and fix this issue.

Solution 7: Ensure your Keychain is updated and clean

The Keychain Access app stores the entries of your various accounts, including the email account. Hence, keeping the Keychain updated and clean is vital for getting rid of the problem of “Mac Mail keeps asking to enter the password.” The following method shows you how to clean and update the Keychain entries on your MacBook.

Step. 1→ Launch the Keychain Access app on your MacBook.

Step. 2→ Search for your Mail account in the Keychain app.

Step. 3→ Now, select the relevant Keychain entries and erase them from the app.

Step. 4→ Then, head back to the Mail app and type in your account password.

Step. 5→ : Select the “Save the Password” option.

Solution 8: SMTP server passwords in OS X Mail

Besides using the Mail password prompts, the users can manually add the passwords in the Mac Mail application’s settings. This method is effective when the password prompt appears while trying to send or receive an email. This method also answers your doubts regarding “How do I update my password in Mac Mail?” You can manually add the password in the Mac Mail settings by the following method.

Step. 1→ Open the Mac Mail app on your Mac.

Step. 2→ Now go to Mail > Preferences > Accounts.

Step. 3→ From the list of accounts added to the app, select the account with which you face the problem.

Step. 4→ In the Account Information tab, go to the “Passwords” field and update the password.

Step. 5→ Click on “Edit SMTP Server List…” in the Outgoing Mail Server (SMTL) menu.

Step. 5→ Then, select the SMTP server you use with the account.

Step. 6→ Click on the “Advanced” tab and re-enter the updated password when asked.

In addition, verify that you have correctly added the SSL options and the outgoing server’s port number per the configuration requirements of your email provider. This might require you to ask your ISP about these settings. Then, check the box to determine and save the account settings automatically.

Problem 2: Exchange keeps asking for the password, or Mac keeps asking for the Exchange password

Suppose you use the Exchange accounts for the calendar app, business email, and teams and have several internet accounts added in Mac System Preferences. Including this data in the Mac calendar and Mac Mail lets users see their personal and business information in one location. This is a very efficient and effective way to keep all the data from your multiple accounts in one place for easy access. However, the users sometimes face problems like “Outlook keeps asking for the password.” You can fix this issue in the following ways.

Solution 1: Update your Outlook app

An outdated or older version of the Outlook app can cause the problem of prompting for a password repeatedly. Hence, updating the app to the latest version can help fix this problem. You update the Outlook app by going to the App Store and searching for Outlook to download the latest version or update the app.

Solution 2: Clearing the Keychain Entries for Outlook

Sometimes having multiple exchange accounts logged into your Mac can create duplicate entries or tokens in the keychain app. Hence, clearing the entries or updating them can fix this problem. Go through the process explained here to clear your Outlook’s cached passwords or keychain entries.

Step. 1→ Shut down the Outlook app and other Microsoft Office apps.

Step. 2→ Now, launch the Keychain Access app on your MacBook.

Step. 3→ Type “Exchange” in the search bar of the Keychain Access app.

Step. 4→ From the list of results, click on each of the results to view the account present on top. 

Step. 5→ Tap on the “Delete” button and repeat this step until you have deleted all items for your Exchange account.

Step. 6→ Then, enter “adal” in the search field of the Keychain Access application.

Step. 7→ Choose all the items of the “MicrosoftOffice15_2_Data:ADAL:<GUID>” type and delete them.

Step. 8→ Once again, in the Keychain Access search bar, enter “Office.”

Step. 9→ Finally, delete all the items with “Microsoft Office Identities Settings 2” and “Microsoft Office Identities Cache 2.”

Step. 10→ Quit the Keychain app and try to log in to your Exchange account.

This was all the information that we wanted to provide you with regarding the solutions for resolving the problem of Mac Mac asking for passwords while accessing the contents of your email account. Follow the solutions described in this post and see what did the job for you.

FAQ→ 

Where are Apple mail passwords stored? [On Mac]

→ If you use the Mac mail client or the Outlook software on a MacBook, all the account passwords are saved in the local Mac keychain in the Applications folder. You can access the passwords by going to Application > Utilities > Keychain.