Skip to content
SuperMail docs

Reauthentication

Credentials go stale every so often. When that happens you’ll see a red banner at the top of the inbox and a Reauthenticate button (for Gmail OAuth) or Update credentials button (for IMAP accounts like Outlook, Yahoo, iCloud, Fastmail, etc.) next to the affected account in the sidebar.

Why it happens

Gmail (OAuth)

  • Password change on the Google account.
  • Admin revoked SuperMail access in your Google Workspace tenant.
  • Long inactivity - Google expires refresh tokens after 6 months of no use.
  • Security review triggered by Google (e.g. “unusual sign-in”).
  • We asked you to approve updated account access after a product change (rare).

IMAP / app-password accounts (Outlook, Yahoo, iCloud, Fastmail, etc.)

  • You regenerated the app password on the provider’s security page. The old one we stored no longer authenticates.
  • The provider changed account access after a security event on their end.
  • 2-step verification was turned off, which invalidates app passwords on Microsoft and Yahoo.

How to fix it

Gmail

  1. Click Reauthenticate on the banner or on the account in Settings → Accounts.
  2. You’ll be sent through the same Google OAuth flow as when you first connected the account.
  3. Sign in, re-consent, and you’re done. No data is lost - we resume sync from where the old token stopped working.

IMAP accounts

  1. Generate a new app password on the provider’s security page (see the provider’s doc page: Outlook, Yahoo, IMAP providers).
  2. Click Update credentials on the banner.
  3. Paste the new app password. The rest of the server settings stay the same.

What’s paused while you’re out

  • Incoming sync stops. New mail doesn’t appear in SuperMail until you reauth.
  • Sending also stops (SMTP auth uses the same credential).
  • Reading existing mail still works; messages already synced to SuperMail remain available while you reconnect.
  • Drafts are still saved locally and sync back up once you reauth.

Silent reauth (auto-attempted)

For Gmail, SuperMail tries to reconnect automatically before showing the explicit Reauthenticate step. App passwords do not have a refresh mechanism, so failures there require a manual credential update.

Still failing after reauth?

See Troubleshooting or email [email protected].