Mail on MacBook constantly unable to recognise Hotmail account name & password (and app-specific password)

I have spent that past month or so trying to figure out the problem with Mail. I tried all the troubleshooting that I've come across. Nada worked. Finally, thanks to the recommendation to delete the account and use Exchange, it worked. I can now receive and open mail on my MacBook Pro. Thank you Apple hive-mind.

This was driving me up the wall, finally worked it out.

Don't use an app password from Microsoft, firstly setup 2FA on your Microsoft account via a browser, then add your Outlook or Hotmail account to your Mac as an Exchange account, verify it and it will work.

(You will have to delete the account first - I did.)

Thank you for your clear instructions. My problem was that I was not offered the exchange account in my previous attempts to delete Hotmail and reinstall whatever I would need to have access to my Hotmail address again. Miraculously now the exchange account is offered so I could install it and everything is fine. For now…. ;-)

For me what worked is deleting the Outlook account, going into System Preferences -> Email Accounts -> And select "Microsoft Exchange". Before I had tried it with "Add other account" and it didn't work. But through the Microsoft Exchange option it actually opens the Microsoft login interface in the popup, and it worked just fine. Within a few seconds the account also appeared in the Mail App.

I had also changed the password before this step (first in the Outlook live web app, then in the Apple passwords keychain), but not sure if this is needed.

I hope this helps!

This issue popped up out of nowhere for me as well - Tried first to create a app-spesfic password that gave the same error message.

And after adding the account to authentication app (Microsoft) and then removing and adding the account again (as exchange) the error was gone

Hello there,

It seems that I am in a bigger mess :)

I am using two very old vintage devices ... a MacBook Pro mid 2012 running Mojave and an iPhone 6s running IOS 13.

For a couple of months I started having this problem to the point that on my Phone there were times when I had no mail :) everything disappeared, even older mails. Interestingly, when I went abroad (I am based in an European country and went to another European country), the Mail on my phone would sync.

On my Mac, it worked on and off. I have not upgrade to Catalina (which seems to be the most advanced OS I might get, because I have an Adobe Acrobat Pro that works. I do not want a monthly / year subscription. I am thinking of getting Adobe Pro 2020, but I will see.

So, on my Mac, the Mail worked on an off. It would ask for the password when I was changing the WIFI, ie taking the laptop with me and connecting to a dffferent network. Or sometimes after the screen was locked.

Anyway, since yesterday it stopped connecting completely.

I moved to Outlook 2019. I have worked with Outlook before so there is no big problem.

I have two questions:

1. Why do I have more drafts on Mail Mac then on Outlook desktop or on my Hotmail account on the web? The difference is around 30 draft. As if I have some on my Mail Mac even if they are supposed to be synced
2. If I upgrade to Catalina, does my hotmail account on Mail Mac, which is installed as an Exchange, would be working? It seems it would not from what you write.
3. If I get a paid account on hotmail (I have very little space since last year when they change the size), would it work on Mail Mojave?

You may be wondering why I am not charing my Mac :) Beside money matter, I LOVE mine, because I have two hdd on it. It is the old fashioned one, with a CD. So I have a 500 SD on which I am running th system and the apps and a 2 TB hard drive for files etc. AND 16 gb MEMORY, as I could upgrade it.

Newer Macs go up to 1TB from what I know and I want local storage = not clouds and not external hdd as it is annoying to always have cables connected.

One more thing - yesterday I put on the two factors on a different hotmail account (I have not used on Mail) and try to install it on Mac Mail as Exchange account, but it did not work.

I have a newer iPhone 14, I am not yet using it as I hate the luminosity of the display (no. matter how hard I try to make it have the same one as my iPhone 6s does not work) and I installed my main hotmail account in its Mail app and it worked immediately, just with the normal password as it allowed me to install the mail as Outlook.

But from what I read here, even in the latest OS for the newest Macs the Mail app of Apple does not allow adding hotmail as Outlook? Is this what you are saying? And if this is the case, can we know why? I mean, if it allows this on iPhones, why not on Macs?

It’s incredible that these unacceptable issues with Outlook/Hotmail have not been fixed even in Sequoia. Is Apple really trying to push users to MS Outlook???

Tieing in via Exchange didn't give me access to /Hotmail folders. Did you find this?

I have the same exact problem! Try set up as Exchange account and worked finally! Thanks !

My mail on my Mac suddenly stopped working, signing in with the Microsoft exchange option resolved the issue!

Updated to Sequoia and problem persists for me :(

It would be nice if they did it sooner than later.

This is a Microsoft specific issue. They sent out an email a while ago saying outside apps wouldn’t be able to retrieve emails & their own old mail program (I have Outlook 2016) now tries to force you to subscribe to their 360 service.

I use Spark basic to check mail. It’s not the best but it works.

Hi! Thanks for the tip but I have already tried this -- no success. I have, temporarily, "migrated" all my Apple Mail accounts to MS Outlook but do intend to return when/if Apple fixes this issue for good.