[GH-ISSUE #1083] Quick workaround for Gmail IMAP access issues without 2FA if you have Office 365 #866

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opened 2026-02-26 01:32:10 +03:00 by kerem · 2 comments

kerem commented

2026-02-26 01:32:10 +03:00

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Originally created by @mwisnicki on GitHub (Jun 9, 2022).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/jberkel/sms-backup-plus/issues/1083

As mentioned in other issues (#1081, #1082) it is no longer possible to log in to Gmail via normal password.
One solution is to use app passwords but these require enabling 2-factor authentication.

Another one I found is to use Outlook.com as a IMAP-to-Gmail proxy. This requires any Office 365 license.

Add your other email accounts to Outlook.com
- You don't need to open Outlook account, you can just sign in with any Microsoft account (including one created for *@gmail.com)
- Once you do this, your Gmail account with show up as a folder named like your gmail login (including over IMAP)
Configure SMS Backup+ to use Outlook IMAP server - outlook.office365.com and your Microsoft account credentials
In backup settings update Gmail labels to be prefixed with the name of your account and /, e.g. you@gmail.com/SMS

That's it. It should work now. Outlook syncs emails back to Google with few minutes of delay so you may need to wait a bit for them to show up on Gmail side.

Originally created by @mwisnicki on GitHub (Jun 9, 2022). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/jberkel/sms-backup-plus/issues/1083 As mentioned in other issues (#1081, #1082) it is no longer possible to log in to Gmail via normal password. One solution is to use app passwords but these require enabling 2-factor authentication. Another one I found is to use Outlook.com as a IMAP-to-Gmail proxy. This requires any Office 365 license. 1. [Add your other email accounts to Outlook.com](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/add-your-other-email-accounts-to-outlook-com-c5224df4-5885-4e79-91ba-523aa743f0ba) * You don't need to open Outlook account, you can just sign in with any Microsoft account (including one created for *@gmail.com) * Once you do this, your Gmail account with show up as a folder named like your gmail login (including over IMAP) 3. Configure SMS Backup+ to use [Outlook IMAP server](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/pop-imap-and-smtp-settings-for-outlook-com-d088b986-291d-42b8-9564-9c414e2aa040) - outlook.office365.com and your Microsoft account credentials 4. In backup settings update Gmail labels to be prefixed with the name of your account and /, e.g. `you@gmail.com/SMS` That's it. It should work now. Outlook syncs emails back to Google with few minutes of delay so you may need to wait a bit for them to show up on Gmail side.

kerem closed this issue

2026-02-26 01:32:10 +03:00

kerem commented

2026-02-26 01:32:10 +03:00

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@mwisnicki commented on GitHub (Jun 9, 2022):

Closing as nothing to do here. This was informative only but this repo doesn't have discussions.

@mwisnicki commented on GitHub (Jun 9, 2022): Closing as nothing to do here. This was informative only but this repo doesn't have discussions.

kerem commented

2026-02-26 01:32:10 +03:00

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@mwisnicki commented on GitHub (Jun 24, 2022):

Disregard this advice. Microsoft had sunset this feature.

@mwisnicki commented on GitHub (Jun 24, 2022): Disregard this advice. Microsoft had sunset this feature.