Anyone else got this from Yahoo?

[Zosimos]

Looks like Yahoo is doing something to their email system. I hope it means better security, but there is a major hurdle to get there.

We love that you love using your Yahoo Mail. And we want to make sure you always have the best experience. That’s why we’re reaching out today.

We’ve noticed that you’re using non-Yahoo applications (such as third-party email, calendar, or contact applications) that may use a less secure sign-in method. To protect you and your data, Yahoo will no longer support the current sign-in functionality in your application starting on October 20, 2020. This means that you will need to take one of the steps below to continue using Yahoo Mail without interruption.

But don’t worry, you have options. Find an option that works best for you below:

Option 1: We recommend that you access your email using our free Yahoo Mail app for iOS and Android or simply go to mail.yahoo.com to access Yahoo Mail on the web.

Option 2: Keep your current, non-Yahoo app, BUT follow a few steps to get it to sync with our secure sign-in method. The steps vary across different email applications, but in most cases, you will have to remove your Yahoo account from the app and then add it back again to update the sign-in security. Use the links below to follow the specific steps for your current application:

iOS Mail
Gmail
Samsung Mail
Others


Option 3: You can generate a one-time, unique password that will allow you to sign in to your account using your non-Yahoo email application. Once created, this password will continue to allow your app to securely sync your Yahoo email unless you sign out (or are signed out) from your app. You can find instructions on how to do this here.

If you want more details on these changes, please visit our help page. If you’ve already taken action, we’d like to think you haven’t read this far, but if you have . . . we sure appreciate the diligence!

Thanks for rocking that Yahoo Mail address!

Yours in your inbox,
The Yahoo Team

I hope it is possible to 'upgrade' to this new login without deleting all of your existing mail in your IMAP client? (Thunderbird in my case, of course...)

[WaltS48]

Many users got it, and I got one from AOL for my AOL account.

I'll probably use Option 3.

[tanstaafl]

I never got that email. My Yahoo IMAP account is configured to use OAuth2 as the authentication method in the accounts server settings. You don't need to delete and add the account again to change the authentication method in Thunderbird. Is switching to Oauth2 option 2?

[hopalongrock]

I got those emails from Yahoo and AOL, although I have POP3 and Oauth2.
I'll wait, and see what happens, but option 2 is sympathetic to me, but ....
It may also work further without any change, if necessary I possibly will try to create an account in a new profile, and watch what is different - although I don't think TB will create anything different.

[epp]

Option 3 is the best route. You do not have to delete the account from Thunderbird, SeaMonkey, or your non-AOL/Yahoo app.

Follow the instructions provided to generate the new password for your third-party software or aop and simply change the password for the account in the software/app. Works perfectly.

If you're using OAuth2 already, then I think you are all set. I believe the e-mail was sent to those users using third party apps not using OAuth2, using the same credentials that are used to login via the web site.

[hopalongrock]

The Option 3 section in the Yahoo/AOL email contains:

"You can generate a one-time, unique password" and " allow your app to securely sync your Yahoo email unless you sign out (or are signed out) from your app."
Maybe every TB session is a new login, and needs a new one-time password, I don't know.

Interesting, I have OAuth2 and yet I got the emails, but perhaps these emails were sent by mistake in my case.

[snailcoach]

As option 2 indicates '. . .as in most cases, you will have to remove your Yahoo account from the app and then add it back again to update the sign-in security.'

It's likely not everyone has to remove and re-add their account(s)? I checked Yahoo!'s help page but wasn't able to determine if the one time unique password is needed for every login.

For some reason I didn't have mine set to OAuth2 and just did so. Had to re-enter my password though. Come October I'll see what next.

[epp]

The e-mail that they sent (also to AOL Mail users) could have been worded a lot better.

I went with Option 3 and it's been working perfectly since. I did not have to delete any accounts, I simply replaced the passwords.

[Zosimos]

Does removing the account automatically delete the contents of the mailboxes? Or will Thunderbird ask about deleting the mailboxes before doing it? MAPI keeps things in sync and will redownload them, but it's a pain to have to do it. If there is a way to remove and re-create the account without losing the mailboxes, that would be ideal. But I think I'll try the switching to OAuth2 thing and see if that keeps me from having to do anything else come October...

[T-buch]

Are you sure its from Yahoo?
Mine is sent from info@comms.yahoo.net
Please notice: https://help.yahoo.com/kb/identify-legi ... n2070.html
If you’re on a Yahoo website, the URL contains “yahoo.com”

I don't know

[bex1210]

As option 2 indicates '. . .as in most cases, you will have to remove your Yahoo account from the app and then add it back again to update the sign-in security.'

It's likely not everyone has to remove and re-add their account(s)? I checked Yahoo!'s help page but wasn't able to determine if the one time unique password is needed for every login.

For some reason I didn't have mine set to OAuth2 and just did so. Had to re-enter my password though. Come October I'll see what next.

I use AOL with Thunderbird 60.9.0 on Windows 7. I use IMAP. I got the same message, and even after reading the posts on this thread, I am still confused. I use a Normal password to authenticate; not Oath2.
First, has anyone determined if, by removing the account whether all your Emails will be lost?
Second, I opened my Password Manager, went to Saved Passwords, then changed the Username in both my imap.aol.com and smtp.aol.com to something new, and then changed them both back to my old password. But since October 20 has not come, I have no idea whether this will work or not.
Third, if I understand the notice, I will still be able to login directly to my aol.com account (which I do frequently to check for spam) without making any changes? Is this correct?

Thanks for any help that can be provided!

Harry

[tanstaafl]

If you delete a POP account unless you check the checkbox to "remove message data" (exact wording may be version specific) in the popup you only lose the account information. The downloaded messages are still on your hard disk, Thunderbird just totally ignores them. Either write down the location (if you are going to add the same account sometime later on and then change the local directory back to the old value so that you can use the old mail folders) or move all of the downloaded messages to somewhere in "Local Folders" beforehand.

If you use a IMAP account by default you have "offline folders" that are kept in sync with the remote folders, though you can disable that using the synchronization & storage settings for the account. You don't see those offline folders unless you use file -> work offline. They're also kept unless you check "remove message data". The danger with a IMAP account is if you delete the contents of a remote folder, when it syncs it deletes the same messages/folders in offline folders. If you want to guarantee those messages won't be lost copy them to somewhere in "Local Folders" beforehand.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1282249 might be useful

You can use the ImportExportTools add-on to import/export mail folders with version 60. Its replaced by the ImportExportTools NG add-on in 68. Unfortunately, the port for version 78 hasn't been completed. That add-on can import mail folders (which are stored as mbox files by default) regardless of whether the account still exists. It only cases about the mbox files.

[bex1210]

If you use a IMAP account by default you have "offline folders" that are kept in sync with the remote folders, though you can disable that using the synchronization & storage settings for the account. You don't see those offline folders unless you use file -> work offline. They're also kept unless you check "remove message data". The danger with a IMAP account is if you delete the contents of a remote folder, when it syncs it deletes the same messages/folders in offline folders. If you want to guarantee those messages won't be lost copy them to somewhere in "Local Folders" beforehand.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1282249 might be useful

You can use the ImportExportTools add-on to import/export mail folders with version 60. Its replaced by the ImportExportTools NG add-on in 68. Unfortunately, the port for version 78 hasn't been completed. That add-on can import mail folders (which are stored as mbox files by default) regardless of whether the account still exists. It only cases about the mbox files.

Thanks for the info about the synchronization. I have had Import/Export Tools 3.3.2 for some time. I used it to back up my AOL account once months ago, and it works fine. I meant to mention this when I did my original post, but forgot.


Harry