Outlook for Mac 2016 - Repeated password prompts still an issue ...

All-

As we know, one of the biggest bugs in Outlook for Mac 2016 is the ever-so-annoying repeated password prompt problem. This refers to the constant pop-ups that make it appear like Outlook is forgetting your password every few minutes, etc. The problem was much discussed during the Preview phase of Office for Mac 2016 but never corrected. I did some digging on the forums here and found other threads that covered this problem with slight variances, but the core issue is the same -- credentials are somehow not being stored properly or become corrupted during normal operation of the software. List of the relevant threads I found below. This list may not be comprehensive:

It seems odd that a major bug like this remained unresolved after the official release of Office for Mac 2016 ... and still hasn't been corrected! Per post responses on Microsoft's official Office Blog, they are looking into authentication issues with Exchange Server, but who knows what that means or how long that will take. Based on what I can gather:

  • Bug shows up in Outlook for Mac versions 15.9.x and up, therefore ...
  • Version 15.8 and earlier are not affected, but that is a super old preview version from 2015
  • Changing the way you present your credentials can sometimes help:

            e.g. username@DOMAIN vs. DOMAIN\username vs. username

  • Problems seem to affect Exchange Server authentication as well as IMAP or POP,
  • Deleting your account and setting up Outlook from scratch sometimes helps,
  • The issue seems to be intermittent, comes and goes.

A ticket submitted by forum member Filip Herman to Microsoft's technical support around early August 2015 indicated that Microsoft is aware of the problem and has a planned fix in progress. Obviously its been years since that. Others have submitted tickets to support since. Scroll to the end to read the most current progress.

I'd encourage everyone to mark this post, indicating that you "recommend this discussion." This thread has tens of thousands of views and hundreds of comments, so its clearly not an isolated issue. Unfortunately, my company abandoned the use of Outlook for Mac 2016 some while back because of this issue, so I don't have an active platform to test on anymore. However, keep trading ideas here as needed.

Best of luck-

Seattle_Expat


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I have exactly the same issue with versions up to and including 15.11. It's really dissapointing that no one from MS is taking this up to get a concrete resolution.........

Tommy

I had this problem and it all but went away when I deleted the domain prefix from the login username in the account settings. I went from DOMAIN/username to just username and things got a lot better. 

Good luck!

I had this problem and it all but went away when I deleted the domain prefix from the login username in the account settings. I went from DOMAIN/username to just username and things got a lot better. 

Good luck!

Interesting. 

I have tried it a few different ways:

  • DOMAIN\username
  • username@DOMAIN
  • username

But all had the same result for me, i.e. I continue to get logon prompts at intermittent intervals. Thanks for the feedback though. By chance do you know what version of Exchange Server you are connecting to?

Cheers-

S.E.

I had the same issue and just tried removing "DOMAIN\" in my account info... So far, so good. I was getting asked for my password every few seconds in some cases and I haven't been asked for a few minutes now.

I've been having the same problem with the last 3 releases of Outlook 2015 and I have tried every trick in the book to no avail. Outlook keeps pestering me for my Exchange Password. 

Interestingly whatever I do, the password field in the preferences/account panel is regularly being wiped out...

Clearly this bug is resilient...

I've been having the same problem with the last 3 releases of Outlook 2015 and I have tried every trick in the book to no avail. Outlook keeps pestering me for my Exchange Password. 

Interestingly whatever I do, the password field in the preferences/account panel is regularly being wiped out...

Clearly this bug is resilient...

Yep. Exactly.

All - don't forget to click on the button at the top to indicate that "You have this problem too". I think that somehow draws attention to the issue.

Cheers

S.E.

I have this same issue with several users now, and the frustration level is escalating quickly. We are on hosted Exchange through Rackspace. Just like other users have mentioned, the issue appears to be that Outlook is losing the stored credentials (when you go into the account section in preferences the password field is blank). 

I talked to Rackspace and they weren't aware of the issue yet, but obviously this is affecting others. 

Could this be an issue with keychain?

Outlook 2016 for the Mac is one huge embarrassment for Microsoft.  Its' s a disgracefully inadequate and underesourced product.  It acts more like Apple Mail than Outlook.  
Same issue here but it seemed to start with the 15.11 update.

does anyone know how to get the old version back? this is ridiculous...i can't even use it

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Last updated September 16, 2020 Views 46,442 Applies to: