Emails not downloading - POP / Office 365

Problem reported by Simon Abbott - 5/27/2022 at 7:44 AM

Resolved

Hi,

We've got SmarterTrack set up to download emails from an Office365 account. Overnight it stopped working and the pop log said "R Logon failure: unknown user name or bad password."

We tracked the problem down to Microsoft disabling POP3 Basic Authentication. According to their advisory, they were going to turn it back on again after 48 hours but provided instructions on how to re-enable it sooner. Although we've now got it back up and running, Microsoft have said that POP3 on Exchange Online will be permanently disabled on 1st October (it might be a different date for different tenants).

Admittedly, we're not on the very latest version of SmarterTrack (were on Build 8019 (Dec 15, 2021)), but I can't see anything in the release notes since then that might have prevented this issue occurring.

Is anyone else aware of this issue? Is there a fix or workaround being planned?

Thanks,

Simon

16 Replies

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Nathaniel Aylard Replied

6/24/2022 at 9:03 AM

in the same boat. Just happened to us last night. Curious what steps will be made this "modern" authentication requirement.

Thanks

Zach Sylvester Replied

6/27/2022 at 7:14 AM

Employee Post

Hello All,

We are working on OAuth 2.0 But I dont have a timeframe for right now. We are planning to have it out before basic auth gets deprecated, however. So between now and October 1st is when you should expect to see this implemented. Please keep an eye on the release notes. For now, you can opt out of the basic auth depreciation and continue to use it. https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/exchange-team-blog/basic-authentication-and-exchange-online-september-2021-update/ba-p/2772210

Kind Regards,

Zach Sylvester Software Developer SmarterTools Inc. www.smartertools.com

Roeland Buisman Replied

7/1/2022 at 7:13 AM

I have the same problem today. The last days it still worked fine, but since today we can't receive any emails from office365 accounts anymore. I really hope there will be a quick solution, as we can't do anything now..

Tahir Replied

7/11/2022 at 12:22 PM

Those who are using Office 365 the Smarter Track will become useless if they do not provide patch before October.

We need a definite confirmation from Smarter Track team, else we have to look for other options.

AnonymousButNotReally Replied

7/20/2022 at 10:42 AM

I agree with Tahir. In our situation, we will literally have hundreds of hours of work to do between custom development and department/group build-out’s if we need to put in a new ticketing system. It would be great to know ahead of time, otherwise we’re going to have to jump ship to mitigate downtime (and we’ve been a customer for 14 years).

Artur Rzasa Replied

7/25/2022 at 5:05 PM

Just an FYI, here are the instructions on re-enabling Pop3 until the hard October 2022 deadline - Basic Authentication and Exchange Online – June 2021 Update - Microsoft Tech Community
I had our Pop3 re-enabled within 15 minutes.

It's weird that they even disabled it as MS said they would only do that if it wasn't being used. But I guess they did it so users were aware of the impending changes.

I see Zach has responded, and I have an email from support at SmartTools to say they are working on Oauth2 and should be ready before October. Probably would have been good for SmarterTools to be aware of this change (its been announce 1-2yrs ago) and had something ready earlier.

-- Art

Zach Sylvester Replied

8/3/2022 at 9:22 AM

Employee Post

Hey Guys,

Just wanted to follow up. I just got word from development that Oauth should be in the next update for SmarterTrack. We are planning to do a release before the end of the month. It might get delayed a little bit longer than that if we run into any issues but I can say for sure that it will be out before Microsoft completely disables basic auth.

Kind Regards,

Zach Sylvester Software Developer SmarterTools Inc. www.smartertools.com

Zach Sylvester Replied

8/24/2022 at 12:15 PM

Employee Post Marked As Resolution

Hello Everyone,

Good news, we just released Build 8271 (Aug 24, 2022) this version includes Oauth.

https://www.smartertools.com/smartertrack/downloads

Please download it and take a look. This build also has a redesigned UI and a ton of fixes. We are really excited to hear all of your feedback.

Kind Regards,

Zach Sylvester Software Developer SmarterTools Inc. www.smartertools.com

Netmate Replied

8/28/2022 at 11:43 PM

What about SmarterMail? Does it support Oauth?

We use SmarterMail to download emails via POP and IMAP from Office365 accounts.

Justin Garcia Replied

8/29/2022 at 8:01 AM

Are there any instructions to setup Oauth for SmarterTrack Build 8271?

Zach Sylvester Replied

8/29/2022 at 8:08 AM

Employee Post

Hello Justin,

Thanks for your question. As of now, we do not have any documentation for Oauth yet but it will be coming very soon. But it's pretty much the same as setting up any other email account. Just select Oauth from the dropdown.

Heres a screenshot.

Then once you enter in the information just click connect and a window should appear asking you to sign in to office365 for example. Once you do that just click save then it will act like any other email account.

Please let me know if this helps.

Kind Regards,

Zach Sylvester Software Developer SmarterTools Inc. www.smartertools.com

Netmate Replied

9/6/2022 at 12:28 AM

What about SmarterMail? Does it support Oauth2?

Artur Rzasa Replied

9/19/2022 at 9:00 PM

Just a heads up, the September 2022 update from Microsoft shows that there will be one last extension on the disablement of Basic Auth, so we have until the end of December 2022.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/exchange-team-blog/basic-authentication-deprecation-in-exchange-online-september/ba-p/3609437

There are instructions that should be followed to request your basic auth to NOT be disabled 1st October 2022, which should be completed in September 2022.

-- Art

Artur Rzasa Replied

9/19/2022 at 10:26 PM

Testing this out today, and getting an error requiring Admin approval, as this is an unverified app. It gives an option to log in with an Admin account but that won't really work.

Still working on this to work out how we can get around this, and it may not affect everyone but just a heads up.

The URL it gives to get more details is: https://aka.ms/RiskBasedConsent

Error we get:

Need admin approval

unverified

-- Art

Zach Sylvester Replied

9/20/2022 at 1:12 PM

Employee Post

Hello Artur,

Thanks for reaching out regarding this issue. According to another user of SmarterTrack who also uses MS365 you need to do the following.

"Go to Azure active directory admin center. Choose “Enterprise applications” then toggle the “Admin consent requests” slider, then select a user that will get and approve the requests."

Kind Regards,

Zach Sylvester Software Developer SmarterTools Inc. www.smartertools.com

Artur Rzasa Replied

9/20/2022 at 7:56 PM

Thanks Zach and other user.

Can confirm that worked for me too. One in Enterprise applications, I had to go into User settings to flick the "Admin consent requests" slider, added a user and hit Save at top of window.

-- Art

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