Gmail amnesia. Is there a cure?
January 6, 2014 12:50 PM
How do I get Chrome/Gmail to remember my email account password? It's the same problem in Safari, but I use mostly Chrome. I used to be able to log into my three gmail accounts without inputting the password. No longer. How to bring back the password remembering functionality in Chrome?
Google changed things around with the 'one account controls all your google stuff', and I was presented with three gmail accounts and only one of them (my primary?) remembered my password in any browser, so if I wanted access to the other two, I had to input the passwords every single time. Super annoying.
But recently things got worse. Now every single account demands I input my password every single time. And the box 'keep signed in' has disappeared from the log-in page.
I have Chrome try to remember passwords on websites in preferences, but this does not help. Keychain in Apple is useless.
This is a huge hassle. If things don't change this is about enough to get me to move away from Gmail as my primary email (to what I don't know). Any ideas?
I'm on Google Chrome Version 31.0.1650.63 ("Google Chrome is up to date"); late 2009 iMac, OS X 10.6.8.
Google changed things around with the 'one account controls all your google stuff', and I was presented with three gmail accounts and only one of them (my primary?) remembered my password in any browser, so if I wanted access to the other two, I had to input the passwords every single time. Super annoying.
But recently things got worse. Now every single account demands I input my password every single time. And the box 'keep signed in' has disappeared from the log-in page.
I have Chrome try to remember passwords on websites in preferences, but this does not help. Keychain in Apple is useless.
This is a huge hassle. If things don't change this is about enough to get me to move away from Gmail as my primary email (to what I don't know). Any ideas?
I'm on Google Chrome Version 31.0.1650.63 ("Google Chrome is up to date"); late 2009 iMac, OS X 10.6.8.
Unless you really want to keep looking at your email in 3 separate accounts, you can set that primary account up to scrape the other ones and you'll get all your email in one place. (Settings/accounts/Check mail from other accounts/Add a POP3 account you own). Gmail might be asking for a password every time because you keep switching between them and you can only be logged into one at a time. So combining them in one account would eliminate that.
Also make sure you are signed into Chrome (chrome://settings/), which should sync your Google account and open Gmail, Calendar, etc. without PWs. It sounds like you may be signed out. Note that even if you stay signed into Chrome, Google will ask for your Google account PW now and then, just as good practice.
posted by beagle at 1:07 PM on January 6, 2014
Also make sure you are signed into Chrome (chrome://settings/), which should sync your Google account and open Gmail, Calendar, etc. without PWs. It sounds like you may be signed out. Note that even if you stay signed into Chrome, Google will ask for your Google account PW now and then, just as good practice.
posted by beagle at 1:07 PM on January 6, 2014
I got fed up with this aspect of Gmail and switched to Mailplane to manage multiple Gmail accounts and calendars in a single, tabbed, window. I also like that you can opt in to having a toolbar icon for any/all of your accounts to quickly see new mail in each account and go to individual messages.
Everyone's email needs are snowflakes, but I was pretty stoked to find an app that did exactly what I wanted that Chrome could in no way fulfill.
posted by homesickness at 4:02 PM on January 6, 2014
Everyone's email needs are snowflakes, but I was pretty stoked to find an app that did exactly what I wanted that Chrome could in no way fulfill.
posted by homesickness at 4:02 PM on January 6, 2014
I don't know the use of three accounts but if it's just for email you can set up as many accounts as you want in "Mail" app on you mac. You can also have different browsers remember your different account names and passwords. Good luck.
posted by lijiaxiaoniu at 7:00 PM on January 6, 2014
posted by lijiaxiaoniu at 7:00 PM on January 6, 2014
Next to the "Offer to save passwords I enter on the web." checkbox in settings there's a link with the text "Manage saved passwords". If you haven't already, look in there to see if there are Google addresses under the "Never saved" section, and remove any that you find.
Do you use User profiles in Chrome at all? If the "Never saved" experiment doesn't turn anything up, it might also be interesting to try adding a new user profile to see if you can get Chrome to remember your passwords on the new profile. That would imply that there's some other configuration parameter on your default profile that's causing your grief. At that point you could try to find the difference, or just move to the new profile if it's not too tedious to move your bookmarks and things.
The "keep signed in" checkbox that used to exist on sign-in pages isn't related to Chrome's password remembering feature. (It would have affected the number of password prompts you got from the servers, but not Chrome's ability to fill them in automatically.)
posted by Courage is going from failure to failure at 11:56 PM on January 6, 2014
Do you use User profiles in Chrome at all? If the "Never saved" experiment doesn't turn anything up, it might also be interesting to try adding a new user profile to see if you can get Chrome to remember your passwords on the new profile. That would imply that there's some other configuration parameter on your default profile that's causing your grief. At that point you could try to find the difference, or just move to the new profile if it's not too tedious to move your bookmarks and things.
The "keep signed in" checkbox that used to exist on sign-in pages isn't related to Chrome's password remembering feature. (It would have affected the number of password prompts you got from the servers, but not Chrome's ability to fill them in automatically.)
posted by Courage is going from failure to failure at 11:56 PM on January 6, 2014
You should consider Mailplane, which allows you to have multiple gmail accounts, all staying open. I have no connection with the company except as a satisfied user.
posted by TheRaven at 12:18 AM on January 7, 2014
posted by TheRaven at 12:18 AM on January 7, 2014
In the past I've used this Chrome extension to juggle multiple Google accounts.
posted by bluefly at 1:04 PM on January 7, 2014
posted by bluefly at 1:04 PM on January 7, 2014
Thank you everybody! A few quick points. Mailplane won't work for me - I'm on 10.6.8. LastPass - not anxious to subscribe to a service like that as yet. Yes, I'm signed into Chrome, saving the email passwords is not excluded in Chrome settings, and it never ever remembers any of my email passwords but asks for them each and every blessed time. I don't want to use Apple's Mail, I only want to access email through the web browser. However, the best so far is bluefly's suggestion - thank you bluefly! - of the Chrome extension - it's still a couple of extra steps, but it's at least a tolerable hassle compared to constant inputting of passwords. No perfect solutions, but good enough so far. If anybody has an idea how to get back to autofill on the passwords so I don't have to go through any extra steps, that of course would be super! Thanks again!
posted by VikingSword at 5:14 PM on January 7, 2014
posted by VikingSword at 5:14 PM on January 7, 2014
I have found this to be a pain as well (Chrome). I can SEE the 3 other gmail accounts (incl. one of my aunt's I never visit: just if she ever needs help) from the tiny drop down top right adjacent to my email address.
They have occasionally, and seemingly randomly, disappeared in the past and I've had to re-add them. But the thing is, on the desktop, my machine never remembers any gmail password other than my main one and so while I can see the other email addresses that are associated with my main a/c, when I click on any, it takes me to a log in screen where I have to reenter the password. (it's no huge problem as I use LastPass anyway).
But, for some reason, I don't have that password-loss problem in my gmail app on my android phone, so I tend to check my lesser accounts from there. I kinda wonder if it isn't to do with the ccleaner running at the start of every session; maybe I should go and whitelist some more gmail URLs or something. I've always thought it was a cookie thing.
Thanks for the mailplane link people!
posted by peacay at 6:46 AM on January 8, 2014
They have occasionally, and seemingly randomly, disappeared in the past and I've had to re-add them. But the thing is, on the desktop, my machine never remembers any gmail password other than my main one and so while I can see the other email addresses that are associated with my main a/c, when I click on any, it takes me to a log in screen where I have to reenter the password. (it's no huge problem as I use LastPass anyway).
But, for some reason, I don't have that password-loss problem in my gmail app on my android phone, so I tend to check my lesser accounts from there. I kinda wonder if it isn't to do with the ccleaner running at the start of every session; maybe I should go and whitelist some more gmail URLs or something. I've always thought it was a cookie thing.
Thanks for the mailplane link people!
posted by peacay at 6:46 AM on January 8, 2014
I'm glad that extension was at least a partial solution. I said it worked "in the past" because I haven't used it much in the last month or so, and Google is constantly changing the login page which can break extensions. I hope you find a more permanent solution; I suspect Google really wants you to do what beagle suggests and forward the secondary accounts to the primary one, so they can track you better or pay for the privilege of having Google Apps.
posted by bluefly at 8:56 AM on January 8, 2014
posted by bluefly at 8:56 AM on January 8, 2014
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posted by IAmBroom at 12:58 PM on January 6, 2014