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Can't add Yahoo! email account in Outlook 365

Chris Tetley 0 Reputation points
2026-06-04T07:53:03.3266667+00:00

I use Outlook as my mail app on my iMac for a number of accounts: Gmail, Hotmail and Microsoft work-related. I recently had to add an account for Yahoo! Mail. I had no problem adding it to Outlook on my iPhone and iPad: the process asked for a code from my Authenticator app, which I supplied. When I tried to add the account on my iMac, the message was "Something went wrong. We could not sign you in. Try from a different device."

When I selected the offered alternative 'Go to Help' a page of Chinese was displayed.

The Yahoo! account has two-step verification displayed. Help, please!

Outlook | MacOS | New Outlook for Mac | For home

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  1. Victor1-V 9,185 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-06-06T09:47:16.9866667+00:00

    Hi Chris Tetley,

    I understand that the Yahoo account was added successfully in Outlook on your iPhone and iPad, but new Outlook for Mac cannot complete the setup because the Yahoo sign-in browser window does not open.

    Please note that this is a user-to-user forum, so contributors here do not have access to your Yahoo account, Outlook profile, or Microsoft backend systems.

    The AI answer is correct about the normal Yahoo setup flow, but since the browser window does not open on your Mac, the next step is to check the browser-based sign-in flow rather than repeat the same setup steps.

    Please try the following:

    1. In Outlook for Mac, go to Outlook > Settings > Accounts and remove any partially added Yahoo account if it appears there.
    2. Update Outlook for Mac from the App Store or Microsoft AutoUpdate, then fully quit and reopen Outlook.
    3. Set Safari or Chrome as the default browser temporarily. Then make sure the browser is allowed to open pop-up windows and external app links. The Yahoo setup needs to open a browser sign-in page, complete two-step verification, and then return permission back to Outlook.
    4. Open Yahoo Mail directly in the same browser first and sign in successfully. After that, try adding the Yahoo account again in Outlook by going to Outlook > Settings > Accounts > Add Account.
    5. When the Yahoo permission page appears, choose Agree or Allow if prompted. Microsoft’s Outlook for Mac setup guidance notes that Yahoo or other IMAP/POP accounts may redirect to the provider’s sign-in page and ask you to allow Outlook access.

    If the browser window still does not open, please try adding the account from a new macOS user profile. This helps check whether the issue is related to the current macOS profile or browser settings.

    As a fallback, if Yahoo offers an app password for your account, you may try adding the Yahoo account manually as IMAP using that app password. However, Yahoo controls whether app password creation is available for each account.

    References: Add an email account to Outlook for Macand Generate and manage 3rd-party app passwords, Yahoo Help

    Disclaimer: The Yahoo Help article is a third-party website. The page appears to provide relevant guidance for Yahoo account settings, but please review it carefully and avoid downloading any unrelated tools or software from third-party pages. Microsoft provides no assurances and/or warranties, implied or otherwise, and is not responsible for the information you receive from the third-party linked sites or any support related to technology.   

    I hope this provides the next steps to isolate why the Yahoo sign-in window is not opening on the Mac.

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.    

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  2. Chris Tetley 0 Reputation points
    2026-06-04T08:38:49.49+00:00

    The AI solution fails at step 4. The browser window doesn't open,

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