I’ve been trying to configure zoho mail via imap to the mac mail client on my macbook pro running os x el capitan. However no matter what I do, it ended up in error saying:
unable to verify account name or password.
I tried every possible thing, even checked two factor authentication by going to: control panel > user details > clicking on username > two factor authentication (starting here: https://mail.zoho.com/cpanel/index.do#userdetails).
However finally I realized that their system is broken and I was looking at the wrong place. (If it’s not broken, then it’s not user-friendly in this case at least).
How to solve the unable to verify account name or password error
To solve this error, you simply need to turn off two factor authentication, but by going to a different page here: https://accounts.zoho.com/u/h#security/authentication
If you’re not sure if two factor authentication is still turned on, open your browser in incognito mode (for chrome) or private browsing (firefox) or simply clear all cache on your browser and try accessing your email account.
Once you’re confirm that the two factor authentication is no more active, add your details to the mail settings. Make sure you enter the latest values for these. At the time of writing this post they were:
username: your email id
imap server: imappro.zoho.com
smtp server: smtp.zoho.com
Make sure that you turn on the two factor authentication once mail client is configured properly, be it outlook, mac mail, thunderbird, opera mail or any other!
To check if the mail client is configured properly, send an email to yourself, if it goes fine and receives fine, then you’re good to go.
Let me know if you still have any issues!