can't "see" IMAP and SMTP passwords Mac OS 11.4

Question

can't "see" IMAP and SMTP passwords Mac OS 11.4

I'm using MacOS 11.4

I'm in the Accounts dialog box for Mail / Preferences

it shows dots for the IMAP and SMTP passwords

I can't figure out any way to actually view them ???

if I click to highlight one of them I get a "passwords" button to appear

if I click on the "passwords" button I get to a dialog box that DOES NOT

have any way to view the passwords (it is NOT the browser passwords dialog)

it only gives me the option to "chose a password to fill" it does NOT give me

any option to view its current setting

am having the same problem with a third password, a dialog box with the

same problem occurs when I select System Preferences / Internet Accounts

and then select my mail service provider,

again there does not seem to be a way to view this password either

please don't tell me to go to my (browser?) keychain, Mail passwords aren't in there,

and my MacOS 11.4 System Preferences doesn't have a "keychain" anyway

if there's a way to view these MAIL passwords please let me know,

if this is a well known problem that is fixed in a later than 11.4 Mac OS please let me know and let me know what release fixes it

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.4

Posted on Oct 17, 2024 1:33 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 22, 2024 11:35 PM in response to PeterALawrence

I can feel for your annoyance. I spent decades with big machines that do what the description says. I've come to like the keychain idea, where everything is held in one place, though it's extremely protective of the people in the Los Angeles coffee shop looking over your shoulder (which most of us are not)

First - there is a keychain - it is accessed directly, as you probably know, from the utilities panel of applications. Within the keychain, as 'web form passwords' are passwords to email accounts, the search box will lead you to the one you want by quoting the email account xx@yy.zz. There you can 'get info' and then 'show password' after authenticating you access rights. Such a pain that I have taken to placing the password into the comments box so that it is visible at a glance.

More recently though, Apple have rediscovered what some of us have known for a long time, and enabled a facility to 'print' passwords to a file. This lets you put them all on paper, and know you have a backup secure from digital meltdown, and good luck to an intruder who tries to locate it amongst all the paper here.

As to your more specific grumble about being at the sharp end of configuration and wanting sight of the password NOW, there is no answer, and I have come to appreciate the security around password access. Bad practice to allow any old application to have authority to decode and display passwords. If they can only ever use a password then your system is more secure from rogue software and malware.

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Answer 2

Oct 18, 2024 4:08 PM in response to PeterALawrence

no that's not what I mean,

I mean that while there's a way to enter a password in the Mail utility,

that dialog box's interface gives no way to view the password,

and no hint at how to do so, in fact it steers you down a dead end instead

I was able to interpret your suggestion (I'm a linux die-hard so yes,

I recognize a "path"), so was able to get to the Keychain Access utility via

Launch Pad
- Other
  - Keychain Access

but unless you know what keychain access is (and the Mail utility doesn't

even hit that that's what you need) you don't know to go looking for it.

so my actual question is, is there a version of MacOS past 11.4 where the

Mail utility's IMAP and SMTP password dialog boxes actually do the right

thing rather than leading you down dead-end paths that still don't allow

you to view your password ?

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Answer 3

BDAqua

Level 10

245,501 points

Oct 18, 2024 2:47 PM in response to PeterALawrence

You mean there is no...

System/Applications/Utilities/Keychain Access.app/Contents/MacOS/Keychain Access

Sequoia moved it to...

/System/Library/CoreServices/Applications/Keychain Access.app/Contents/MacOS/Keychain Access

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Answer 4

Oct 23, 2024 11:55 AM in response to PeterALawrence

OK, Thanks, I think I'm starting to see the big picture now.

I think the bug in MacOS is that they allowed Safari browser to display your browser website passwords rather than direct you to the KeyChain. If your first experience managing your passwords is with Safari then you come to expect that they are all manageable via the application that they're needed for rather than with the KeyChain. You sort of expect some software modularity in that any application can summon up the password management software, but that's not the case. That's bad design by Apple.

and its made worse by some of their applications like Mail where you can set but not see your passwords and then you get stuck in a dead-end trying to follow their links to attempt to see them. again Bad Design by Apple.

But Seriously, if they can set a Mail IMAP or SMTP password via their Mail apps GUI, why can't they display the little icon in that type-in window that switches to display the characters rather than dots, Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot, that's just plain stupid IMHO.

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