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✉️ Email Delivery

Documentation, reference material and tutorials for CRM-NG SMTP Email: setup guides for every mail service, troubleshooting, and one article per error message.

Error: 534: application-specific password required

Updated

By Duane GarnerChief Executive Officer (CEO)
Summarize: Claude ChatGPT View Markdown
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The SMTP server will not accept your account's normal password. Create an app password, or switch to a mailer that uses OAuth.

This article is for sites using the Other SMTP mailer (most often with Gmail or Google Workspace, smtp.gmail.com) or the Backup SMTP Transport on the Alerts tab, where a send fails with SMTP reply code 534. The Zoho Mail mailer can show a similar refusal when it is given the account password instead of an app password.

The error as you see it

534 5.7.9 Application-specific password required.

A related form is 534 5.7.14 Please log in with your web browser and then try again. Both are shown in the failed-send banner, in Tools → Debug Events and in the Email Log.

What this error means

Reply code 534 means the server understood your sign-in but considers the method too weak for this account. With Gmail, 5.7.9 says the account has 2-Step Verification on, so its normal password cannot be used by apps; you must give the plugin an app password instead. 5.7.14 says Google wants a person to sign in through a browser first, usually because the sign-in looked unusual.

Common causes

  • The account's normal password is saved in SMTP Password while 2-Step Verification is on.
  • Google saw a sign-in from an unfamiliar place (your web server) and paused it until the owner confirms it (5.7.14).
  • An older app password was revoked or deleted after a password change.
  • The Zoho mailer was given the mailbox password instead of the Application-Specific Password Zoho generates.

How to fix

  1. Create an app password (Google)

    Signed in as the sending account, open https://myaccount.google.com/apppasswords. If the page says it is unavailable, first turn on 2-Step Verification at https://myaccount.google.com/security. Name the password, then copy the 16 characters Google shows.

  2. Clear a browser sign-in prompt (Google, 5.7.14)

    Sign in to https://mail.google.com/ as the sending account and confirm any security alert about a recent sign-in. Then try again within a few minutes.

  3. Create an app password (Zoho)

    In Zoho Accounts, open Security → App Passwords (the console's current name may differ slightly), generate one for "SMTP", and copy it.

  4. Save it in CRM-NG SMTP

    Go to CRM-NG SMTP → Settings → General. For Other SMTP, use Remove Password and paste the app password into SMTP Password. For Zoho Mail, use Remove Password and paste it into Application-Specific Password. Press Save Settings.

  5. Backup transport

    If the error came from the backup, update the Password under Backup SMTP Transport on CRM-NG SMTP → Settings → Alerts and press Save Alert Settings.

  6. Send a test

    Go to CRM-NG SMTP → Tools → Email Test, fill in Send To and press Send Email.

Verify it worked

The test page shows "Test email sent successfully! Check your inbox to confirm delivery." and Tools → Debug Events records no new 534 replies.

Notes

  • App passwords stop working whenever you change the account password. Make a new one and update the plugin each time.
  • For Google accounts the cleaner long-term answer is the Google / Gmail mailer, which uses OAuth and never stores a password. See Google Workspace / Gmail.
  • If the reply is 535 rather than 534, the password itself is wrong. See 535 Authentication failed.
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