
Lost Gmail password from auto-password generator?Help! My friend lost his Google Gmail password because he used a password generator on his Mac, but when he copied the generated password to the clipboard, it didnt really copy. Then he closed the password box and effectively lost that new password for his Gmail. He tried filling out the Gmail technical support form to get access again but they said the info he gave them was "inconclusive" and they couldn't give him access back at this time. Is there a way to recover his Gmail password on a Mac? Since there are no cookies like Windows I'm not sure how he can get it back. Thanks! Sounds like a tricky situation because you didn't tell me which password generator your friend used, but odds are good that whatever he ran, it likely has some sort of internal database of encrypted passwords. If it's really well behaved, it might even be adding the password information to the existing account and password storage system on your Mac OS X system: Keychain. In fact, let's start there. While you might be familiar with Keychain as the utility that applications like Safari use to store passwords, you might not realize that it's actually a separate application you can launch. To find it, go to Applications --> Utilities and look for "Keychain Access" The opening window looks like this: ![]() Scroll down (or search) and see if you can find the account information in question. Once you do, select it and choose File --> Get Info (or just press Cmd-I) and it'll show you more details: ![]() Check "Show password" and it'll ask you for your system password: ![]() If you enter it correctly, you'll now have the password for that account revealed. Helpful! If you can't find it there, try the password generating application itself. For example, I use 1Password for account management within the Web browser and it too has the ability to show you otherwise encrypted passwords, as shown here: ![]() Again, find the specific entry you're interested in and choose it. Immediately, the lower pane will fill with account details: ![]() If the password isn't shown, simply click on "Edit" and it'll reveal it. Hopefully these will give you and your pal some ideas about how to recover the password your application assigned to his Gmail account. Good luck!
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Categorized:
Mac OS X Help
(Article 8105)
Tagged: account management, mac keychain, password management, password recovery, security Previous: When was the last time Google visited my Web site? Next: Import Lotus Notes Address Book into Microsoft Outlook? Subscribe!
Never miss another useful Q&A article again! Subscribe to AskDaveTaylor with Google Reader. Hi Dave, No tech support for gmail is unfortunate...started a new iMac with OS X Tiger, also downloaded the latest version of Firefox, and presto gmail did not remember me... it refused to accept my password - which has not been changed. After answering my "private question" incorrectly, ...perhaps a typo at time of setup?...who knows, it then asked me to verify my latest sent emails addresses: However, those addresses were available & located on the gmail server, not on my previous computer, so without access to gmail I could not retrieve my last emails, for proof of verification. My alternate email at mac.com expired last year and the new one is slightly different...so I'm not able to send an email to google tech support for gmail to correct the situation. Any advice? Posted by: Laurel at July 3, 2008 3:41 PM I forgot gmail password. I just changed gmail password few days before. Now gmail is telling me to wait for 5 days. can i recover passowrd immediately? Posted by: yubaraj at July 25, 2008 5:46 AMI have a lot to say, but ...
I do have a comment, now that you mention it!
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