Connect your Gmail with an app password (step by step)

This is the step-by-step for connecting a Gmail inbox to Booked Solid OS the direct way: an IMAP account secured with a Google App Password. This is the supported path for Gmail - Otto can watch the inbox, draft replies, and always send from the right address. You do not link Gmail on claude.ai for this, and the claude.ai Gmail connector can stay disconnected.

Start here if Gmail won't connect, if it says it can't connect or keeps failing, if Gmail is not connecting after an update, or if a Gmail inbox that used to work has stopped working. Every one of those ends at the same fix: an app password.

Before you start

• Your Google account needs 2-Step Verification turned on. Google only issues app passwords to accounts with 2-Step Verification - turn it on at myaccount.google.com/security if you have not already.
• An app password is a 16-letter code Google generates just for one app. It is not your normal Gmail password, and your normal password never enters Booked Solid.

Step 1: get your Google App Password

1. In your browser, go to myaccount.google.com/apppasswords and sign in to the Google account you want to connect.
2. Give the app password a name you will recognize, like "Booked Solid", and click Create.
3. Google shows a 16-letter code. Copy it. Do not worry about the spaces Google displays inside it - Booked Solid strips spaces automatically when you paste.

Step 2: add the inbox in Booked Solid

1. Open the Connections tab and scroll to the Mail & calendars section.
2. Click Add an email account. The method already defaults to Any email (IMAP) - keep it there.
3. Give the account a name you will recognize and pick its purpose tag (bookings, personal, support, or business).
4. Enter your Gmail address, and paste the 16-letter app password into the password field.
5. For a normal @gmail.com address the servers fill themselves in. For a custom-domain Google account (Google Workspace, like you@yourband.com), use imap.gmail.com as the IMAP server and smtp.gmail.com port 465 for sending.
6. Click Check it. The button shows Checking… while it tests, then confirms the sign-in works.
7. Click Save.

That is the whole setup. Saving a new Gmail inbox also switches on the Gmail (app password) tool for Otto automatically - there is no second switch to go find. And there is no restart step: account adds, edits, and removals reach Otto the moment you save them.

If Otto still says "reconnect Gmail" after the password checked green

On app versions before 1.11.5 there was a packaging bug: the Gmail tool programs were missing from every installed build, so Otto kept reporting "reconnect Gmail" or "invalid grant" even when the password test showed green. If you see that pattern, update the app to the newest version (1.11.5 or newer), then use Start fresh so a clean session picks up the fixed tools.

Good to know

• Multiple inboxes are welcome. You can add several Gmail (or any other) accounts at once - one per persona - each with its own purpose tag and its own app password. Otto names which inbox he is acting in, so you always know which address is doing the work.
• Fixing a password never means starting over. Every account card has an Edit button. To swap in a fresh app password, edit the account and paste the new code; leaving the password blank keeps the saved one.
• If Check it fails with "The mail server refused that sign-in", you most likely pasted your normal Gmail password instead of an app password, or the app password was revoked - generate a fresh one at myaccount.google.com/apppasswords. Every other Check it error is decoded in Add any inbox by IMAP: app passwords and every "Check it" error explained.

Still stuck? Email bookedsolid@kivimedia.freshdesk.com and a person will help.