How do you remove an account from Windows 8 Mail that "Needs Attention"?

Question

I'm using Windows 8.1 Pro, and the Mail app has a Gmail account that "Needs Attention". I'd like to go ahead and remove it. I go to the Charms bar, Setting, Account, and find that Gmail account in the list of accounts, again with "Needs Attention" underneath it. I click on the account in the Settings->Accounts list, and a full screen banner asking for credentials pops up. If I dismiss this, the settings dialog closes. If I enter the credentials, a new Gmail account is added to the list, but the old one I want to remove is still there. Basically, there's no way to get past this credentials banner to the settings pane for the account, which is where the "Remove Account" button should be.

Does anyone know how to get around this?

Uninstalling the reinstalling the Mail app does not fix it. I know how to remove Windows 8 Mail app accounts normally, but it doesn't work in this case (it displays the credentials banner instead of the settings panel).

Solution 1

I found a good answer. Quirky but not as severe as the other listed answer!

Follow these steps:

1. Completely close the Mail app (drag down from the top of the window to the bottom of the window and hold it there until the screen flips over, and only then let go)
2. Put your computer into Airplane mode (or somehow get it into an offline mode if Airplane mode isn't an option).
3. Now you should be able to open your Mail app -> Settings -> Accounts -> Click on the account you need to manage (should no longer "Need Attention") -> Remove Account.
4. Done!

Solution 2

The way I fixed this was by uninstalling the Mail app and then selecting to "uninstall from all my synced PCs" That way it removes the accounts from any other PC you might have previously setup Gmail on.

If you're on a touch screen hold your finger down on the mail app Tile, and then select uninstall, and check the box that says "Uninstall from all my synced PCs."

If you're on a Desktop / Laptop with a Mouse then just right click on the Tile, and do the same thing.

Hope this helps.

Comments

[Albert Xing]

This worked great, and it beats reinstalling. +1

[Jaxidian]

That works great if you can login. However, that doesn't help if, say, the account had been deleted or the server is down or many other things.

[elif]

Thank you! A friend of mine who was suffering from this for months has been able to remove it with this method.

[Sean87]

Man you are a genius! this worked like a charm to get remove of a gmail account which I couldn't recover its password!