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I need to use a certain email account managed by a server I don't have access to. I have the credentials, I can log in using a client such as Mozilla Thunderbird or Evolution. However, I was not able to change my password.

Surprisingly I didn't find any guides to do this. All tutorials on changing password, such as this one for Thunderbird:

> Options > Security > Passwords > Saved Passwords > Edit

Don't work for me. Furthermore the UI seems to indicate that what is meant by "changing of password" is just an update of the locally cached credentials - as in a password manager.

The fact that all tutorials suggest this same procedure and that I did not find any solution suggest that I am doing something very unusual.

Some manipulations of remote e-mail accounts are clearly standardized - this is why I can use different clients, such as Thunderbird or Evolution to fetch my mails.

Is also password setting standardized, or is it something that depends on the particular mail server implementation and therefore is not supported in the most common e-mail clients?

Or Am I just missing something?

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    From my understanding, passwords & their policies are usually managed server side. Majority of email clients will not allow you to change password unless in an OAuth mechanism (i.e. - outlook & exchange online use this method). You will likely find that the provider will supply some form of web based endpoint and you will likely be able to change your password there. This being said the password & policies could be managed by another integration (LDAP / Active directory etc) and may not support password writeback functionality. If I were you I would query the email service provider.
    – CraftyB
    Apr 29, 2021 at 17:28

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Is also password setting standardized

No. None of the common and/or standard mail access protocols (IMAP, POP3, SMTP, ACAP, JMAP, ActiveSync, ...) offer a feature to change the account's password.

Some manipulations of remote e-mail accounts are clearly standardized - this is why I can use different clients, such as Thunderbird or Evolution to fetch my mails

That's not manipulation of the account, only of the mailbox that the account is allowed to access.

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    I have no idea why this was migrated to Web Apps.
    – user1686
    Apr 29, 2021 at 18:00
  • Because that's what the site Super User likes to do.
    – Camille Goudeseune
    Apr 30, 2021 at 18:18

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