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Fix email certificate errors [Expired, Invalid, Not Secure]

5 min. read

Updated onOctober 4, 2023

updated onOctober 4, 2023

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Key notes

You may have tried at least once to log in to your email and encountered anemailcertificate error, but didn’t know how to work around it.

Certificate errors happen whenever there’s an issue with a certificate or a web server’s use of the certificate itself, thus Internet Explorer, Edge,Chrome, and other browsers display red flags through warnings about certificate errors.

The most common reason is that the certificate is valid for a certain period of time, so if your computer’s date and/or time is set to a different date or time, then you are likely to get theemailcertificate error warning.

However, if you still get theemailcertificate error even after adjusting the date and time, then it is possible that either the certificate of the website itself has expired and needs to be renewed, or, the website is not to be trusted.

You could have encountered theemailcertificate error on a site you visit regularly without errors, so in this case, the website itself may not be configured correctly.

Another cause could be that the website’s certificate has expired and the owner or operator needs to renew it so that you continue using it, as this cannot be corrected in your browser.

When you get anemailcertificate error, it is advisable that you do not put important login identities or passwords on such pages.

How can I fix email certificate errors?

1. Adjust time/date to appropriate values

Check to ensure your time and date on the computer are set to the appropriate or correct values. If you set ahead of or behind the actual time/date, the certificate can read as invalid.

Use the above steps in order to check the time/date settings and adjust them easily.

2. Try out a more powerful email client

Think of a really important email that you’re ready to send. This email may be related to your family or work projects and it contains sensitive data that you’d never want to get in the wrong hands.

The same goes for not being able to complete the action due to countless email certificate errors. The best mail clients can keep you away from all of these, so maybe it’s time to think of a better choice too.

Mailbird isn’t simply designed to cover the basics you’ve come to expect from similar email clients. Trusted by users worldwide, it lets you manage multiple accounts.

Keep in mind that it not only packs various smart productivity tools, but messages are neatly organized so that you can enjoy an uncluttered interface.

Mailbird

3. Retype the address

If it’s a site you visit regularly and you hardly get anyemailcertificate error, then the site itself may not be configured correctly.

You should better try and retype the address then see if the problem persists.

4. Configure the use of mail over SSL settings

If you’re trying to connect to youremailusing a default mail server name, what happens is there’s a mismatch between the domain name, and that of the shared SSL certificate on the server, which results in anemailcertificate error.

In order to remove theemailcertificate error you receive, configure your email client with an SSL setting, because by default, when sending or receivingemails, they’re not encrypted so if they’re vulnerable and easy to intercept by cybercriminals.

Some users opt to useemailover SSL owing to restrictions by their Internet service provider that prevents them from sending anyemailmessages.

In order to use youremailover an SSL, update the settings for both incoming and outgoing servers, plus ensure your email client has port 465 configured as the SMTP port.

Have any of the above solutions helped resolve theemailcertificate error for you? Let us know by leaving your comment in the section below.

Besides addressing email certificate expired issues, do note that the previously mentioned solutions are confirmed to work when facing the following errors as well:

Fix email certificate errors [Expired, Invalid, Not Secure]#

How can I fix email certificate errors?#

1. Adjust time/date to appropriate values#

2. Try out a more powerful email client#

Mailbird#

3. Retype the address#

4. Configure the use of mail over SSL settings#