[Windows Central Question]

My sister and I swapped SIM cards for a week (long story) and when we both put them back into the correct phones (mine a Nokia Lumia 435, hers a 730) some of our email accounts were greyed out and stuck in 'syncing'. There's no way to delete it and we can't add it separately as it says the address is already in use. Her outlook account is doing it, and my gmail account. I have googled and looked through this forum and none of the things suggested have worked.

We have both:
- turned on flight mode. Account still syncs
- turned off the phone, restarted it. Tried it with flight mode on and flight mode off.
- done a soft reset

Obviously we haven't done a hard reset but really, really don't want to! Anything we can do to avoid that? And if we did do that, what would happen to the phone?

[Chintan Gohel]

My sister and I swapped SIM cards for a week (long story) and when we both put them back into the correct phones (mine a Nokia Lumia 435, hers a 730) some of our email accounts were greyed out and stuck in 'syncing'. There's no way to delete it and we can't add it separately as it says the address is already in use. Her outlook account is doing it, and my gmail account. I have googled and looked through this forum and none of the things suggested have worked.

We have both:
- turned on flight mode. Account still syncs
- turned off the phone, restarted it. Tried it with flight mode on and flight mode off.
- done a soft reset

Obviously we haven't done a hard reset but really, really don't want to! Anything we can do to avoid that? And if we did do that, what would happen to the phone?

so while it's syncing, do emails come through? And the syncing happens even if data is off?
What if you accessed your email in the pc and changed passwords. I expect the mail app to bring an error where you would have to put in the new password

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[Chintan Gohel]

As for hard reset - it erases all your apps and data and performs a clean install of the current OS. So if you have backed up your contacts, sms and content, you should be okay

[ssenorita]

(This is the OP, finally registered on this site)

Chintan - thanks for your reply. No emails are coming through because nothing is happening. It's in my email and accounts section, it's like it's not set up yet. It lists my email accounts, and the google one is greyed out and says 'syncing'. There is nowhere for me to go to see if emails are coming through. It's like it's trying to set up my account for the first time and so it isn't appearing as an inbox app.
I've just tried changing my gmail password on my PC but it does nothing to change it. It is greyed out and says 'syncing'. Frustrating! And yes, no matter what I do, it always says that, even if all data is switched off.

I really don't want to do a hard reset so I guess I'll have to live without having the only email account I really use coming through to my phone. Great.

[Chintan Gohel]

(This is the OP, finally registered on this site)

Chintan - thanks for your reply. No emails are coming through because nothing is happening. It's in my email and accounts section, it's like it's not set up yet. It lists my email accounts, and the google one is greyed out and says 'syncing'. There is nowhere for me to go to see if emails are coming through. It's like it's trying to set up my account for the first time and so it isn't appearing as an inbox app.
I've just tried changing my gmail password on my PC but it does nothing to change it. It is greyed out and says 'syncing'. Frustrating! And yes, no matter what I do, it always says that, even if all data is switched off.

I really don't want to do a hard reset so I guess I'll have to live without having the only email account I really use coming through to my phone. Great.

you could let it sit on wifi for a few hours until the sync is complete though I'm not sure on this
As for alternative ways to access you email, there is always the browser. I used to use the browser a lot until the new mail app came out

[ssenorita]

This happened two days ago and it still isn't finished syncing. I can't see that it even is, because how can it be when I do things like switch data off and put it in flight mode?

I'm afraid that the windows browser is so small and clunky for gmail that I just cna't use it. I can't even get it to attach images when I go through the browser. Is there any setting I need to do to change it? It looks awful.

[Chintan Gohel]

This happened two days ago and it still isn't finished syncing. I can't see that it even is, because how can it be when I do things like switch data off and put it in flight mode?

I'm afraid that the windows browser is so small and clunky for gmail that I just cna't use it. I can't even get it to attach images when I go through the browser. Is there any setting I need to do to change it? It looks awful.

by the way, what OS are you running on the two phones? If you still have windows phone 8.1, you could consider upgrading your phone. It's not a hard reset but an upgrade thus the email issue will likely get resolved and you'll get a better mail app in the bargain

Alternatively, you can use UC browser in speed mode which can help you use gmail and send attachments.