Problem connecting Outlook to gmail account

[JayhawkSD]

Bought Outlook for business reasons, and went to link it to my gmail address. At startup after installation entered gmail address and password and could not connect, merely get user/password dialog box repeating with no explanation. Got email from Google saying that something tried to access gmail that was deemed insecure and not known to be from me and that they blocked it. (They did not check with me before blocking it.)

I went into gmail settings and found where that was indicated, several places, and checked "Yes, that was me." That did not solve the problem.

Gmail says it may solve the problem to check "Allow less secure devices to access Google account," but warns that doing so may be unsafe. I have not done that, but a new client needs me to use Outlook.

Any suggestions? I have no idea that I can call Google and get any help (ha, ha), and Outlook says the problem is Google.

[JayhawkSD]

1. Answering my own question.

Finally got a response in the Google help forum. It turns out that Outlook is on Google's list of "less secure apps," which seems a bit odd to me, so the only way I can access gmail using Outlook is to turn on the "Allow less secure devices to access Google account" feature.