I’m working on an app that needs to pull contacts from Gmail using their contact API. Everything works fine for the basic contact info, but I’m having trouble with some newer fields that Google added recently like birthdays and website URLs.
From what I can see in the documentation, these newer contact fields should be available through a specific XML namespace, but I can’t figure out the right way to access them. The basic contact data comes through just fine, but when I try to get these additional fields, nothing shows up in my results.
Has anyone successfully retrieved these extended contact properties? What’s the proper method to extract birthday and website information from Gmail contacts using their API?
Hit this same problem about a year ago migrating contact data. It’s not your code - Google’s contact endpoints are inconsistent with extended fields depending on account type and where contacts came from. I fixed it by using specific field selectors in requests. Don’t pull everything and hope extended data appears. Request exactly what you need in query parameters. For birthdays, hit the events collection with type filters. Websites need parsing multiple contact methods with different type classifications. Also caught me - some Gmail accounts have privacy settings that block extended field access even with proper auth. Test multiple account types including G Suite to see if results differ. Check if contacts actually have this data in Gmail’s web interface first. Empty fields won’t return through the API no matter how you structure requests.
Gmail’s XML namespace issues are a nightmare. I’ve hit this same wall on multiple projects, but there’s a much better way.
Skip the projection parameters and XML parsing altogether. Automate the contact extraction instead. Gmail’s API quirks vanish when you’re not manually coding against their endpoints.
I built workflows that grab all contact data - birthdays, websites, custom fields, everything - without writing a single line of API code. Data comes through clean every time. No more guessing namespaces or debugging XML.
The automation handles API versioning too. When Google changes things (and they will), your contact sync keeps running without code updates.
You can also pipe the data wherever you need it. Database, CRM, another API - way more flexible than hardcoding Gmail calls.
Saved me about 20 hours of documentation diving and testing. My contact sync runs daily now with zero maintenance.
Hit this exact issue when I was pulling Gmail contacts into our company directory. Google changed how these fields work but never fixed their examples - classic Google move.
Switch your projection parameter to ‘full’ instead of ‘thin’ in your API request. Most tutorials still use the basic projection which cuts out the extended stuff you’re looking for. Also make sure you’re on v3 of the Contacts API - older versions barely support these fields.
Birthdays are buried in gd:when elements with different event types. Website URLs need you to parse the rel attribute to figure out if it’s personal, work, or whatever. The XML structure’s way messier than their docs make it seem.
One gotcha that bit me: Gmail caches extended fields weird. You’ll get fresh basic contact info but stale data for everything else. Throw a cache-busting parameter or timestamp in there to force it to grab fresh data.
Hit this same issue about six months back while building a CRM integration. It’s usually the feed URL parameters, not your XML parsing that’s broken. Add the max-results parameter and set alt to ‘json’ if you want JSON instead of XML. Birthday data comes through as gd:when elements inside gContact:event - not directly as gContact:birthday like the docs claim. Website URLs sit in gContact:website nodes with different rel values (homepage, work, etc.). Check your OAuth scopes. Extended fields need broader permissions than basic contact access. I had to explicitly add contacts.readonly even though it felt redundant. Google’s API explorer Try It feature saved me here. You can see the exact XML structure and compare it with what your code’s getting.
yeah, gmail’s contact api sucks for extended fields. use the people api instead of the old contacts api - it’s way better for birthdays and websites. just switched our integration last month and it pulls everything clean without that weird xml namespace garbage.
Had this exact issue building a contact sync system for our customer management platform. Gmail Contact API is tricky with extended fields.
Usually it’s how you’re requesting the data. You need to explicitly ask for extended properties in your API call. Most people miss the gd:* namespace fields.
For birthdays, look for gContact:birthday elements. For websites, check gContact:website rel attributes. Make sure your API request includes proper scope and field specs.
Honestly though, Gmail’s contact API quirks get old fast. I ended up automating the whole contact sync process instead of wrestling with their documentation.
Set up automated workflows that handle contact field mapping automatically. No more debugging XML namespaces or figuring out which API version supports what fields. Connect Gmail, map your fields once, let automation handle the rest.
Works perfectly for pulling all contact data including those tricky extended properties. Plus you can sync to other platforms or databases without writing more API code.