How to set up Google Contacts address book

To set up Google Contacts as an address book, you must complete three steps. Please reserve at least 30-60 minutes to complete the entire process. If you run into any issues or have any questions, please contact GrowSurf support.

  1. Get a Google Client ID (est. time: 10-20 minutes)
  2. Create a demo video (est. time: 15-30 minutes)
  3. Submit your app to Google for verification (est. time: 5-10 minutes)

For troubleshooting issues, please see the bottom section of this article.

Step 1 of 3: Get a Google Client ID

The first step is to create a Google App and get a Client ID.

1. Open the  Credentials page of the Google APIs console.

*Select a country, agree to the terms of service, then click  AGREE AND CONTINUE. Next, click Credentials.

2.Click  CREATE PROJECT, optionally give your project a name (e.g., "Referral Program"), then click CREATE.

3. Navigate to the  OAuth consent screen and choose External as your User Type, then click CREATE.

4. In the OAuth consent screen section, enter the following information per each section listed below: 

  • In the App Information section, enter the following information:
    • App name (your company name)
    • User support email (e.g., [email protected])
    • Upload an App logo
  • In the App domain section, enter the following information:
  • In the Authorized domains, add all URLs where your participants would connect to Google (e.g., the domains where they would click the "Invite Google Contacts button"). This would be any/all domains that you intend on hosting your referral program.
  • Click SAVE AND CONTINUE.

5. In the  Scopes section, click the Add or Remove Scopes button.

  • When the Update selected scopes sliding window opens, click the Google API Library link (see image below)
  • When the new tab opens, search for People, select People API (see image below), then click Enable.
  • Return to the original tab and refresh the page. Go to the Scopes section and click the Add or Remove Scopes button again.
  • Scroll down and click SAVE AND CONTINUE.

6. In the  Optional info section, scroll down and click SAVE AND CONTINUE.

7. In the  Summary section, scroll down and click BACK TO DASHBOARD.

8. Navigate to  Credentials, click CREATE CREDENTIALS, then select OAuth consent screen.

9. For the Application type, select  Web application, then scroll down and click CREATE.

10. After you click  CREATE, you will receive Your client ID and Your Client Secret.

Step 2 of 3: Create a demo video

This step is required to pass Google's verification process. The goal here is to create a demo video that looks like this one.

1. Make sure that you have GrowSurf installed on your website

  • Important notes:
    • Google requires that you separate your testing/development and production projects. This means that you need to send Google a demo video of GrowSurf installed on your end-user-facing website (not any development/testing website).
    • Do not create a demo using a https://grow.surf URL. Only proceed with the demo on your own website. This can mean any of the following scenarios:

2. Go to https://myaccount.google.com/permissions and make sure to remove access for your app (For example, if your Google App was called EveningStew, you would see something like this). This is to force the Google OAuth screen to appear. If you do not see your Google App listed, you can ignore this step and continue.

3. Now you'll need to record a fullscreen demo video. We recommend using a tool like Loom.

  • Make sure to show how a user logs into your website.
  • When the Google OAuth Consent Screen popup window appears, make sure that the client_id is exposed in the URL bar: See image. If the client_id is not immediately visible, you may need to click the URL bar and click-and-drag until it becomes visible.
    • Important note: While recording the video, if you see that the client ID starts with 106868960..., that means you are using the https://grow.surf URL. Google will not approve the demo video, because you must use your own website or domain. Please see the Important notes reference in step #1 above in this section.
  • Make sure to show two functionalities: (1) Viewing contacts and (2) Searching contacts. Viewing contacts requires no action, but make sure to search for a specific contact in the search bar.

4. Once you've recorded your video, upload it to YouTube as an unlisted video. Copy the URL (to be used in a later step).

Step 3 of 3: Submit your app to Google for verification

To ensure that your participants avoid seeing a screen that looks like this one, you will want to submit your app to Google for verification.

1. Navigate to the  OAuth consent screen page of the Google APIs console.

2. Click PREPARE FOR VERIFICATION

3. Proceed through the screens and confirm all the information you previously entered is correct.

  • When you get to the question "How will the scopes be used?" in the Scopes section, enter the following text:
    • "We are using these Google People API scopes to allow participants in our referral program to retrieve a list of their friends/coworkers from their Google Contacts so that they can send direct email invitations to them. We use the specified scopes to let users see 'Recommended' contacts and to give them the ability to search for specific contacts to invite. Google contacts are shown with their profile picture, name, and email address."
    • Your screen should look like this:

    • In the section "Demo video: how will the scopes be used?", please enter the URL of the YouTube video that you recorded.

4. Continue through the rest of the screens until you get to the final screen, then click SUBMIT FOR VERIFICATION.

*According to Google, the verification process may take a few weeks to complete. Please see this article for more details.

Troubleshooting

Here are some common issues and how to resolve them.

  • If your Google Contacts button is showing up as gray/disabled (see image), then you must add the URL to your Google client in the Authorized JavaScript origins section like this:

  • If Google does not approve your demo video because the client_id you submitted for review is different from the client_id with the demo video you sent them:
    • Your demo video most likely uses GrowSurf's client ID, which starts with 106868960. That means you are using the https://grow.surf URL. You must create a demo video using your own website or domain.
  • If you ever have any questions, please contact GrowSurf support through your GrowSurf dashboard or by emailing [email protected].
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