{"id":10650,"date":"2019-12-11T07:23:01","date_gmt":"2019-12-11T07:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/?p=10650"},"modified":"2019-12-15T08:15:09","modified_gmt":"2019-12-15T08:15:09","slug":"gmail-api-from-addresses-names","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/gmail-api-from-addresses-names\/","title":{"rendered":"Developer’s Guide to the Gmail API and From Addresses\/Names"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’ve used the Gmail API, you may have encountered some quirks with From Addressing<\/strong> when creating and sending a DRAFT<\/strong>. As an example, if you’re working with a DRAFT in the Gmail UI, and then you change the From Address<\/strong> to a different choice in the From dropdown in the Compose<\/strong> window, that change will not immediately be reflected in the DRAFT if you then call users.drafts.get<\/a> on that particular DRAFT. Why? Because Gmail hasn’t saved the DRAFT yet. This is just one of the quirks we’ll examine and work around in this article.<\/p>\n

1. Create a DRAFT with the Gmail API; then open it up in the UI<\/h3>\n

When you create a DRAFT with the API using users.drafts.create<\/a>, it doesn’t necessarily need a From Name\/From Address. But if you then open the DRAFT in the UI and make changes, a From Display Name<\/strong> will be set. Here is some sample C# where I’m calling the Gmail API to create a DRAFT with just a Subject<\/strong> and an HTML body<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I can then retrieve the DRAFT that was created by using the Gmail API Explorer. Notice how the From Line contains my account address, ajay@wordzen.com but no From Name<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

However, if I then open up this DRAFT in the Gmail web interface, and then make a simple change like adding a few spaces to the Subject, that action re-saves the DRAFT and also sets the From Display Name<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
I added a “space” to the Subject line, and that triggered the saving of the DRAFT, which is reflected in the “draft saved” message.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now if I retrieve the same DRAFT using the API explorer, the From Name is also present in the From Line:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Retrieve the From Address\/Name of a DRAFT using the API<\/h3>\n

A DRAFT created in the UI will almost always have the correct From Name<\/strong> and From Address<\/strong>, however this wasn’t always the case. For a while after the Gmail API was released in 2014<\/a>, a DRAFT retrieved from the Gmail API would always show the Google Account Name<\/strong> as the From Name, and not the actual From Name set in Gmail Settings<\/strong>, or the From Name chosen from the From dropdown in a Compose<\/strong> window, in the case where multiple From Addresses\/Names are set up. For most users, this was fine, because by default the From Name is NOT set separately in Gmail — the From Name by default is pulled from your Google Account. It’s only different if you proactively set it differently in Gmail’s Settings:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
If you selected the second radio button, you can set the Gmail From Name separately from your Google Account Name.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Additionally, if you had multiple From Addresses\/Names configured for your Gmail account, even if you a From Address other than your default Gmail account, the behavior of the Gmail API method users.drafts.get<\/a> was to show the Google Account’s name in the From Line<\/strong>, not the specific From Name<\/strong> that corresponded to the From Address<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

That issue, however, was corrected sometime in 2019. Now, the DRAFT does correctly display the From Address<\/strong> and the right From Name<\/strong>, provided it has been saved since the last change was made to the From Address.<\/p>\n

3. Changing the From Address using the dropdown in the Compose doesn’t always take effect<\/h3>\n

When you select a From Address\/Name from the dropdown in the Compose<\/strong> window, the DRAFT does not save, and the change is therefore not reflected in the DRAFT. Let’s test this:<\/p>\n