CompanionLink Launches Outlook Sync Fix for Google API Relation Change

Free trial available to sync Contacts and Calendar to Google after API bug that knocks many sync tools off the market.

December 06, 2017, 16:17 GMT

PORTLAND, OR, UNITED STATES, December 6, 2017 /EINPresswire.com/ -- CompanionLink has launched a fix for Contacts Sync from Outlook to Google after Google has made a critical change in their Contacts API.
Information about the fix is located on CompanionLink’s support page:
https://www.companionlink.com/support/kb/Google_sync_error_400.

Google Issue Tracker:
https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/70209603

Google Contact Sync v3 API documentation:
https://developers.google.com/google-apps/contacts/v3/reference

Google Contact Sync API lists specific values for handling relation fields like Spouse, Assistant and Anniversary. These are designated as gContact:relation with a required parameter for “rel=” or “label=”. Sync tools like CompanionLink are written using the “rel=” value to be language independent; a Contact Spouse in Germany would see “Ehepartner” and in France “époux”. Use of this value is documented in the reference link above.
On December 5th at approximately 10:00 a.m. UTC, the “rel=” option of the API started throwing a specific error: GData Invalid “Exactly one of non-empty 'rel', 'label' is required for website link.” This error is incorrect, because the code that gives the error is in fact using only one “rel” value. Google documents error code 400 is documented as a failure in the vendors code. However, in this case it appears to be an error on the Google API side as the code samples given in the API documents will get this error.

“This again calls into question whether viable companies can trust Google APIs for their PC based products,” says Wayland Bruns, designer of DejaDesktop. “There is no department we can call, or response from their organization, yet the API which is clearly documented no longer works correctly. Suddenly we have thousands of customers who need a patch. Our current fix adds an English Language dependency which severely impacts the viability of our product in international markets.”

The problem appears to affect gContact:relation, gContact:website and gContact:event, and will appear even if you simply download a Contact with the API, then update the Contact using the exact data that was downloaded.

CompanionLink for Google synchronizes Contacts, Calendar and Tasks from Microsoft Outlook to Google. The cost is $49.95. You can download a two-week free trial to get your contacts updated today. https://www.companionlink.com/google-sync/

CompanionLink Express will synchronize Google, Office 365, Act!, Lotus Notes, HighRise, Zoho and other CRM products to Google. CompanionLink Professional adds full scale CRM Sync for GoldMine and Salesforce. For more information go to the CompanionLink website.

About CompanionLink Software
CompanionLink® Software, Inc. is a pioneering developer of data synchronization solutions for mobile phones and CRM software and services. They also develop DejaOffice® CRM App for Outlook® which runs on Android™ and iOS®., and DejaDesktop Calendar Wallpaper for Windows an Mac. CompanionLink has helped mobilize contacts, calendar, tasks and notes for over 30 years. For more information, please visit www.companionlink.com, www.dejaoffice.com and www.dejadesktop.com.
CompanionLink, DejaOffice, DejaDesktop and DejaCloud are registered trademarks of CompanionLink Software, Inc. Other product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Contacts

CompanionLink Software
Rushang Shah, 503-243-3400
rshah@companionlink.com