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I have developed a desktop app that uses the Gmail API to download emails from only my own Gmail account. When I try to make the app "Internal", I am told that I cannot do so, because I am not a Google workspace user. So I started the verification process and went thru the first step - the domain verification process. After this step, I received this email from api-oauth-dev-verification@google.com:

Hi, Thank you for your patience while we reviewed your project. It looks like your app is only used by the people in your domain, so your project doesn’t need to be verified. (Learn more about internal vs. public users). Note: internal use and personal use are different.

Applications for Internal Use If this is correct, please let us know by replying to this email. We'll then close your request, and you can update your project from public to internal by following these steps: Sign-in to Google Cloud Console Select the project ID: getEmails (id: getemails-354519) Go to OAuth Consent Screen under APIs & Services Go to User Type Select Make Internal Click Save**

But every time I try to make the app internal, I am prevented from doing so with the same message "Because you are not a Google Workspace user, you can only make your app available to external users".

How do I get around this Catch-22 situation? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Linda Lawton - DaImTo
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Mike Nichols
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    Does this answer your question? [How to set up Google sheets API for personal use](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/69333056/how-to-set-up-google-sheets-api-for-personal-use) – Iamblichus Sep 16 '22 at 11:07

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I have developed a desktop app that uses the Gmail API to download emails from only my own Gmail account. When I try to make the app "Internal", I am told that I cannot do so, because I am not a Google workspace user.

To set an app as internal you would need to have created that app on google cloud console using a user on your google worksapce domain. You can not set an app to internal if you have created it on a standard google gmail user.

So I started the verification process and went thru the first step - the domain verification process. After this step, I received this email from api-oauth-dev-verification@google.com:

If this app is being only used by you why would you want to verify it? verification is only needed when your going to have additional users then yourself.

But every time I try to make the app internal, I am prevented from doing so with the same message "Because you are not a Google Workspace user, you can only make your app available to external users".

Again you need to login and create the app from a user on your workspace domain not on a normal gmail user.

How do I get around this Catch-22 situation? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

If its single user, and you don't have a workspace domain. Don't verify it there's no need to.

Linda Lawton - DaImTo
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  • Thanks for your response. Does this mean that I have to sign up for a Google workspace account? – Mike Nichols Sep 20 '22 at 16:59
  • If you want to use Gmail api with a service account the only way to do that is though workspace yes. You cant use a service account with a standard google Gmail account. – Linda Lawton - DaImTo Sep 20 '22 at 17:27
  • Thanks. I went ahead and signed up for a Google workspace account. Now from this account, I would like to create a Gmail API app to download email. How do I do that? – Mike Nichols Sep 22 '22 at 20:54
  • You need to configure [domain wide deligation](https://developers.google.com/cloud-search/docs/guides/delegation) to a user on your workspace account. This is the user whos email you will have permission to read – Linda Lawton - DaImTo Sep 23 '22 at 07:00
  • @LindaLawton-DaImTo: the main reason to do this (at least in my case) would be that the oauth refresh token expires after 7 days when your app is not in production. Which is hugely annoying. See https://stackoverflow.com/a/71451489/577669 for more information. – Steven Van Ingelgem Apr 27 '23 at 05:22
  • Why not just set your app to production then if your still in development then having a seven day refresh token shouldn't bother you much. – Linda Lawton - DaImTo Apr 27 '23 at 11:33