How do I get Google Calendar to use the correct e-mail addresses?

Question

I have a recurring problem that when I add a list of people to a Google Calendar event, it invariably picks the wrong e-mail address for some of them. I then have to delete each of the incorrect addresses, and add them back in manually, being careful to select the correct address for calendar (usually their Gmail address). If I don't do this, then they are unable to simply say "Yes" or "No" from either the web interface or a Calendar app, and have to click on the link in the e-mail. The weird thing is that it is different people each time.

It even selects the wrong e-mail address for me sometimes,^† so I can't say I'm going to my own event! Again, I have to delete myself and add my Gmail address back in - it is all very tedious.

What I would like to know is how to ensure that Calendar always selects people's Gmail addresses in preference to their other e-mail addresses which don't have Calendar integration support.

I have tried building a contacts list with specific e-mail addresses, but that seems to be ignored. I don't want to create Gmail only contacts entries for everyone on the list, and I can't just delete peoples non Gmail addresses from their Contacts entry.

^{† See my answer to my previous related question}

Answer 1

Unfortunately, there is no setting in Google Calendar which will force it to prioritize people's Gmail addresses.

All you can do is either:

• paste the Gmail email address in the "Guests" field, or
• when you start typing the name of a guest in the "Guests" field, pay attention to the list of email addresses it gives you (assuming they're in your Contacts) and choose the Gmail one

If you're just pasting names into that field (or using a Contact group) it's just going to choose what it thinks is the default for that person, which is usually the email address listed first.