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Getting your credentials set up.

GBP Extractor uses your own Google Maps API key and your own Facebook login — here’s exactly how to get both, step by step.

Facebook ID & Session Setup

You can use any Facebook account, but keep a couple of things in mind: make sure you have access to it, and expect Facebook to flag the first login from the app as a “new device” and ask you to log back in — after that, it settles down and keeps working until you actually log out of that account in your browser.

  1. Open GBP Extractor and click Credentials… (top right).
  2. In your regular browser, open a new tab and log into facebook.com.
  3. Press F12 to open Developer Tools.
  4. Chrome/Edge: go to the Application tab → Storage → Cookies → https://www.facebook.com.
    Firefox: go to the Storage tab → Cookies → https://www.facebook.com.
  5. Find the cookie named c_user → copy its value → paste into Facebook ID in GBP Extractor.
  6. Find the cookie named xs → copy its value → paste into Facebook Session. (It often contains %3A — copy it exactly, that’s normal.)
  7. Click Save.
  8. Back on the main window, click Test Setup — it’ll report Facebook cookie: OK or tell you exactly what’s wrong.
If it stops validating later: your session has expired (this happens every few weeks) — just repeat steps 2–7 with a fresh login to grab new values.

Google Maps API Key Setup

This is a real Google Cloud API key tied to your own billing — GBP Extractor never sees or charges you for your Google usage, that’s between you and Google directly.

  1. Go to console.cloud.google.com and sign in with a Google account.
  2. Top bar → project dropdown → New Project → name it anything → Create.
  3. You must attach a billing account (credit card) — the Places API won’t respond without one. Menu → Billing → Link a billing account.
  4. Menu → APIs & Services → Library → search “Places API (New)” → Enable. (Make sure it says “(New)” — the plain “Places API” is the old, deprecated one and won’t work.)
  5. Menu → APIs & Services → Credentials → Create Credentials → API key. Copy it.
  6. Restrict the key (recommended): click the key → under “API restrictions” choose “Restrict key” → tick only Places API (New) → Save.
  7. Paste the key into GBP Extractor’s Credentials… dialog, under Google Maps API Key, then Save.
  8. Click Test Setup on the main window — it’ll confirm the key works or explain the specific problem (missing billing, API not enabled, bad key).
Note: Google’s free monthly allowance covers a substantial amount of searching before any real cost kicks in — check current pricing at mapsplatform.google.com/pricing and consider setting a budget alert in Google Cloud Billing.