Mongoose query.populate only returns objectId

Question

When trying to populate one field all that is returned is the objectid that was originally saved for that field

In models/gifts.js

var GiftSchema = new Schema({
        name: String,
        owner: {
            user: {
                type: Schema.Types.ObjectId,
                ref: 'User',
                required: false
            },
            nonRegisteredEmail: {
                type: String,
                required: false
            },
            nonRegisteredName: {
                type: String,
                required: false
            }
        },
        description: String,
        url: String
    }
});
module.exports = mongoose.model('Gift', GiftSchema);

In models/user.js

var UserSchema = new Schema({
  name: String,
  email: { type: String, lowercase: true },
  role: {
    type: String,
    default: 'user'
  },
  hashedPassword: String,
  provider: String,
  salt: String
});
module.exports = mongoose.model('User', UserSchema);

I save my gift models by adding the _id for the user to the owner.user field in my gift.

Then when I try to populate the user field during a query only the _id field is returned. EX 5388bb3a82f0e4003100a6ba

exports.getAll = function (req, res) {
        return Gift.find()
            .populate({
                path:'user',
                model:'User'
            })
            .exec(function(err,gifts){
                if(!err)
                {
                    return res.json(gifts);
                }
                else{
                    return res.send(err);
                }
            });
    };

Answer 1

The path you want to populate is owner.user, not just user, so you should change this:

return Gift.find()
    .populate({
        path:'user',
        model:'User'
    })

To this:

return Gift.find()
    .populate({
        path:'owner.user',
        model:'User'
    })