Of course, you’ll quickly get an error message about the wrong email address, but that error isn’t connected back to Autocomplete. It has no way of knowing if the address you typed is right.įor example, if you sent an email to (ie put the period in the wrong place) that address will be added to Autocomplete. Outlook adds to the Autocomplete list when you send an email. That’s why you might see ‘old’ and out-of-date addresses in your Contacts list. Removing old entries or clearing out the list mostly a job for us humans. Outlook only adds entries to the Autocomplete list. Remove the old address from the AutoComplete list.If someone changes email address you need to do TWO things in Outlook: Autocomplete is a separate address list from the rest of Outlook.Ĭhanges you make to Outlook Contacts do NOT automatically make changes in Autocomplete, as many people expect.
Separate from Contacts listĪn important point. It’s regularly updated from the master list (in the PST/OST) by Outlook and is also updated when Outlook is shut down normally.Īs we’ll see, this external copy is also useful for editing and exporting the Autocomplete list. This file is probably created to speed up Autocomplete. Autocomplete list is also saved to a data file at \Users\\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\RoamCache The smarties among you will know the last paragraph isn’t quite true. It’s also moved if you migrate your PST file to another computer. That’s a sensible change because it means AutoComplete automatically roams between different Outlook installations. OST if you’re connected to Exchange Server. In Outlook 2010 and later, the Autocomplete list moved to the Outlook data store. Until Outlook 2010, the Autocomplete entries were stored in a file at drive:\\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook in a file with an. The heart of AutoComplete was a separate. To understand the good and bad of AutoComplete, let’s look at how the feature works and where it’s saved.Įach time you sent an email message, the name, email address and mail format are saved to the AutoComplete file. As we’ll see, you can edit the AutoComplete list rather than Microsoft’s ‘all or nothing’ approach. There’s also an option to empty the Auto-Complete List. You can turn off AutoComplete from Options | Mail | Use Auto-Complete List to suggest names when typing in the To, Cc and Bcc lines.
And a mistyped address which gets copied into future messages. There’s also a risk of sending to an ‘old’ or superseded address (we’ll explain later in this article). That will usually slim down the autocomplete list and make it less likely you’ll select the wrong one. Reduce the risk simply by typing more letters. Most misaddressed messages go to someone with the same or similar first name. You have to be careful to select the right name/email address from the list. Addresses for emails sent as a ‘one off’ that should not be on the list (reduce list clutter and the other persons privacy).Īutocomplete is so useful and quick, it’s easy to forget the downside.Multiple email addresses for the same person.An old email address that’s been updated in our Contacts list.(We’ve had to blur the names/emails for privacy) including: