What Is an AutoComplete for Email Addresses?

How to Add an Email Address to AutoComplete in Outlook

Adding an email address to the AutoComplete list in Outlook is a straightforward process that essentially involves sending an email to the new address. Here's how you can do it:

1. Launch Microsoft Outlook on your computer.
2. Click New Email in the Home tab to compose a new message.
3. In the To field, type the email address to add to the autocomplete list.
4. Send the email. You don't need to actually send an important message. You can send a test email if you prefer. Type a brief subject and any content in the body (or leave it blank), then click Send.
5. The next time you start typing this email address in the To, Cc, or Bcc fields, Outlook should automatically suggest it based on your previous entry.

How to Remove Outlook AutoComplete Email Address

Removing an unwanted autocomplete email address in Outlook is a straightforward process. Here's how you can do it:

1. Click New Email in the Home tab to compose a new message.
2. Begin typing the email address you want to remove in the To, Cc, or Bcc field.
3. As you type, Outlook will display a list of suggested email addresses based on what you've entered.
4. When you see the unwanted email address in the dropdown list, hover over it.
5. Click X to remove the email address from the autocomplete list.

Clearing all autocomplete entries

If you need to clear all entries from the autocomplete list, you can do so by clearing the entire cache:

1. Launch Microsoft Outlook on your computer.
2. Go to File → Options.
3. In the left pane, select Mail.
4. Scroll down to the Send messages section.
5. Click on the Empty Auto-Complete List button.
6. A dialog box will appear asking you to confirm that you want to delete all autocomplete entries.
7. Click Yes to confirm.

How to Export Outlook AutoComplete Email Addresses

Exporting Outlook autocomplete email addresses can be a little tricky since Outlook does not provide a direct way to export the autocomplete list. However, you can achieve this by accessing the autocomplete data file (known as an .NK2 file in older versions of Outlook and stored within the mailbox for newer versions) and extracting the addresses.

Here’s a step-by-step guide for both older and newer versions of Outlook:

For Outlook 2010 and later versions

You can export your contacts to CSV. While Outlook 2010 and later do not use .NK2 files, they store autocomplete data in the user's mailbox.

1. Open Outlook and go to File → Options. In the left pane, select Advanced. Under Export, click on Export.
2. Select Export to a file and click Next.
3. Choose Comma Separated Values (Windows) and click Next.
4. Select the Contacts folder and click Next.
5. Choose a location to save the exported CSV file. Click Finish.
6. Open the CSV file in Excel or any text editor. This file will contain all your contacts, including those you've emailed. Review and edit as needed.

For Outlook 2007 and earlier versions (using .NK2 file)

1. On your computer, navigate to the following directory: C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook\
2. Look for a file with the .NK2 extension. The file name will match your Outlook profile name.
3. Download and install a utility called NK2Edit from NirSoft (NK2Edit). Open NK2Edit and load your .NK2 file.
4. In NK2Edit, go to File → Save As. Save the file as a Text File (.txt) or CSV File (.csv).
5. Review and manage data. Open the exported file in Excel or any text editor. The file will contain all the autocomplete entries, which you can now review and manage.

How to Add an Email Address to Autocomplete in Gmail

Adding an email address to the autocomplete list in Gmail is straightforward and involves ensuring that the email address is saved in your contacts. Here’s how you can do it:

Method 1: Sending an email

1. Go to Gmail and sign in with your Google account.
2. Click on Compose to create a new email.
3. In the To field, type the email address you want to add. If you frequently email this address, Gmail will automatically save it in your autocomplete list after sending the email.
4. Type a brief subject and content in the body (or leave it blank), then click Send. This action ensures that Gmail remembers the email address for future use.

Method 2: Adding to contacts directly

1. Click the Contacts icon in the sidebar on the right side of your inbox.
2. Click on the Create contact button.
3. Fill in the contact's name and email address. You can also add additional information if desired.
4. Click on Save to add the contact to your list.

Verifying autocomplete

1. Go back to Gmail and click on Compose.
2. Test the autocomplete. Begin typing the email address or contact name in the To field.
3. The email address should now appear in the autocomplete suggestions.

How to Delete Email Addresses from Gmail Autocomplete

If you want to delete email addresses from Gmail's autocomplete suggestions on an Android device, you can do so by removing the corresponding contact or clearing the recent contacts. Here's how:

Method 1: Removing contacts

1. Launch the Google Contacts app on your mobile device.
2. Use the search bar at the top of the screen to find the contact associated with the unwanted email address.
3. Tap on the contact's name to open their details.
4. Tap the Trash can icon below.
5. Confirm your choice by tapping Yes to delete the contact.

Method 2: Clearing recent contacts

Sometimes Gmail suggests email addresses that aren't saved as contacts but are remembered from previous interactions. To clear these:

1. Launch the Gmail app on your mobile device.
2. Tap on the Compose button to start a new email.
3. Begin typing the unwanted email address in the To field. When the unwanted address appears in the dropdown suggestions, long press on it.
4. Tap Hide suggestion to remove it from the suggestions and then tap Hide again to confirm your choice.

Method 3: Clearing all auto-fill data (browser)

If unwanted email addresses are being suggested by your browser's auto-fill feature, you can clear auto-fill data from the browser settings:

1. Launch the Chrome browser on your mobile device.
2. Tap the three-dot menu icon in the upper-right corner and tap Delete browsing data.

Hint: You can also access it from the Settings menu. After tapping the three dots, select Settings → Privacy and Security → Delete browsing data.

3. Select the Auto-fill Data option. You can also select other data types if needed.
4. Tap Delete browsing data to remove auto-fill entries, including email addresses, and then confirm your choice.