Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
Outlook tries to be helpful when you begin typing an email address by suggesting possibilities. But where those suggestions come from is not simple.
Where do Outlook's auto-complete suggestions come from?
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Outlook's auto-complete feature attempts to be helpful by suggesting email names that are similar to what you're typing. A couple of keystrokes, an auto-complete suggestion, and you don't have to type the entire email name every time. Seems both simple and handy.
Unfortunately it's not quite simple, and it can be both handy and frustrating because email names you expect to be present aren't, and those that you never want to look at again keep popping up.
A little bit of understanding and a few tips will go a long way to making this feature more helpful.
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To answer the question, the auto-complete suggestions come from something called the nickname list and your address book. Usually.
The nickname list is something that Outlook builds over time as you send and receive email. Essentially it collects all the email addresses that you've sent email to as they've appeared in the To, Cc or Bcc fields. That's Outlook's first source of auto-complete suggestions.
Outlook also appears to sometimes take suggestions from your address book. It's unclear exactly when it decides to, or rather when it decides not to. It might be related to how many suggestions it was able to find in the nickname list. Regardless, what's important is that entries in your address book are not always presented.
It's frustrating to type the first few characters of someone's name knowing that they're in your address book, but they don't show.
There is a solution.
Press CTRL+K.
Ctrl+K is a shortcut for the "Check Names" button, also on the toolbar when you're composing a message. Check names will look at the characters you've typed so far and compare them to your address book entries. If there's only one match it completes the entry. If there's more than one match then it presents a list for you to choose from. And the list will not include items from the nickname list. But the name you just entered will get added to the nickname list so the next time you use it, it should be there.
Personally, I think it's more confusing than it needs to be. But there it is.
By the way, deleting an address from the nickname list is also very easy: when you see it being suggested use the up or down arrow keys to highlight it, and then press delete.
The nickname list that Outlook maintains can occasionally become corrupt. To repair it or to reset it completely Microsoft has provided this knowledgebase article.
Article C1939 - May 13, 2004
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
click a new mail,select the to filed and select the all address in the address book.add them and then save it in your draft.Don't delete in future.
Posted by: Prakash at June 28, 2011 5:03 AMthe auto completion is now available in your outlook
Thanks, This has been bugging me for so long! Finally I got round to googling the problem. Great, clear advice. Worked first pop.
Posted by: Caz at August 24, 2011 4:46 PMThanks for a great little article. I've been looking for this information for 3 years, and this is the first article I've found that presents a clear and accurate answer.
Posted by: Willie at September 14, 2011 1:39 PMSpeaking of the autocomplete features, I'm having another issue in Outlook with a different autocomplete. Namely the autocomplete in a Meeting Request Location field.
When you create a meeting there is a Location field in which you enter location information. Next to that field is a drop down error, which contains saved Location information which you can scroll through and change. Then when you save the entry everyone else gets the update with whatever entry you've set.
Is there any possible way to clear all that info so that field is blank? Is there a cache file for that? Will turning off cache in outlook remove this info?
Posted by: Jr565 at October 19, 2011 2:55 PMHi Leo,
Further to your article, I was wondering how to input someone's nickname vs. the name they have entered in their Outlook? For example, Terri instead of Theresa. She doesn't go by Theresa, and I've replaced all Theresas in the Outlook Properties fields, but it will only autosuggest if I type "Th" not "Te"..... any way of fixing this?
Posted by: Laura at March 5, 2012 12:10 PMWhen it suggests her name, it still says in the chevrons, but I haven't found a way of altering what's in the chevrons. Any ideas?