Manage Outlook AutoComplete

Remove AutoComplete list entries one at a time

Follow these steps:

Open a new email message.

Type the first few characters of the AutoComplete entry that you want to remove.
When the entry appears in the list of suggestions, move your mouse pointer over the suggestion until it becomes highlighted, but don't select it.
When the X icon appears next to the highlighted suggestion, select X to remove the entry from the list, or press the Delete key on the keyboard.
Selecting X will prevent that name entry from appearing in the AutoComplete list again but won't remove it from your account. This entry may still appear in other areas in Outlook (such as search boxes).

Note: If you send a person a new email after you've removed their name from the AutoComplete list, their information will be restored to the list.

Clear the AutoComplete list

Use one of the following two methods to delete the entire AutoComplete list.

Method 1:

Open Outlook.
On the File tab, select Options.
Select the Mail tab.
Under Send Messages, select Empty Auto-Complete List.
Select Yes.

Method 2:

Start Outlook by using the /CleanAutoCompleteCache switch.

Select Start, and then select Run.
Type Outlook.exe /CleanAutoCompleteCache.

Note: If Outlook is not installed in the default location, you must point to the path of Outlook.exe.

Known issues in the AutoComplete cache

The AutoComplete cache can become corrupted over time and might not save new entries. If this occurs, you can try to remove AutoComplete list entries one at a time. If that doesn't resolve the issue, clear the AutoComplete list.