Contact Problems

How to Remove an Incorrect Outlook Suggested Recipient

Maira Mehtab Sep 22, 2026 869 views

Question details

The user needs to remove an incorrect or outdated email address suggestion that appears in the 'To' field when composing an email, and address scrolling issues in the Outlook address book.

Product: Microsoft Outlook
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Composing a new email message and utilizing the address book to search for contacts.
Observed behavior: Outlook auto-suggests an incorrect email address in the To field based on cached data. Additionally, typing in the address book displays a right arrow instead of scrolling to the matching names.

Before you start

Make sure you have the correct email address of your contact handy, as you will need to type it in manually to retrain the auto-complete feature after removing the incorrect entry.

Solution 1Recommended

Remove Specific Auto-Complete Suggestions

Quickly delete a single incorrect email address directly from the 'To' field suggestions without affecting your other cached contacts.

Start a new email

Open Microsoft Outlook and click the 'New Email' button on the Home tab to start drafting a new message.

Trigger the suggestion

Begin typing the name or email address of the incorrect recipient into the 'To' field until the suggestion appears in the drop-down list.

Delete the entry

Use the arrow keys to highlight the incorrect suggestion, or hover over it with your mouse, and click the 'X' icon that appears on the right side of the suggestion to remove it.

Retrain Outlook: To prioritize the correct recipient, add their valid email to your contacts and use it frequently. Outlook will push it to the top of future auto-complete suggestions.

Solution 2

Clear the Entire Auto-Complete List

Use this method if you have too many outdated contacts and want to start fresh by removing all cached email addresses from Outlook's suggestions.

Solution 3

Fix Address Book Search and Scrolling

Adjust your address book settings if typing a name no longer scrolls to the matching row but instead displays a right arrow.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Outlook keep suggesting the wrong email address?

Outlook stores previously used email addresses in an Auto-Complete cache to save you time. If a contact changes their email address or you mistyped it previously, the incorrect entry remains in the cache until you manually delete it using the 'X' button next to the suggestion.

Can I recover an auto-complete suggestion I accidentally deleted?

No, once an entry is deleted from the Auto-Complete list, it cannot be recovered directly. You will need to manually type the full correct email address and send a message to that recipient for Outlook to cache it again.

How do I make the correct email address the first suggestion?

The Auto-Complete list ranks suggestions based on how frequently you use them and whether the contact exists in your address book. To fix the order, add the correct email to your Outlook Contacts and send a few emails to that address to push it to the top of the priority list.

Outlook & Email Problems