Have you ever sent an email to the wrong person or group of people? We know how stressful it can be, so we’re here to help. If you use Outlook, a common cause of this problem can be the “autocomplete” function when you start typing in the person you want to send to. Read on for help with this issue!
In Outlook, a delegate is another user who has been granted permission to manage your email, calendar, and other folders on your behalf. Delegates can read, create, modify, and delete items, and can even respond to meeting requests and send email on your behalf, depending on the level of access you grant them. This feature allows you to provide assistance to others with managing their mailboxes and calendars, for example, by having an assistant manage your inbox or handle meeting logistics while you are away.
While being useful, it is easy to accidentally email the wrong account if that user is also a delegate of an account you interact with! Because Outlook will autocomplete and might fill in a different email address than the one you intend to be the email’s recipient, here are a few quick ways to remove the autocomplete entry from your Outlook.
For the best results when removing a wrong autocomplete entry from an email sent on behalf of another user, the delegate and the owner of the mailbox should both take action.
For the delegate:
The delegate’s Outlook cache needs to be cleared of the incorrect entry.
Remove a single entry.
This method removes only the specific incorrect autocomplete entry, rather than deleting your entire autocomplete list. Follow these steps to delete an incorrect autocomplete entry.
- In Outlook, open a new email.
- Start typing the name or email address of the person in the “To“, “CC“, or “BCC” field until the incorrect autocomplete entry appears in the suggestion list.
- Hover your mouse cursor over the incorrect entry until an “X” icon appears next to it.
- Click the “X” to remove the entry, or highlight it with the arrow keys and press the “Delete” key.
Clear the entire autocomplete cache.
If the issue persists, clearing your entire cache may be necessary. Follow these steps to clear your autocomplete cache.
- Go to “File” > “Options” > “Mail“.
- Under the “Send messages” section, click “Empty Auto-Complete List“.
- Click “Yes” in the confirmation box.
For the mailbox owner:
The owner of the mailbox should also clear the incorrect entry from their autocomplete list, as their cache may be the source of the suggestion. Follow these steps to do this.
Remove a single entry
- The mailbox owner should open a new email in their own Outlook profile.
- Begin typing the name in the “To” field until the incorrect suggestion appears.
- Hover over the incorrect entry and click the “X” to remove it.
For persistent issues
If the problem continues, the mailbox owner can try the following:
- Clear their entire cache: Instruct the mailbox owner to follow the steps listed above for clearing the entire autocomplete cache.
- Update the Global Address List (GAL): The owner can confirm their mailbox has the most up-to-date information by updating their address book. To do this, disable “Cached Exchange Mode“, close and reopen Outlook, and then turn “Cached Exchange Mode” back on.
- Use Outlook on the web: If the incorrect entry keeps reappearing in the desktop application, the owner can try deleting the entry from the web version of Outlook (Outlook.com).
