Manually removing an email address from the suggested contacts list.

Question

How do I manually remove an email address from the suggested contacts list?

Answer 1

Outlook Web and New Outlook for Windows

(Classic Outlook Users - This is about your Microsoft Account "Suggested People" stored in the Cloud. Not the Classic Outlook local Auto-Complete at File -> Options -> Mail -> Send messages -> Use Auto-Complete)

How to convert your Autocomplete List to Contacts and erase the List

Microsoft has removed the ability to delete a single entry from your Autocomplete/Suggested People List (the drop down of suggested email addresses you see when you start typing in the "To:" field).

Previously there was an "X" to the right of an Autocomplete entry that would remove it from the list. Now the only method to get rid of a incorrect or out of date Autocomplete entry is to erase the whole list.

This workaround will show you how to convert the items in your Autocomplete List to Contacts so you will still have access to the email addresses from the Autocomplete List if you need to erase it.

Warning - The Import process is not that smart. You may end up with duplicate Contacts and have to clean up the mess manually.

A - Export your Autocomplete List to a CSV file

File -> Settings -> General -> Privacy and data -> (New Outlook for Windows - If you have multiple accounts, select an account) -> Suggested people -> Download my expanded people data

(If you can't get this method to work, see section E - Alternate ways to access your Autocomplete List)

This will download a file to your PC named "suggested_people.csv". Open it.

B - Edit the suggested_people.csv

• Edit the suggested_people.csv and add a new row at the top.
• The new row must have three columns: Last Name | E-mail Address | Notes
• Fill in the Notes column with "Imported from Autocomplete YYYY-MM-DD".
• Once Imported you can do a Search on this string to find them in New Outlook for Windows.
• Edit the file to remove any incorrect or out of date entries.
• Save and close the file (keep it in the original CSV format, do not let your editor convert it to an Excel Format file).

C - Import your edited Autocomplete List as Contacts

In Outlook switch to the People App and then Import contacts.

Browse to your suggested_people.csv file, select it, and Import. You should see a confirmation message.

D - Erase your Autocomplete List

Warning - Check your Contacts and be sure you have imported all the entries from the Autocomplete List that you want to keep. Once you Clear the Autocomplete List that data is gone and can not be recovered.

View -> View Settings -> General -> Privacy and data -> Suggested people -> Clear data and turn off

It can take up to 48 hours for your Autocomplete List to be cleared. You can check if it's empty by doing Step A - Export. The CSV should be empty.

You can come back later and activate Autocomplete ("expanded contacts suggestions") again if you wish.

E - Alternate ways to access your Autocomplete List:

Personal Account Privacy page: https://account.microsoft.com/privacy/people-suggestions

MS 365 Account Privacy page: https://myaccount.microsoft.com/settingsandprivacy/privacy -> Manage contact suggestions and discovery

Answer 2

Feature Request to restore this functionality

@Ron Lewin said

This functionality was simply removed in the latest release of Outlook. I created a post in the Microsoft Feedback Forum to restore this functionality. Please help by upvoting it! https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/idea/97490d3b-7d45-f111-9a91-000d3a05c4f5

(You must "Sign In" at the top right of the Feedback page before you can vote).

Answer 3

@Chris Johnson said

There is no 'X' to select when the address comes up [in Autocomplete]

Microsoft has removed "Contact Mask" (the ability to remove a single entry from AutoComplete).

https://admin.cloud.microsoft/?#/MessageCenter/:/messages/MC1234566

Outlook is retiring the "Contact Masking" feature on March 31, 2026, which allowed users to hide suggested recipients. Hidden contacts may reappear after this date. No admin action is required, and no replacement feature will be provided. The change resolves cross-app inconsistencies and confusion.

https://www.slipstick.com/outlook/deleting-autocomplete-entries/

the X to delete autocomplete entries from the Suggested Contacts list is gone. Now your option to remove unwanted entries are clear the entire autocomplete list or turn off Suggested people in Outlook on the web (Microsoft accounts only) or in new Outlook. Turning off Suggested people clears the list, turning it back on will start with a clear list.

There is a Feature Request "Don't implement MC1234566". But I'm not sure how much good voting for it now will do.

https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/idea/f81d3a92-9123-f111-9730-7c1e52f15e53

Answer 4

Hi. I'm Brian and I'll try to help.

If you are using a personal account, you should be able to log into https://outlook.live.com/mail/options/general/export and choose "Clear and turn off" in the "Suggested people" section. This will prevent Outlook from using the addresses on the messages in your mailbox to suggest recipients.

Answer 5

To manually remove an email address from Outlook’s suggested contacts (Auto-Complete) list when composing mail:

1. Start a new email (or reply/forward an existing one).
2. In the To, Cc, or Bcc field, type the first few characters of the address you want to remove.
3. When the unwanted address appears in the suggestion list, move the mouse over it so it is highlighted (but do not click to select it).
4. Select the X that appears next to that suggestion, or press the Delete key on the keyboard.

The entry is removed from the Auto-Complete list. The next time mail is sent to that person, the full email address must be typed; after that, it will be added back to the suggestions.

If the address comes from a contact list and needs to be removed from that list as well:

1. Go to the People page.
2. Open All contact lists (or Your contact lists in classic Outlook) and select the relevant list.
3. Choose Edit.
4. Select the x next to the email address to remove it from the list, then Save.

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References:

• Outlook replies or forwards cause non-delivery error “Your message did not reach some or all of the intended recipients”
• Create, view, and edit contacts and contact lists in Outlook.com