Forum Discussion
New Outlook autocompletes an address that is no longer in use and I can't seem to delete it
Unfortunately, this feature has been retired at the end of March. The notification about this is archived here;
MC1234566 - Outlook: retiring “Contact Masking” (hide suggested recipients) - March 31, 2026 | Microsoft 365 Message Center Archive
Resetting the entire AutoSuggest cache is the only built-in method to get rid of these addresses now.
An alternative way is to use a 3rd party tool such as;
NK2Edit: Edit AutoComplete files (.NK2) of Microsoft Outlook
Some other alternatives and workarounds are discussed here;
Manually removing an email address from the suggested contacts list. - Microsoft Q&A
Know that the Outlook Team is very much aware of the difficulties that the removal of this feature has caused and that the Outlook MVPs are discussing this as well.
Unfortunately, I tried resetting the cache on Friday and this morning (Monday) it doesn't seem to have worked. The popup when I did it said it could take 48 hours to take effect.
File me along with the others who are deeply frustrated by this. I have clients who have changed companies and Outlook insists on autopopulating a company they're no longer at. If I'm not paying attention I'll send an email--possibly confidential--to their old address at a company they now compete with.
I'm confused by this paragraph from the retirement announcement: "The https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoft-365-apps/outlook/contacts/outlook-autocomplete-list for Outlook will not be impacted by this change. Users can still remove entries from their autocomplete history (for example, suggestions based on past emails they typed). Contacts are not being added, deleted, or modified as part of this change. Email delivery and addressing continue to work as before."
I don't see how I can delete the contact. Am I missing something or is that badly phrased?
