How can I manage (delete) emails suggested via the autocomplete feature in Outlook 2011 for Mac?

Question

I recently switched to using Mac with Outlook 2011 for Mac. For some reasons many of the email addresses the program suggests are wrong and the worths part is that they don't have the "X" next to them so I could delete them from the auto-complete list. They say "other"

How can I remove the "other" emails form being suggested or even better manage (add/remove) that list?

Thank you

Solution

Undocumented tip: Use the keyboard to delete unwanted recent addresses

The above link contains a tip that gm2 suggested in the comments, but also has an AppleScript snippet that could be worth a try.

tell application "Microsoft Outlook"
    clear recent recipients
end tell

Copy and paste the above three lines into a new window in the AppleScript Editor application found in /Application/Utilities and click the Run button to clear recent addresses. To keep this script readily available select File menu –> Save As… –> Clear Recent Recipients.scpt and save this into your Outlook Script Menu Items folder found in your Home folder (where ” ~ ” denotes your Home folder):

~/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Outlook Script Menu Items

To run the script at any time select it from the AppleScript menu just to the right of the Help menu in Outlook.

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Fixing “Recent Address” autofill problems in Outlook 2011

This other post remarks on a feature removed (or moved?) from Entourage that might have been useful and also provides some alternative possibilities.

Non-destructive (recommended):

When composing a message, a number of addresses are popping up. To clear the ones you don’t want from the Recent Addresses database, click the little gray “X” at the end of the line.

For any that don’t have an “X” in the name, here’s how to check the “Me” contact that may be storing those addresses and remove any that aren’t needed:

1. Click on Contacts in the lower-left corner of the Outlook window.

2. In Contacts, click the Organize tab

3. Click the button called Me.

The Me contact stores information about the Outlook’s default main user. If it has different information than your name, email, etc, these fields can be updated with your information.

Possibly destructive (not recommended):

There is another way to clear the whole Recent Address cache file, but it could cause data loss so I don’t recommend doing it. It will definitely trigger a database rebuild, which will take some time to run.

1. Quit Outlook

2. Locate this folder in your home folder:

~/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2011 Identities/Main Identity/Data Records/Recent Addresses

3. Follow the sub-folders down until you come to a single file (should be named something similar to “x19_36260.olk14Recent”.) Move the file to the Trash.

4. Launch Outlook.

When you open Outlook, it will tell you that there’s a problem with the database and will tell you that a rebuild is needed. Select to rebuild the database.

Why I don’t recommend this: I tested both methods, and the rebuild of the database did not work. It finished successfully, but then Outlook would open, display an error then shut back down again. However, it does clear out everything in one shot so I’m including it. Maybe you’ll have better luck than me.

Comments

[cpugeniusmv]

Is this an Exchange account using Active Directory contacts?

[TomEus]

I am using Exchange but most of the email are not in any contact list (global, AD or personal contacts)

[gm2]

Have you tried using the keyboard shortcut Fn+Del to remove the entry when it's selected in the autocomplete list?