- Address Book
- Contacts
- Distribution Lists
- E-mail Address AutoComplete
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
E-mail Address AutoComplete
3.41 What Is AutoComplete?
AutoComplete is a feature of Outlook that suggests names as you begin to type a contact’s name or e-mail into various Outlook forms. When you type the first letter of a name or e-mail, Outlook automatically begins searching the AutoComplete list for entries that start with the same letters and then begins narrowing the entry you’re typing, to save you time.
For example, if you have five contacts that begin with the letter A and you type the letter A, Outlook knows that you must be typing the name or e-mail address for one of those five contacts. Therefore, a list of those five contacts pops up as you’re typing and Outlook then continues to filter that list as you type additional letters. When the list appears, you can use the down arrow key to select the desired contact and then click the Enter or Tab key to select that contact. This obviously enables you to much more quickly select the desired contact, and it is extremely helpful when you don’t know the exact spelling of the contact’s name.
3.42 How Do I Delete Items from the AutoComplete List?
Remember that you can configure Outlook to automatically add contacts to your address book when you receive an e-mail from them. However, if you rarely e-mail them, you probably don’t want their name popping up all the time on the AutoComplete list. To remove a contact from the list, simply click the Delete key when the list appears while selecting the desired contacts.
3.43 Why Don’t I See All My Address Book Entries on the AutoComplete List?
The AutoComplete list shows only entries for items that it has recorded—that is, the names you have sent e-mails to, regardless of whether it was a new, replied to, or forwarded e-mail. If you type in a name into a To, Cc, or Bcc field and AutoComplete fails to find it, you can view the contents of your Address Book by pressing Ctrl K on the keyboard. The Check Names dialog box appears and is filtered by the letters you’ve typed before displaying the dialog box. (The Check Names dialog box will not appear if you have not typed anything.)
3.44 How Do I Enable or Disable the AutoComplete Feature?
We personally believe that the AutoComplete feature is a great timesaver, but Outlook does provide the capability to either enable or disable this feature, according to your personal tastes.
- From the Tools menu, select Options to display the Options dialog box.
- Click the Preferences tab.
- Click the E-mail Options button.
- Click the Advanced E-mail Options button.
Near the bottom of the Advanced E-mail Options dialog box, you will see an option labeled Suggest names while completing To, Cc, and Bcc fields (see Figure 3-17). Simply check or uncheck this control to specify your preference for using AutoComplete.
Figure 3-17 Turning off the AutoComplete feature of Outlook.
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