Outlook does not recognize other emails to addressee

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Outlook does not recognize other emails to addressee

Larry Agler 0

I have written many emails to an individual. On a Legacy Outlook version all I needed to do was start typing the name and the addressee was recognized, the email address available to click to use in the email. In Outlook for Mac Version 16.108.2 (26042616) I start writing a name and no auto fill occurs. Individuals may not be in contacts, yet that never stopped legacy version of completing the address. How can I get that feature back?

Moderator's note: Moved from Microsoft 365 Insider | Outlook

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Teddie-D 15,210 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi @Larry Agler

I’ve tested this behavior on both Legacy and New Outlook for Mac version 16.108.2 (26042616) running on macOS Tahoe 26.3.1 (a), and autocomplete is working as expected, including suggestions for previously used recipients. Based on this, the issue does not appear to be a general limitation of the current Outlook build, but is more likely related to local data or configuration.

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To help narrow down the cause, could you confirm whether the issue started after a recent Outlook or macOS update?

Here are a few troubleshooting steps you can try:

1.Sign in to your mailbox via a browser and start typing the same recipient's name.

-If suggestions appear there, the issue is specific to Outlook on your Mac

-If not, the suggestion data may not be available on the account

2.Remove and re-add the account. This can refresh the local cache used for Autocomplete suggestions.

3.Create a new macOS user account, sign in to Outlook, and test autocomplete.

If it works there, the issue is likely related to the original user profile.

Since you mentioned this occurs on version 16.108.2 (26042616), you may also consider rolling back to a previous version from Update history for Office for Mac - Office release notes | Microsoft Learn to see if the behavior changes.

Please know that while our initial response might not resolve the issue right away, your input is incredibly valuable. With a bit more detail, we’ll work together to find the best solution for you.

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Larry Agler 0 Reputation points

2026-05-05T16:08:32.8166667+00:00

Thanks for the response.

I went back while reviewing your comments. I found that "generic" emails have no problem with autofill, but work email is the problem. If it is working elsewhere - I text or receive more than I send on those accounts - my first stop will be the tech support department for work email.

Please stay tuned, and thanks for the repsonse!

Larry
Teddie-D 15,210 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-05-06T00:48:10.72+00:00

Hi @Larry Agler

Thank you for the update, that detail is very helpful.

Based on what you described, the behavior appears to be specific to your work account rather than Outlook itself. Since auto‑complete is working normally with other accounts, this confirms that the feature is still functioning, but the data source behind it is different.

For work or school account such as Microsoft 365 / Exchange, Outlook does not rely purely on a local history the way older versions did. Instead, suggestions are influenced by recent activity and organizational data. In particular, the auto‑complete list is primarily built from recipients you have sent emails to previously. You mentioned that you tend to receive or text more than you send on your work account. This is important because if there is limited outbound email activity, the suggestion list may remain empty or very limited. By contrast, other accounts where you send more emails will naturally build a stronger auto‑complete list.

There can also be organization‑level factors involved, such as tenant settings or policies that affect how recipient suggestions are generated. This is why contacting your internal IT team is a good next step, they can confirm whether anything in your environment is restricting or modifying this behavior.

As a quick test, you might try sending a few emails from your work account to the same recipients and then check whether they start appearing in the suggestions afterward. If they do, that will confirm the behavior is working as designed but based on recent activity.

Please feel free to share what your IT team finds.

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Outlook does not recognize other emails to addressee

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