Outlook online won't pull up saved contact email when I type their name, only if I type their email address

Hi Julie,

Try to reset that suggestions index and let it rebuild. In Outlook on the web, open the Gear icon > General > Privacy and data. Under "Suggested people", choose "Clear data and turn off". Then immediately turn it back on by selecting "Activate expanded contacts suggestions". Close Settings, start a new message, and type the contact's name again.

*Note: Outlook on the web no longer exposes the old "Display as" field. Name suggestions are based on your contact's stored name and your suggestions history instead.

If the name still doesn't pop after this, tell me and I'll take you through the next step.

Hi Julie Smith,

Thank you so much for reaching out and for sharing your experience. I can absolutely understand how frustrating and confusing it is when a familiar tool, like Outlook, changes and breaks your established workflow, and I appreciate you reaching out for assistance. Francisco Montilla already suggested some thorough troubleshooting steps. I just want to add a bit of additional information and a possible solution you can try.

This is a very common and frustrating issue with Outlook's Auto-Complete feature, especially after a fresh install or when using a new version. The problem is that the Auto-Complete list, which is what suggests names as you type, is a separate cache from your saved Contacts list.

Even though you have the contact saved, Outlook's Auto-Complete list has not yet associated the person's name with their email address.

The Auto-Complete list is a cache of email addresses you have used recently. When you start typing in the "To" field, Outlook first searches this cache, not your saved contacts. Since you haven't recently sent an email to that person using their saved name, the name-to-email link isn't in the cache, and it won't be suggested.

The good news is that there's a quick fix to rebuild this list.

The easiest way to get Outlook to start recognizing your contacts by name again is to manually force them into the Auto-Complete cache.

1. Start a new email.
2. Click the To: field to open your address book.
3. Select the Contacts folder that contains the contacts you want to use.
4. Select all of the contacts in the folder (you can typically do this by clicking the first one, holding down Shift, and clicking the last one).
5. Click the To -> button to add all of them to the recipient list.
6. Close the email without sending or saving it.

By doing this, you've essentially "introduced" Outlook's Auto-Complete cache to all of your saved contacts. The next time you begin typing a name, Outlook will find a match in the cache and suggest the correct email address. This works for both the desktop and web versions of Outlook.

Warm regards,

Chloe L. | Microsoft Q&A Support Specialist

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