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Outlook.com autocomplete / recipient suggestions not working even for saved contacts

Sasha Gerritson 5 Reputation points
2025-09-30T17:25:38.97+00:00

I’m having an issue with Outlook.com where the autocomplete / recipient suggestions in the To/CC fields do not work at all.

  • I have tested in multiple browsers (Edge, Chrome, Firefox, Incognito) → the problem is the same everywhere.

I have manually created new contacts in the People app (example: ******@3rddomain.org) → they show up under Contacts, but when I start a new email and type their name or address, no suggestions appear.

Old addresses that used to show in autocomplete are also gone.

Outlook mobile still shows remembered addresses, but these do not sync back to Outlook.com.

This looks like my account’s RecipientCache / Autocomplete service is disabled or corrupted, since even saved contacts aren’t being pulled into suggestions.

Expected behavior:

Saved contacts and previously used addresses should appear automatically when typing in the To/CC fields.

What I’ve tried:

Confirmed the contacts exist in People.

Tried multiple browsers and cleared cache/cookies.

Verified that other accounts still show autocomplete normally.

Request: Can Microsoft Support please check and re-enable/reset the RecipientCache feature for my account so autocomplete works again?

Outlook | Web | Outlook.com | Contacts
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  1. Sin-D 3,825 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2025-10-01T01:31:25.7866667+00:00

    Hi Sasha,

    Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A Forum. I understand that you are facing issues with autocomplete/recipient suggestions in the To/CC fields in OWA (Outlook Web App). I’m really sorry for your inconvenience. Currently, I don't find many reports about this problem, so this might be specific to your Outlook. Here are the steps I want you to follow to troubleshoot this problem:

    1. Check rules and settings. As some rules can deny your suggestions, please check your rules and delete them if necessary. Please also check this setting to see whether it's turned off: Go to Settings (Gear icon) > type "suggested people" in the search bar. If it shows, you can clear data and turn this off; your setting seems to be correct. You can also type "autofill" in your search bar (this setting depends on the browser you're using) > choose that option and try turning it on or off to see if it can fix your issue.

    2. OWA contact suggestions depend on local cache, so clearing the cache is not always a good choice. Please check if, before you met this problem, you triggered anything that could lead to clearing your local cache or if this happens with other web apps that use local cache to save data. Please also check another Outlook platform such as Classic Outlook if you can.

    3. Try this method to save your contact: In your composing mail, type some test contact in the To/CC field, confirm this email if you have any notification > right-click this test mail > open the contact card > click the three dots and choose Add to contact > save it and then try with a new composing mail.

    I hope you can try my steps. The initial response might not address the problem. So, if your problem persists or you need any assistance, feel free to ask me by clicking "Add Comment". Thanks for your effort.

    If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment". 

    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. 

    Best regards.

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