Refresh or Clear Outlook Auto-Complete for Distribution Lists (Windows)

Use these steps to make sure you are sending messages to the most current, updated Distribution List membership rather than a cached (auto-complete) copy.

Before you begin

  • These steps are for Outlook for Windows (classic) and do not apply to Outlook for Mac.

Refresh a distribution list address

  1. Clear your auto-complete data for that list.
    • Open a new mail message.
    • On the To… line, start typing the list name (for this example, Johnson All Faculty).
    • Click the X next to the suggested entry to delete the old address information.

    Delete cached auto-complete entry

  2. Pull the fresh, updated list membership from the Address Book.
    • Click the To… button.
    • Under Address Book, make sure Global Address List is selected.
    • Use the Search box to find and re-select the list (for example, Johnson All Faculty).

    Select list from Global Address List

Stop using Auto-Complete or empty the list

Want to stop using Auto-Complete, or empty the list to start fresh?

  1. From the top menu bar in your Outlook client, select File → Options.
  2. In the left pane, select Mail. In the right pane, scroll down to the Send messages section.
  3. Click Empty Auto-Complete List to start fresh.
  4. To turn the feature off entirely, clear the check box next to Use Auto-Complete List to suggest names…

Outlook Send messages options

Cornell SC Johnson College of Business Helpdesk – itrequests@business.cornell.edu – 607-255-6300

[edited via Jane by kdf52 on 2026-08-14 19:59 UTC]

Was this helpful?
0 reviews
Print Article