Outside email continues to populate in the to field

Hi @Steve Harper, 

I hope you're having a productive day.  

Based on the information you shared that an external client email address continues to auto populate in the To field when you compose an internal Accounts Payable email in Outlook on the web. 

To help you better understand why this is occurring, Outlook Web is designed to automatically remember email addresses that you have previously sent to or interacted with, storing them in what is known as an autocomplete cache. Since this cache does not differentiate between internal and external contacts, it will continue to bring up any address that has been used before, including those belonging to external clients. Therefore, the address will keep reappearing as a suggestion until it has been intentionally removed from the system. 

In order to help you get this sorted, please find below some workarounds, arranged from the simplest to the most thorough. 

1/ Remove the external address from recipient suggestions 

• Open Outlook on the web and select New message. 
• Click inside the To field and type a few characters of the external email address until the suggestion appears. 
• Select the option to remove that suggestion from the list, typically shown as an X next to the suggested recipient. 
• Create another new message and confirm the external address no longer appears when typing in the To field.  
• Reference: Manage suggested recipients in the To, Cc, and Bcc fields in Outlook - Microsoft Support 

2/ Check whether the external address is saved in a contact or contact list used for Accounts Payable 

• Open People in Outlook on the web. 
• Search for the external email address and open any matching contact entry. 
• If the address is stored there, update or delete it as appropriate, then save the change. 
• Next, review any contact list or group you commonly use for Accounts Payable recipients, because the external address may be included as a member and will reappear when you select that list.  
• Reference: Create, edit, or delete a contact list (or contact group) in Outlook - Microsoft Support 

3/ Reset People suggestions if the address continues to return after removal 

• In Outlook on the web, open Settings, then go to General, then Privacy and data. 
• Locate the Suggested people or people suggestions section. 
• Clear the stored suggestion data, and if available, turn off expanded suggestions to prevent similar entries from being reintroduced. This is especially effective when suggestions reappear even after removing them directly from the To field.  

I hope the information I shared earlier was somewhat helpful in addressing your issue. If you have any further questions or updates, please don’t hesitate to share. I’m always happy to assist further if needed.    

Thank you for your patience and your understanding. I look forward to continuing the conversation. 

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Remove or override the unwanted address where Outlook is getting it from:

1. Check autocomplete (suggested recipients)
   • In Outlook on the web, start a new message.
   • In the To field, start typing the internal address that should be used.
   • When the external client address appears in the dropdown, select the X next to it to remove it from the autocomplete list.
   • Send a message to the correct internal address a few times so Outlook learns and prefers it.
2. If address book policies (ABPs) or GAL segmentation are in use
   • If the internal recipient is not visible in the user’s Global Address List because of an address book policy, Outlook will not suggest that internal address and may keep using the external contact instead.
   • To have the correct internal address autocomplete, either:
     • Add the internal recipient as a personal contact in Outlook/OWA, or
     • Have an admin remove or adjust the address book policy so the internal recipient is visible in the GAL.

These steps stop the external client address from being suggested and allow the correct internal address to be used when composing internal accounts payable emails.

References:

• Internal recipient's address isn't autocompleted or suggested