[reader50]

macOS Monterey for reference, using Apple's Mail.app

Whenever I create a new mail to "Joe", the address field often autocompletes to an older "Joe", who departed a company we use years ago. I want Mail to stop suggesting "old Joe" as the box is no longer valid. Anyone know how to tell Mail not to suggest a particular address?

Old Joe is already deleted from Contacts, so Mail must be picking it up from mail history. I don't want to delete all old emails from "old Joe" as we might need to check them at some point.

So ... can I tell Mail that an address is blacklisted today, or some such trick so it's no longer suggested?

[reader50]

Never mind - I managed to Search up the answer. I'd been trying various right-click options on the incorrect address. Or using modifier keys while pressing Delete. There are two answers:

1) After the "old Joe" address fills in, click the disclosure arrow on right side of the address. If the address is not in your Contacts, you'll see an option to "Remove from Previous Recipients List" which does the desired deed.
2) General answer - in Mail, go to Window -> Previous Recipients. This lets you edit the whole list of Mail suggestions, getting rid of any cruft.

I'm not sure why this wasn't intuitive. I was looking for words like "autocomplete" or something about "contacts". Apple's term "Previous Recipients" didn't ring any bells for me.

[andi*pandi]

Thanks, this is helpful. I always wondered why mail insisted on using people's old addresses when the new ones were in contacts.