How to delete an old email address that keeps popping up in gmail

If youve ever had an email address that you no longer use, but it keeps popping up in your Gmail inbox, there are a few steps you can take to get ...

Emily Blunt
Emily Blunt
5 min read
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If you've ever had an email address that you no longer use, but it keeps popping up in your Gmail inbox, there are a few steps you can take to get rid of it.

First, open up Gmail and click on the "Inbox" button at the top of the screen.

Next, click on the "Deleted Items" button on the right side of the screen.

Finally, select the email address you want to delete and click on the "Delete" button.

Have you ever gone to send an email in OS X and when you start typing the person's name, all of their previous 5 email addresses appear, despite the fact that you deleted them from Address Book (Contacts App)? Where are the addresses coming from, and how do you get rid of them?

Apple Mail on the Mac keeps track of everyone from whom you have received emails. This allows you to send them an email even if their email address is not in your address book. However, this feature becomes inconvenient when users change their email address and Apple Mail remembers the old one. It’s simple to fix though.

When sending an email, Gmail's auto-complete list feature comes in handy if you don't want to type the entire email address of the regular recipients. It saves you time and effort, not to mention the convenience of Gmail automatically completing the address.

However, for some users, it is completely ineffective. You might not want to be associated with a few of the email addresses on your autofill list. There are times when you still have recipients' old/outdated or invalid addresses. Your recipients may already be using a new email address as their primary point of contact. Keeping both the old and new addresses in your Gmail auto-complete list memory will only lead to confusion and potential errors.

The best thing you can do is clean up your Gmail auto-complete or autofill list and delete some of the invalid email addresses. That way, you won't see them when Gmail fills in the recipient field of an email address from your contacts.

Remove Email Addresses from the Gmail Auto-Complete or Autofill List

How to delete an old email address that keeps popping up in gmail
Credit: cottonbro/Pexels via Canva

It only takes a few clicks on your Gmail account to delete email addresses from the auto-complete list. Make sure you first log in to your Google account.

  • Go to https in your browser.://contacts.google.com.
  • Enter the name or email address of the contact you want to delete in the top search bar.
  • Click the name or email address of the contact.
  • Click the three-dotted icon in the upper right corner.
  • Select Delete.
  • Click Delete to confirm.

How to Turn Off Gmail's Auto-Complete List or Stop Autofill

How to delete an old email address that keeps popping up in gmail
Screenshot: Windows Dispatch

If you do not want Gmail to autofill the recipient field with email addresses from your contact list, you can turn off and completely disable the feature.

  • Launch Gmail on your device.
  • Click the Gear icon in the upper right corner.
  • Click See all Settings.
  • Scroll down to the Create contacts for auto-complete section on the Settings page.
  • Select I'll add contacts myself now. It will disable the autofill.
  • Scroll all the way to the bottom and click Save Changes.

Which do you prefer: enabling or disabling the Gmail autofill feature? Let us know in the comments section below.

16 COMMENTS

  1. Gary Zeune CPA

    I deleted the invalid email from the contact, but it still appears to autofill when I begin an email to that person. I don't want to turn off autocomplete, nor do I want to delete the contact. How do I remove an email that is no longer valid from Gmail autocomplete?

    • PAUL GARROD

      Exactly!! I have the same issue with an incorrect email address that is NOT in contacts but appears as an option for auto complete - driving me insane!! I note, however, that your message is now 18 months old....You may have resolved, but I have not.

      • Robin

        I discovered that there are two places where names must be removed.: 1) Contacts who are frequently contacted, and 2) Other contacts (located just above the trash icon).

  2. Rosemary Eng

    I followed the instructions, but I still get emails!
    EVERY customer service email I've ever sent, friends who have died.can’t
    Remove their email address!

  3. Kar

    It worked! Thank you!

  4. Karen m

    Same. I managed to delete it in contacts - where it wasn't showing up - but it STILL appears in the autofill. Google appears to have a simple solution - when it appears, we press on it and have the option to delete!!!!.

  5. Sal

    Infuriating!!!! There are people whose names I do not want to see on my email. How can Google not find a solution to this?

    • Robin

      I discovered that there are two places where names must be removed.: 1) Contacts who are frequently contacted, and 2) Other contacts (located just above the trash icon).

  6. JoeR

    I still have this problem. "I'll add contacts myself" simply does not work (despite the fact that I have remembered to save changes).

  7. Robin

    I had this same problem. I disabled autofill because I want to manually add people to my contact list. After that, I removed everyone from the "Frequently contacted" list. I only had one person on my contact list, but a slew of names appeared in the drop-down menu. I went back and saw "Other contacts" lower down on the options list. When I clicked on it, more names appeared. I deleted all of them. The only person in my drop-down list now is the one I added to my contact list. It appears to have been successful, but only time will tell. . . .

  8. Steve

    I mistyped someone's email address. After the Postmaster responded with an email, I changed it to the correct version. Despite removing it from all of the locations mentioned in the previous posts, I am unable to remove the old incorrect version from autofill.
    When I begin typing an address, the old incorrect version automatically autofills. Searching for this incorrect email address in Google Contacts only returns the correct version. How can it be both present and absent at the same time?

  9. linda

    I've given up on trying to solve this problem. My next step will be to hire someone to visit me at home. I'm relieved to see that I'm not the only one who is frustrated by this major gmail flaw. I've tried everything, but these damn email addresses that aren't in my contacts list keep popping up every time I try to send an email.

  10. Kim Antiracist

    Why do we (millions!) continue to put up with Google/Gmail issues?

  11. Mira

    In general, I like the feature, but I only want to remove one specific person (an abusive ex who turned out to be a murderer). I even blocked him, but every time I start typing the address of someone with the same first name as me (which happens frequently), I see the murderer's face. It should be simple to remove a specific person from the autocomplete, and you'd think it wouldn't suggest an address that had been blocked.

  12. Gus Mancuso

    This route would have required "forever and a day.". The Geek Squad at Best Buy demonstrated how to bring up every advertisement. in alphabetical order, 10 per page. You mark the boxes next to the ones you want to remove. I wanted to compress my file in order to save time when sending it, so I.e.(Gmail does not have a scroll function for addresses that begin with the same letter.).) Note: The majority of my business contacts are one-time events.

delete email address popping gmail

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Hi, my name is Emily Blunt and I am a 5-year experienced blogger in the field of pet care.


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