In Mail, how to delete an email address that automatically comes up as a ch

Mail > Window > Previous Recipients.

Select the ones you don't want and click "remove from list"

(hmm... there are some I haven't used in eight years...)

Thanks to someone who can answer this 🙂

You're welcome.

Well, that sure is odd. I tried it, and it worked with mine, so I have no idea where your mystery address might be lurking.

I am nearly certain previous recipients are stored in the file ~/Library/Mail/Envelope Index. Unfortunately there is a lot of other information stored in that file also, so I don't know what will happen if you were to delete it.

I deleted the file Eva, unfortunately it didn't help.

Deleting the file ~/Library/Mail/Envelope Index caused Mail to ask to import my messages again, which I did. This took a few minutes for several thousand messages, but in the end, all my Previous Recipients were untouched anyway.

I'm afraid your question is still unanswered, but I'll continue to look for a solution. Your previous recipients must be lurking somewhere.

Eva, I found where the previous recipient information is actually stored, unfortunately I don't have a solution yet though.

Mail's "previous recipients" list is actually stored in ~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook/AddressBook.data. However, as the name suggests this is actually where all your Address Book information is stored. Deleting the file AddressBook.data got rid of my entire Previous Recipients list, unfortunately it deleted my entire Address Book as well. Dragging the file back to the Application Support folder caused every Address Book entry to be duplicated... so I don't recommend this strategy 😟

I reverted to an Address Book backup to set things right again.

So it would appear your mystery addresses are probably in the AddressBook.data file, unfortunately I still don't know how to excise the ones you don't want.

Hello yardsale, just to let you know you are not alone I have too have this problem.

A contact advised me of a new email address. I edit their details in Address Book ie.remove old address and put in new one. Then when I try to write an email to this person both email addresses appear as options as I type the person's name in the To: field.

Surprised no one else has this problem or is able to help.

Did you ever resolve this issue? I had a similar problem and used the following:

Open Address Book from the Dock

Highlight Address you want to delete

Select Edit form Toolbar on top of screen (Address Book Menu)

Select Delete Card (you will get a confirmation screen before deletion)

Not sure if this was what you were after but I have just purchased a IMac and am struggling to learn the basics after swapping from Microsoft.

Tks

Hi Jerhonda, and a warm welcome to the forums & Macdom! 🙂

To delete an old address, in mail I started to type the old name/address in the To: field, when the list off addresses comes up I then selected the one to be deleted. Once you have a blue oval around the name you click on the arrow on the right hand side of the blue oval, select remove address and it shouldn't come up again next time you try to type it in.

Hi bubbablue, and a warm welcome to the forums! 🙂

Great to see your input here, hope to see more help/posts from you! 🙂

All I can say is.."Why didn't I think of that!!"
Thanks so much.