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Where did this alias come from??

I have a friend's email address that when he sends me an email his name shows up, in Apple Mail, as the a single letter alias


m ...


The letter "m" and nothing else... And in his real email address there is no letter "m" anywhere... So somewhere on my MacBook Pro, this alias "m" got assigned to this person's email address.. More a curiosity than a real problem I've hunted for the source of this alias and not had any luck finding it... I saw one place where perhaps even Siri somehow added this alias but I had no luck finding and deleting it there...


Anyone have an idea of where I might find and eliminate this rogue alias on my computer??? thanks...

MacBook Pro (2020 and later)

Posted on Jun 24, 2022 7:05 AM

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Posted on Jun 25, 2022 7:40 AM

Thanks P. Phillips... That seems to have done the trick... Never had gone looking under the Window column before and was previously unaware of the "Previous Recipients" list... Perused that very long list and 3/4 of the way down I found an entry for "m" with my neighbor's email address listed next to it... And last date used showed as yesterday when I was playing with ways to delete that association. I first started another email just to see that the unwanted association was still there... It was... I then went to that entry on the "Previous Recipients" list, highlighted it and clicked on "Remove from list" where it disappeared immediately (with no confirm or any such)... For grins I quit Mail, restarted, opened a new email and started typing my neighbor's email address... NO MORE "m"... So how it got there to begin with is beyond me but that list must essentially be the "source" for any such alias... And I don't have this alias issue with any other of many, many email addresses I send emails to so I will write this one off to "one of those things"...


So thank you for pointing me to a list I had never seen before (even though I've used Apple Mail for a very long time), this "Previous Recipients" list... That seems to have fixed the issue...


Thanks much for your help...

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 25, 2022 7:40 AM in response to PRP_53

Thanks P. Phillips... That seems to have done the trick... Never had gone looking under the Window column before and was previously unaware of the "Previous Recipients" list... Perused that very long list and 3/4 of the way down I found an entry for "m" with my neighbor's email address listed next to it... And last date used showed as yesterday when I was playing with ways to delete that association. I first started another email just to see that the unwanted association was still there... It was... I then went to that entry on the "Previous Recipients" list, highlighted it and clicked on "Remove from list" where it disappeared immediately (with no confirm or any such)... For grins I quit Mail, restarted, opened a new email and started typing my neighbor's email address... NO MORE "m"... So how it got there to begin with is beyond me but that list must essentially be the "source" for any such alias... And I don't have this alias issue with any other of many, many email addresses I send emails to so I will write this one off to "one of those things"...


So thank you for pointing me to a list I had never seen before (even though I've used Apple Mail for a very long time), this "Previous Recipients" list... That seems to have fixed the issue...


Thanks much for your help...

Jun 24, 2022 3:28 PM in response to Robert Paris

So I found this (see attached screenshot) by doing a search of my computer for "m"... What does it even mean to see the phrase


"Siri Found in Apps"... ???? What does that even mean... And connected to that small message was a larger window which again show the letter "m" and in a part of the screen that I cut off intentionally for my neighbor's privacy, there was his spelled out address (the correct email address) just below where you see "FaceTime"... Again, I chopped that off....


And in the upper right hand corner of the window that opens in search that shows this "m" and the stuff about Siri, I see what appears to be the Contacts application icon... But if I open Contacts, there is nothing but two items that have no relationship to "m" or to my neighbor's email address...


So what does "Siri Found in Apps" mean??? Any help would be much appreciated... See screenshot...

Where did this alias come from??

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