How to Fix Outlook Auto Complete Not Working Error Safely

Mark Regan
Published: February 27th, 2026 • 9 Min Read

If you are looking for the solutions to fix your outlook auto complete not working issue, you must read this blog. AutoComplete not working in Outlook issue typically occurs due to disabled settings, corrupted cache files, and sometimes due to a corrupted Outlook account.

Microsoft Outlook’s AutoComplete feature automatically saves recently used email addresses inside their server and suggests the name of the last email sent to users who are going to composing new email to send to the same user again. The Outlook auto suggest feature displays the name of the user in these fields, such as To, CC, and BCC, when they type a single letter of the user’s name. But sometimes these suggestions don’t appear, which affects the workflow of users.

In this blog post, we are going to share the common reasons behind the outlook auto complete list not working. Along with this, we are sharing both manual and professional solutions to fix the AutoComplete not working in Outlook issue. Read this blog post till the end to find a suitable solution to fix your Outlook auto complete not working issue.

Without wasting more time, let’s have a look at the common reasons that tell why your auto fill not working in Outlook.

Reasons Why Outlook Auto Complete Not Working?

Your Outlook auto complete list isn’t working due to major reasons listed below.

The Outlook auto complete not showing all results when users accidentally turned off the AutoComplete list option from the Outlook settings, then they face this issue.
Sometimes, the AutoComplete cache file becomes corrupted, due to which suggested emails start disappearing, and your Outlook stops showing suggestions for your contacts.
When users’ Outlook profiles get corrupted due to accidental shutdowns or any updates, then the Outlook auto complete not working properly.
Sometimes users add an add-in to their Outlook to improve Outlook performance, but the added add-ons block the AutoComplete option, due to which users face this issue.

Microsoft Outlook releases updates to improve the performance of their products, due to which sometimes, a few updates and patches block AutoComplete, due to which users facing issues with Outlook auto complete not working.

These were the common reasons, which were that the AutoComplete not working in Outlook.

Moving on to the next section to test the manual solutions to fix the Outlook auto suggest not working issue.

Fix Outlook Auto Fill Not Working Issue Manually

Below are listed different manual solutions with detailed steps that help users to resolve the “Outlook Auto Complete not working” issue. Follow these solutions carefully.

1^st Manual Solution: Enable Auto Complete Option

Open Microsoft Outlook on your desktop PC.
Then, go to the “File” menu and click on “Options” button.
Next, head to the “Mail” tab and now, scroll down and locate the “send messages” section.
Now, check the box “Use Auto-Complete List to suggest names when typing in the To, Cc, and BCC lines.”
Lastly, click on “OK” to apply the new changes.
Done, your Outlook auto complete list not working issue is fixed.

2^nd Solution: Regenerate Auto Complete List

Open the Outlook application on your desktop PC.
Click on the “File” tab and go to “Options” menu.
Select the “Mail” option and choose “Send Messages” tab.
Under “Mail”, scroll to find the “Send Messages” settings.
After that, click on “Empty Auto-Complete List”, then click “Yes.”
Now, compose an email to check the “Auto-Complete List.”
Done! After this, the AutoComplete not working in Outlook issue is resolved, and Outlook starts working normally.

3^rd Solution: Keep Outlook Up to Date

Open Outlook on your desktop PC.
Go to the “File” and choose “Office Account” option.
Click “Update options” and choose “update now.”
Now, wait to complete the update, and restart your computer.
Done! After the update, your Outlook starts showing your Auto Complete list.

4^th Solution: Generate a New RoamCache

Start Microsoft Outlook on your computer PC and click on the “File” menu.
Go to “Account Settings” and choose the “Account Settings” option.
Select your “email account,” and click on change button.
Then, click on “More Settings” and go to the “Advanced” tab
Now, uncheck “Use Cached Exchange Mode,” click on apply button, and the “OK” button.
After that, you need to rename the linked folder in Outlook
Press “Windows + R” key and open run command application.
Now, type “%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Outlook”, and press Enter.
Then, right-click on the “RoamCache” folder and click on “Rename” option.
Rename your “RoamCache” folder with a new name, then relaunch your Outlook application.
Done, your Outlook auto complete not working issue is solved.

5^th Solution: Rebuild the Outlook Data

Open the “Control Panel” on your Windows PC.
Click on “Mail” and choose “Data Files”.
Then, select “Email Account” and copy the file path.
Open the file path in “File Explorer” and rename or delete the file.
After that, restart your Outlook application, and outlook auto suggest not working issue is fixed.

Using all the tested suggested manual solutions, you can easily fix the minor Outlook auto fill not working problem, but this solution only fixes basic errors of Outlook. If the Outlook account gets corrupted or the OST files become orphaned, then these manual solutions do not work.

These Solutions has some unavoidable loopholes that you must know before trying any of them.

Loopholes of Manual Solutions

Enabling auto complete option only works if the feature is already disabled. This solution does not restore deleted Auto-Complete entries.
Regenerate Auto Complete List might delete all saved email suggestions permanently. Due to this, you have to rebuild the list manually by sending emails again.
Outlook Updates can take time and require an internet connection, and do not guarantee to fix the Outlook auto complete not working issue.
Renaming the RoamCache folder incorrectly can cause other Outlook issues and might temporarily affect Outlook performance.
Deleting and renaming data files might lead to data loss if you do not already take back up of your Outlook data. It also requires technical knowledge to find the correct file path for the file.
Rebuilding the mailbox process might become time-consuming if you have large data files.

These were the loopholes of the manual solutions that you should know before using any of the solutions described above. However, you can avoid all the limitations of the solutions given above with the use of professional tested solution to fix the AutoComplete not working in Outlook issue.

Resolve Outlook Auto Complete Not Working Properly Professionally

According to the shared manual solutions and their loopholes, we understand that the use of manual solutions will only fix the issues that are normal, and also the suggested fixes of outlook auto complete not working problem might work. In this case, you can try the BitRecover OST Repair Wizard. This tool simply repairs your OST file within a few clicks with full data integrity. The folder hierarchy is maintained during the complete repair process.

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Quick Steps of Professional Solution

Open the application on your Windows Operating System.
Choose an option between files and folders as per your need.
Then, select your OST folder and click Next.
Now, choose the saving option PST and choose the destination path.
Finally, click on the repair button.
Afterwards, your OST file is repaired and converted into PST format.
Now, simply import the PST file into your Outlook.
And done! Your AutoComplete not working in Outlook issue is solved.

These are the quick and easiest steps of the professional solution that fixes the issue instantly and solves the outlook auto suggest not working problem without any limitations.

Advantages of Professional Solution

This tool works on any type of inaccessible, orphaned, or damaged OST files and repairs them without any warning.
Users can recover email, contacts, calendars, and other data from any OST files and convert them into other file formats without any data loss.
The Tool supports batch OST file repair and conversion, which reduces users’ extra efforts and time.
Software maintained data integrity and preserved the folder structure as it is, like as it was during the repair process.
The Metadata is kept in its original format, such as To, From, Subject, Date, and attachments.
Its preview option helps the user in made repair and conversions of selected folders, due to which users can convert or repair only those folders which they exactly want.
The tool can create PST files from orphaned or password-protected OST files without losing any data from the OST file.
Its simple and clean user interface makes repair and conversion easy for both tech and non-tech users, due to which the risk of account corruption is no longer.

Final Thoughts

In this blog post, we discussed why users’ Outlook auto complete not working. We discussed the major reasons of AutoComplete not working in Outlook issue. Along with this, we tested and shared five manual solutions to fix outlook auto complete list not working problem. While using all the shared manual solutions, we found some loopholes, due to which we understand the manual solutions only fix minor errors. Moreover, the professional suggested a solution resolve the Outlook auto fill not working problem easily, quickly, and effortlessly. So the suitable solution to solve outlook auto complete not showing all results is the use of a professional suggested solution.