Why and how you may want to turn off Auto-Complete?

I like the Auto-Complete feature in Outlook. I like typing a few characters of an email address and then having Outlook give me a quick list to pick from based on the characters that I typed in. It saves me a lot of time… but it can also create problems too.

For example… a few days ago I needed to send an email to Anand Kumar… I was in a rush and accidentally picked and sent the email to Anand Singh instead… luckily for me the email did not contain any confidential information.

On the other hand, this lady wasn't so lucky...

The emailer higlighted in Lilly’s $1 Billion E-Mailstrom accidentally sent a confidential memo to a New York Times reporter (whose name was very similar to that of the intended recipient)… and they published a story on it.

http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/top-5/2008/02/05/Eli-Lilly-E-Mail-to-New-York-Times

I have to admit… this lady had the absolute WORST luck… it's bad enough to send an email to the wrong person but what are the chances that the one email you mis-send has highly confidential information… and it ends up in the Inbox of a New York Times news reporter.

How to avoid this mistake… IF it is important enough to you.

I like Auto-Complete and I don't think the contents of most of my emails need me to take any drastic steps. However if you deal with a lot of confidential information then you may want to turn off Auto-Complete in Outlook.

On the Outlook menu, click Tools-Options.
Click the Email Options button.
Click the Advanced Email Options button.
Clear the tick next to Suggest names while completing To, CC, and BCC fields.
If you're really paranoid you may also want to clear the tick next to Automatic Name Checking.
Click OK. Click OK. Click OK.

Like I said earlier… my emails don't contain any highly confidential information and I'm happy to leave these settings on. Your situation may be different…

If you want an additional level of protection, you may also want to check out Use SendGuard for Outlook to avoid sending emails to the wrong people.

Do you have your own horror stories of mis-sent emails that you can share. Leave a comment on the blog.

Related Posts:
Outlook Auto-Complete Tips
Use SendGuard for Outlook to avoid sending emails to the Wrong People