Outlook: Disable Auto-Complete of your own Name

Outlook has an editor feature that suggests to insert your full name whenever you start typing your first name. This is really annoying because you might want to use only your first name for signing off your emails (i.e. "Regards, John", instead of "Regards, John Doe").

You can switch it off, but not in the auto-correct or auto-format options, as you might have expected. Outlook has hidden it under "Quick Parts" and "Building Blocks". Here is how to disable this annoying feature:

  • Create a new e-mail message
  • Make sure you have selected HTML as the mail format ("Format Text" tab > HTML)
  • Click into the body text area and from the "Insert" tab, select "Quick Parts" and then "AutoText"
  • Right-click one of the quick parts and select "Organize and delete", this will open something called the "Building blocks organizer".
  • Remove the Quick Parts containing your name

Voila - the annoying auto-complete of your name is gone.

You can also disable the whole "Auto-Complete" feature, but this will stop all auto-complete functionality:

  • Go to File > Options > Mail > Spelling and AutoCorrect > Advanced
  • Then disable the option "Show AutoComplete suggestions".

33 thoughts on “Outlook: Disable Auto-Complete of your own Name”

  1. Amazing, thank you! This was so frustrating and I couldn't figure out how to get rid of it. Appreciate the help!

  2. Thank you, it works.

    Now I just need to hope and pray that outlook doesnt decide to readd it. I hate hate hate how such a shitty program is the default industry standard. How many different fcking menu's for autocompleting and spellcheck and whatnot does a glorified text editor need? It's design by landfill, just shovelling new stuff on top of the old. It's horrendous.

  3. Thank you!! I was so annoyed by this and it kept popping up after transitioning to Office 365 so I'm really happy you saved me time.

    Kudos and happy Karma to you,
    Best, Rudy

  4. Zu Autovervollständigen meines Namens gibt es in deutscher Sprache leider nur versteckte Werbelinks.
    Vielen Dank fĂĽr die Anleitung!
    Thanks a lot for the tutorial!

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