Sometimes programs that are developed to make life simpler can make it more embarrassing. Just think about the autocomplete feature that comes with Apple’s Mail app. The app monitors your email address book as you type email addresses into the “to” line of your email messages. If the app identifies an address from the initial few letters you type, it will autocomplete it for you. Typically this is good. However, it can also result in problems.
Autocomplete embarrassments
Obviously, if you do not double check the “to” field before sending the email it may go to the wrong person. You might say, but I do not have that many people I email. Well, you might not realize that you may have a number of old contacts in your address book that you never email. Brian Sawyer discussed this problem on the O’Reilly Answers website. This issue can cause you to send a crucial business email to someone you never speak to, and you might never even know it. The person you meant to send it to will never receive it and an email containing delicate information could be read by the wrong person.
Removing autocomplete email addresses
Fortunately, if you are aware of what emails are getting pulled up regularly, then you can easily remove them from your address book. To do this when you are in Mail, click the “Window” tab. After you select “Previous Recipients,” look for the email address that you want to remove, highlight it and click “Remove From List.”
Monitoring is key
Removing an address does not ensure that it won’t return to your address book. Even collaborating with a person on a Google Doc may add the address to your address book. So, the easiest way to ensure that these confusions don’t happen in the future is to make sure you check your address book, and check the “to” field before clicking “Send.”
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