16
Disable auto-complete
Idea shared by Stefan Persson - 11/6/2014 at 7:06 AM
Declined
Is it possible to add a setting to disable auto-complete in the address field (compose mail view)? I found this thread http://forums.smartertools.com/threads/disable-auto-complete.30871/. But I can't fint that setting any longer :(
 

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1
Andrea Free Replied
Employee Post
Hello Stefan,
 
The setting to disable auto-complete has actually been removed in later versions of SmarterMail. While the feature cannot be disabled, users can modify their individual auto-complete lists by going to Settings | Advanced Settings | Auto-complete. Here, you can delete entries that you don't wish to show up. One thing to keep in mind is that your contacts and Global Address List entries may not be deleted. 
 
I see you've posted this question as a Proposed Idea, so other users may vote on this as well and bring it to the developers' attention.
 
Thanks!
Andrea Free SmarterTools Inc. 877-357-6278 www.smartertools.com
3
Unfortunately, it is not enough to just be able to remove from the list, our client wants to be able to remove the function completely. :(
Why is the setting is removed?
0
Agreed, Also what to do if this is already disabled and not functioning, Now we have no option to enable this feature, any known workarounds to get this re enabled?
0
Employee Replied
Employee Post
Stefan, can you provide reasons why you wouldn't want at a minimum your contacts to be auto-completed?  Is this an issue with global address list users being auto-completed?  I just want a better understanding of the reason to remove the auto-complete function.
9
Looks like this is a pretty old thread -- 1 year-old to the day. Well, it got bounced to the top so I'll share my thoughts regarding Auto-complete:
 
Why does it add addresses from Sent Items? This just creates thousands of useless entries:
  • many are 1-time use, never to be used again
  • many are outdated as people change email addresses over the years
  • many are duplicated -- if they are already in Contacts, it adds them again???
So, let's say you want to clean the junk from this list:
  • who knows about Auto-Complete under Settings->Advanced Settings? (most expect to find them in Contacts)
  • don't try to sort by Email Address or Display Name in ascending order because it only works when it's in descending order???
  • you can select Contacts to delete, but you can't delete them (same with GAL).
The one redeeming feature -- when you search for people named Hillary, select all the Hillary records, and click Delete, it only deletes the selected records, not your entire address book like it does in the Contacts section:
 
In summary, don't bother changing/fixing any of the above items. Remove this separate Auto-Complete list and just use Contacts instead. There is no need for a separate auto-complete list. If a user wants addresses to show up in auto-complete, they can add them to Contacts. Simple.
 
Kevin
 
2
Employee Replied
Employee Post
Thank you, Kevin, as always, for you great comments and suggestions.  You make very valid points for removing auto-complete except for user contact and GAL addresses.  Currently, this is a low priority feature.  However, the more up-votes it receives, the higher traction its implementation will receive.
7
Had a user call today who was hopelessly confused about all the old & strange email addresses in the drop-down when composing a new message. Hoping these useless addresses from Sent Items can be removed in SM 14.5.
 
There is no need for a separate auto-complete list. If a user wants addresses to show up in auto-complete, simply add them to Contacts. 
 
I'm guessing only 1 in 100 users know about Settings->Advanced Settings->Auto-complete to manage the list. Not intuitive as you would expect to go into Contacts.
 
If you agree, please follow Robert's instructions above and vote for this thread so it receives attention from the developers. Thanks!
6
Also vote to allow disabling this feature. it's caused plenty of confusion for our users as well
5
I think auto-complete is a nice feature to have, but it needs to be fixed so it doesn't confuse users. So I took some of the ideas from this thread and created a new post.
 
You can vote for it here:
2
I am about to migrate away from Smartermail unless this is a "feature" that can be disabled. I email myself daily with reminders, and every time I have to comb through TONS of useless emails I have no idea who they are, just to find mine. It would be nice to press the first letter of my email and then TAB to the next field. ALmost like this "feature" is intentionally hindering productivity. I'll give it another couple months, then all my clients (confused as hell), including myself, are migrating away from Smartermail. I've been researching alternatives for about 6 months now.
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Andrea Free Replied
Employee Post
Hello everyone,
 
We appreciate your feedback on the autocomplete functionality within SmarterMail. With the current direction of SmarterMail, disabling the autocomplete functionality is not something we intend to do. In version 16, autocomplete will be even more important as it will be used to enter the recipient(s) of your message. However, rather than utilizing a separate section to manage those entries, email addresses can be permanently removed directly from the autocomplete dropdown. 
 
I understand this is not the response you may have been anticipating, and we're sorry for any inconvenience. Thank you again for your participation!
Andrea Free SmarterTools Inc. 877-357-6278 www.smartertools.com

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