Remove address from Mail's "memory"

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I have OS 10.7.2 on a MacBookPro. In Mail, how do I remove an email address from popping up as a choice in the outgoing TO: slot. That is, if I begin to type, say, "Jim ...", in the TO: slot, several addresses which begin that way appear as choices, which is great. But there is one such address which I want to eliminate from appearing in that list. (The person has died.) How do I do so? (The name is not in the Address Book.) I clicked on the small white arrow next to the name, and selected "Remove" but that removes it only from the current message's To: slot. I clicked on "Remove from previous recipients list" but that does not seem to accomplish anything. I rebooted (an old Windows habit) after doing both of those. There has to be a way, but I can't find it. Thanks!
 

chscag

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The "brute force" method is to go into your Mail Preferences, click on the "composing" tab and remove the check from "Automatically complete addresses". Of course that means all are gone not just the one you want to eliminate.

Other than that, you can try moving the mail plist file to the desktop and see if that does it. Here is where it's located:

/Users/your name/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist

However, before you can do so, you will need to unhide your user library folder which by default is hidden in Lion. Do this:

Open your terminal application and type the following:

Code:
chflags nohidden ~/Library/

Leave terminal and open the Finder. The library folder should now be visible.
 
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"... you will need to unhide your user library folder ..."

As instructed (for which thanks), I have done that, and found it in Finder.

"... you can try moving the mail plist file to the desktop and see if that does it."

If I remove the existing mail plist file from Library/Preferences, will Lion then replace the now absent file by creating a new mail plist file automatically?
 

Slydude

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No need to mess with unhiding your library folder. With the current version of Mail you can delete addresses of previous recipients if they are no longer needed. Do the following:

1. Open Mail and choose "Window" from the menu bar.
2. Choose the "Previous Recipients" item.
3. In the window that appears select any addresses you wish to get rid of and choose delete. No need to mess with the plist file.

I believe this option was also available in some earlier versions of Mail.
 

chscag

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Thanks Sly, that works. Amazing what you can learn in these forums. ;P
 

Slydude

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You're welcome. And you're right about learning a thing or two here. I certainly have. I don't remember where I picked that tip up. It's in the help file but I rarely read those. First time I tried it I had one of those "Why didn't I notice that moments.
 
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... I had one of those "Why didn't I notice that moments".

You can say that again! I thought I had looked everywhere.

Now that I have un-hidden the user Library, is there any reason not to leave it that way, as long as I remember not to mess around there without checking here first?

Thank you both for your help.
 

chscag

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No problem leaving the Library unhidden. It's actually more convenient to do so.
 

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