Change who's saved & suggested as contacts

You'll see contacts suggested in some Google services, like when you start typing someone's name in a new email in Gmail. You can control who gets saved and suggested as a contact.

Who shows up as suggestions

Suggestions are based on a variety of signals related to your contacts and interactions, such as a contact being starred or if you've emailed a contact recently. Suggested contacts include people you've added to your contacts.People you've interacted with in Google services are automatically saved to "Other contacts."

In some apps, like Gmail or Photos, you may see suggested contacts before typing or searching for anything.

Tips:

Control who's saved as contacts

Add contacts yourself
  1. Sign in to Google Contacts. You'll see a list of contacts you've added.
  2. At the top left, select Add question Create contact.
  3. Enter the person's contact info.
  4. Select Save.
Save contact info when you interact with people

When you interact with people on Google products, you can automatically save their contact info which includes:

  • Names
  • Email addresses
  • Phone numbers

When this setting is turned on, you'll keep the contact info for:

  • People you've emailed in Gmail.
  • People you've shared something with, like a document in Drive.
  • People who share content with you, like shared albums in Google Photos.
  • People included in events or groups you're in.
  • People you mark as known.
  • People you accept calendar invitations from.

Start or stop saving automatically

  1. Go to your Google Account.
  2. On the left navigation panel, click People & sharing.
  3. On the "Contacts" panel, click Contact info saved from interactions.
  4. Turn Save contact info when you interact with people on or off.
  5. If you use Gmail, choose if Gmail saves contact info from people you email:
    1. On a computer, go to your Gmail settings.
    2. Under "Create contacts for auto-complete," choose an option.
    3. At the bottom of the page, click Save changes.

Hide saved contacts from suggestions

Hide your suggested contacts

In some Google apps, such as Gmail and Photos, you can hide a suggested contact without deleting it permanently. You can follow the steps below:

  1. On your iPhone or iPad, open Gmail or Photos Photos.
    • Gmail: At the bottom right, tap Compose .
    • Photos: Select a photo and then tap Share Share.
  2. Touch and hold the contact you’d like to hide and then tap Hide suggestion.

Tips:

  • When you start typing a contact’s name, you can also touch and hold the suggestions that populate in that field to hide the suggestion.
  • To find a hidden suggested contact, enter their name, and then tap Show hidden suggestions.

Change or remove contacts

You can change or remove contacts that you've added as well as contacts that have been saved automatically.

Contacts you've added
  1. Sign in to Google Contacts.
  2. Select a contact.
    • Change info:
      1. At the bottom right, tap Edit Edit.
      2. Make the changes you want.
      3. At the top right, tap Save.
    • Remove a contact: At the top right, tap More More and then Delete.
Contacts saved automatically
  1. Sign in to Google Contacts.
  2. On the left, select Other contacts.
  3. Select a contact.
    • Change info:
      1. At the top right, tap Add to contacts Add people.
      2. Make the changes you want.
      3. At the bottom, tap Save.
    • Remove a contact:
      1. On the top right, tap More More and then Delete.
      2. To stop them from getting added back, follow the steps to stop saving automatically.
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