TrailSiftWhat it keeps
Every time you send an email or a message, macOS adds the address to a list it uses for suggestions, with the name, when you last used it and which app you used. Mail and Messages both add to it, along with other apps that suggest people. Deleting someone from Contacts doesn't remove them, and nor does deleting your emails to them.
The list is a database kept by a part of macOS called recentsd, at ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.corerecents.recentsd/Data/Library/Recents. macOS protects it, so only apps with Full Disk Access can read it.
Why it matters
The list is a record of who you've been in touch with, often going back years: a solicitor, a doctor, a recruiter, an ex. Anyone writing an email on your Mac sees the suggestions. It also causes mistakes, such as an old work address suggested in place of a new one, or the wrong person with the same first name.
Remove an address yourself
In Mail, start a new message and type the first letters of the address. When the suggestion appears, click the arrow beside it and choose Remove from Recents. It's one address at a time, and you need to know what to type to find each one.
Messages has no option of its own for this; it draws on the same list. Deleting a conversation leaves the address in it.
See the whole list
In System Settings > Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access, turn on Terminal. Then, in Terminal:
sqlite3 -readonly ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.corerecents.recentsd/Data/Library/Recents/Recents "select address, display_name from contacts order by address"
Turn Full Disk Access for Terminal off again afterwards if you don't need it. Don't edit the database by hand: recentsd has it open, and changes made underneath it can be undone or damage it.
The easier way
TrailSift's Remembered Addresses page lists every address macOS remembers, with the name, when it was last used and which apps used it, so you can search and sort them. TrailSift Pro forgets the ones you choose in one go, then restarts recentsd so the suggestions go at once.
Updated 14 October 2026. More guides: all TrailSift guides.