Gmail Contacts – How to Stop Gmail from Automatically Creating Contacts

gmailgoogle-contacts

Gmail really likes to make contacts for me and stick them in my "All Contacts" list. I'd much rather manage my contacts myself and only add people when I want to specifically do so. (Actually, I wouldn't mind if they managed the list automatically except that oftentimes I get contacts made from mailing lists and sometimes the names are wrong, which is inconvenient.)

How can I make it so that my contacts list is neither obnoxiously long nor badly spelled and punctuated?

Best Answer

The previously-posted answers are no longer correct.

On the General tab under Settings is Create contacts for auto-complete:

  • When I send a message to a new person, add them to Other Contacts so that I can auto-complete to them next time
  • I'll add contacts myself

Screen shot: screen shot of options for auto-adding comments

The second option will prevent Gmail from auto-creating contacts for you.

This was one of many features announced in April, 2011.