Using Contacts in Compose

When you type in the To, Cc, or Bcc fields of the compose window, Opterius Mail automatically suggests matching contacts and recently used addresses. This makes addressing messages faster and reduces the risk of typos.

How Autocomplete Works#

As you type in any recipient field, Opterius Mail queries two sources simultaneously:

1. Your address book — contacts you have saved in the Contacts section.
2. Sent mail history — email addresses you have previously sent messages to (extracted from your Sent folder).

A dropdown appears below the field showing up to 8 suggestions, ranked by relevance (exact matches first, then partial matches by name or email).

What Is Matched#

The autocomplete matches against:

• Contact display name (e.g. typing "ali" matches "Alice Smith")
• Contact first or last name (e.g. "smi" matches "Alice Smith")
• Email address — any part of it (e.g. "example" matches user@example.com)
• Organization name (e.g. typing "Acme" matches all contacts from Acme Corp)

Matching is case-insensitive and searches from the beginning of each word in the name (prefix matching), not just the very start of the full string. So typing "smi" matches "Alice Smith" because "Smith" starts with "Smi".

Selecting a Suggestion#

When the suggestion dropdown appears:

• Use the Up/Down arrow keys to navigate the list.
• Press Enter or Tab to select the highlighted suggestion.
• Click a suggestion with your mouse.

The selected contact is added as a "chip" in the recipient field, showing the display name (or email if no name is set). Click the × on a chip to remove it.

Typing Multiple Recipients#

You can add as many recipients as needed in a single field:

1. Type the first address or name and select from the suggestion list (or type the full address).
2. Press Enter, Tab, or , (comma) to confirm the current entry and start a new one.
3. Repeat for each recipient.

The field expands vertically as you add more chips.

Typing a Full Email Address Without a Match#

If you type a complete, valid email address that does not match any contact or sent history, Opterius Mail still accepts it. Press Enter, Tab, or , after typing the full address to confirm it. It is added as a chip with the email address as its label.

This allows you to send to anyone, not just people in your address book.

When There Are No Suggestions#

If no suggestions appear while typing, it means:

• The query does not match any contact name or email.
• There is no sent mail history for that address.
• You have not added contacts yet.

In these cases, simply type the full email address and press Enter to add it as a recipient.

How Sent Mail History Works#

Opterius Mail builds the sent history autocomplete source from your Sent folder on the IMAP server. When autocomplete is triggered, Opterius Mail scans the To, Cc, and Bcc headers of recent sent messages and extracts unique addresses.

• The scan covers the most recent 200 messages in your Sent folder for performance reasons.
• The results are cached for the session — if you send a new message, the cache is invalidated so the next autocomplete query includes the new address.
• Addresses extracted from sent mail are displayed in suggestions alongside address book contacts. Address book contacts are ranked higher than sent history addresses when both match.

Contact Groups in Compose#

If you have organized contacts into groups, you can expand a group in the To field:

1. Type the group name in the To field.
2. When the group suggestion appears in the dropdown, select it.
3. A confirmation prompt asks "Add all X members of [Group Name]?"
4. Click Add all to add every member of the group as a recipient.

This is useful for recurring team emails or newsletters to a defined list.

Keeping Autocomplete Up to Date#

Autocomplete data stays current automatically:

• Address book changes: Adding, editing, or deleting a contact updates autocomplete immediately — no page reload needed.
• New sent addresses: After sending a message to a new address, it becomes available in sent history autocomplete for subsequent sessions.
• Deleted contacts: Removing a contact from your address book removes it from autocomplete suggestions immediately, though it may still appear from sent history if you have emailed that address before.

If suggestions seem outdated or incorrect, a hard reload of the page (Ctrl+Shift+R) clears the session cache.