There are two main ways to control who gets saved and suggested as contacts in Gmail:

1. Automatic Contact Saving:

• Turn it off: This is the most effective way to prevent Gmail from automatically saving email addresses as contacts.

On Desktop:

1. Go to Settings (gear icon in the top right corner).
2. Click See all settings.
3. In the General tab, scroll down to “Create contacts for Autocomplete”.
4. Choose “I’ll add contacts myself”.
5. Click Save Changes.

On Android:

1. Open the Gmail app.
2. Tap the menu icon (three horizontal lines) in the top left corner.
3. Select Settings.
4. Choose the email account you want to modify (if you have multiple accounts).
5. Tap on “Contacts”.
6. Toggle off the switch for “Save contact info from interactions”.

2. Remove Existing Contact Suggestions:

• You can remove individual email addresses suggested as contacts from the compose window.

On Desktop:

1. Start composing a new email.
2. When you begin typing an email address in the “To” field, Gmail might suggest contacts based on previous interactions.
3. Click the “X” next to the suggested contact you want to remove.

On Android:

1. Start composing a new email.
2. As you type in the “To” field, tap on a suggested contact.
3. In the contact details pop-up, tap “Remove suggestion”.

Additional Tips:

• You can also manage your existing contacts directly in Google Contacts (https://contacts.google.com/). Here you can edit, merge, or delete contacts entirely.
• Remember, turning off automatic contact saving won’t affect existing contacts already saved in your Gmail account.
• If you frequently interact with someone and want them as a contact, you can always add them manually through Gmail or Google Contacts.

By following these steps, you can take control of who appears in your contact suggestions and ensure your Gmail contact list reflects the people you want to stay connected with.