How to Build a Windows Mail Address Book Automatically

When you reply to somebody via email, Windows Mail can automatically add the recipient to your address book. It's an easy way to build a comprehensive list of contacts.

Build Your Windows Mail Address Book Automatically

To have people to whom you reply added to your Windows Mail Contact list automatically, access the People app, where Windows Mail stores all its contact information.

Open Windows Mail and select the Switch to People icon to open the People app on the lower-left side of the window next to the Switch to Mail and Switch to Calendar icons.
Select the Settings gear icon.
Under Contact List Display, slide the toggle for Automatically add contacts that you have communicated with recently to On.
Choose the sort orders by which you want to sort your contact list and display names.
Select Filter Contact List if you wish to apply any filters, such as hiding contacts without phone numbers or showing contacts from Skype.
Close People when you finish.

Note that recipients are not added to your contacts when you start a new message and address it manually. The original senders are turned into address book contacts only when you reply.

Add a Contact to Windows Mail Manually

If you want to add a contact without sending or replying to an email, you can do so through the People app.

Open Windows Mail and select the Switch to People icon to open the People app on the lower-left side of the window next to the Switch to Mail and Switch to Calendar icons.
Select the + icon at the top of the window.
In the New Live Contact section, enter the information for the contact and select Save.

Make Windows Mail the Default in Windows 10

Windows 10 ships with Windows Mail, but it might not be your default email program. To change the default to Windows Mail:

Select the Start button.
Type Default app settings.
In the Web Browser section, select the current browser and then select Windows Mail.