A method for generating address lists from documents, which include e-mail address, stored on a computing device is provided. The method describes mapping at least one e-mail address from the documents to the address list. The mapped address list may be updated by its inclusion as one of the input documents. Duplicate entries can be excluded from the address list and an addressee identifier can be assigning to each e-mail addresses in the mapped address list, by using a mapping table, an address book, or a user assignment. Any user-specified organization of addresses existing in the input documents can be preserved in the mapped address list. The mapping of the e-mail addresses can be performed by applying one or more set-theoretic operations selected from one of union, intersection, and difference.