diff --git a/lib/mu-contacts-cache.cc b/lib/mu-contacts-cache.cc
index 7eba084d..0cc4e9ca 100644
--- a/lib/mu-contacts-cache.cc
+++ b/lib/mu-contacts-cache.cc
@@ -194,10 +194,10 @@ ContactsCache::add(Contact&& contact)
 
 	if (it == priv_->contacts_.end()) { // completely new contact
 
-		contact.name         = contact.name;
+		contact.name		 = contact.name;
 		if (!contact.personal)
 			contact.personal = is_personal(contact.email);
-		contact.tstamp       = g_get_monotonic_time();
+		contact.tstamp		 = g_get_monotonic_time();
 
 		auto email{contact.email};
 		// return priv_->contacts_.emplace(ContactUMap::value_type(email, std::move(contact)))
@@ -219,6 +219,20 @@ ContactsCache::add(Contact&& contact)
 	}
 }
 
+
+void
+ContactsCache::add(Contacts&& contacts)
+{
+	const auto personal = seq_find_if(contacts,[&](auto&& c){
+		return is_personal(c.email); }) != contacts.cend();
+
+	for (auto&& contact: contacts) {
+		contact.personal = personal;
+		add(std::move(contact));
+	}
+}
+
+
 const Contact*
 ContactsCache::_find(const std::string& email) const
 {
diff --git a/lib/mu-contacts-cache.hh b/lib/mu-contacts-cache.hh
index 1a6db7c3..b80cadc1 100644
--- a/lib/mu-contacts-cache.hh
+++ b/lib/mu-contacts-cache.hh
@@ -60,15 +60,14 @@ public:
 
 
 	/**
-	 * Add a contacts sequemce
+	 * Add a contacts sequence; this should be used for the contacts of a
+	 * specific message, and determines if it is a "personal" message:
+	 * if any of the contacts matches one of the personal addresses,
+	 * any of the senders/recipients are considered "personal"
 	 *
 	 * @param contacts a Contact object sequence
-	 *
 	 */
-	void add(Contacts&& contacts) {
-		for (auto&& contact: contacts)
-			add(std::move(contact));
-	}
+	void add(Contacts&& contacts);
 
 	/**
 	 * Clear all contacts