Clearing the Outlook 2007 AutoComplete cache
The AutoComplete cache fetches commonly used email addresses when you type the first few characters in the To, CC or BCC box when you compose a message in Outlook. In this post I will explain how you can remove entries from the AutoComplete cache.
A) To remove a single entry from the AutoComplete cache
1. Compose a new message and start entering the first few letters of the contact you want to remove from the cache.
2. Once Outlook suggests the contact, hit the DEL key on your keyboard.
B) To remove the entire AutoComplete cache
1. Close Outlook.
2. Start –> Run. Type “%userprofile%\application data\microsoft\outlook” (including the quotes) and click OK.
3. You will find an NK2 file named after each Outlook profile. Rename the NK2 file. (The NK2 file is your autocomplete cache file aka nickname cache file).
If you cannot find NK2 files, make sure you can see file extensions (Tools –> Folder Options –> Uncheck “Hide extensions for known file types”)
Shijaz Abdulla is a Partner Technology Advisor at Microsoft, helping their top tier partners build on their Microsoft practice. He is also a trusted advisor to medium enterprise customers in Qatar. He is a blogger, tech enthusiast, and a Microsoft evangelist.
I tried the above but could not find the *.nk2 file anywhere on my notebook.
I am using Outlook 2007.
Where else do you think the nk2 file can be or is there another way to clear the cache because I sometimes click on an erroneous email that had been entered before and this causes error in sending those mails.
Outlook 2007, when connected to an Exchange server, doesn’t create the .nk2 files. Autocomplete resides on the Exchange server itself. I’m still looking for a way to remove all autocomplete entries for a single user or the entire company, but haven’t found a way yet. Any ideas? It would probably have to be something to run on the Exchage 2007 server itself.