Man, I hate it when out of the blue my Outlook autofill stops working. I’ve done a wee-bit of research this afternoon, which has led me to the SDMB with a handful of questions.
Why? Why does my autofill suddenly stop working? (This would be based on the nicknames list.) I’ve read it can be corrupted, but how? And how to I prevent this?
I’ve seen a handful of solutions (questions on those in a moment), but before I go into them, what would you suggest to fix this problem?
The solutions I’ve seen include finding the outlook.nk2 file, but when I go to the appdata\microsoft\outlook file, I can’t tell which file is which because I can’t see the file extensions.
Yet another person hampered by Windows’ desires to hide things…
Happily, it’s still easy to find the nk2 files:
In Win XP:
Quit Outlook.
Click Start, and then click Search.
In the Search Companion left-side panel, click All files or folders.
In the All or part of the file name: box, type *.NK2.
In the Look In box, click to select your local hard disk.
Click More advanced options, click to select Search hidden files and folders check box.
Click Search.
Right-click the .NK2 file with the name of the profile that you want to reset, and then click Rename.
Rename the file to profilename.bak, and then press ENTER.
Quit Windows Explorer.
Restart Outlook. Outlook will generate a new nickname cache.
If you have a different version of Windows, head to Microsoft’s knowledge base for more info.
Just by coincidence, I had to zap my nk2 files last week. I wouldn’t mess with trying to fix them - just delete them and move on. Their function is similar to favorites in a web browser. They make it a bit easier to pull up email addresses you use a lot, but you can function without them.
You grossly underestimate my boss’s ability and desire to be independent, sir.
So, with your fix, and I creating a whole new nicknames file, or am I simply renaming what already exists? Will the list itself change? He’s not going to have to essentially recreate it all over again, is he?
Your boss would be better served by creating Contacts. They’re more easily backed up, and don’t suffer the “rot” that can happen with the nicknames file. They’re also readily forwarded, and you can create your own distribution lists with them.
Whether you rename or delete the nk2 file(s), you’re forcing Outlook to start fresh. Off the top of my head, the nk2 list holds the past 1,000 addresses you’ve sent email to as a rotating list.
Ok, I did completed the above steps, and the only *.NK2 file found was a file called “Outlook” that is an Office Data File. Now, I am not going to rename a file called Outlook until someone here tells me that is correct.
Also, how do I find what my boss’s profile name was set up as so I rename the file correctly?
I may be using it wrong, but in terms of the Hitchcock (?) movie, where you feel like you’re being made to think you’re crazy (it autofilled fine yesterday!) but you’re really not. IOW, being fucked with.
