Microsoft Outlook: Copy the names in AutoComplete to another computer

Do you miss the convenience of Outlook automatically completing people’s names as you begin to type them on your new computer? Are you upgrading to a new computer and don’t want to lose all the names stored in your Outlook AutoComplete feature? Wouldn’t it be nice if Outlook installed on your new computer just “remembered” the names and filled them in for you?

You can copy the names in AutoComplete from your old computer to your new one.

Copy the names in AutoComplete to another computer

Important You must exit Outlook before starting the following procedure. The names will be included in AutoComplete when you restart Outlook.

1. On the computer with the saved AutoComplete names, go to:
   “%UserProfile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook”.

Note Depending on your file settings, this folder might be hidden. To view the files in this folder, do one of the following:

1. Right-click profile name.nk2, and then click Copy.

Tip You can copy the file to removable media, such as a floppy disk or a CD, and then copy the file to the correct location on the other computer. Or you can attach the file to an e-mail message and send the message to yourself. On the new computer, open the attachment in Outlook, and then save it to the correct location.

1. On the computer where you want to populate the AutoComplete feature, copy the file to:
   “%UserProfile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook”.
2. If the Outlook user profile name is different on the computer where you are moving the .nk2 file, you must rename the file with the same Outlook user profile name after you copy it to the correct folder. For example, if you move Kim Akers.nk2 from the original computer with an Outlook user profile name of Kim Akers, and you copy the Kim Akers.nk2 file to the new computer, you must rename it with the Outlook profile name being used on the new computer.
3. When prompted about replacing the existing file, click Yes.
4. Open Outlook to view changes.

How to Enable/Disable Autocomplete in MS Outlook

Do you want Outlook to suggest names while completing TO, CC, and BCC fields?

The autocomplete cache is stored in a *.nk2 file at “%UserProfile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook”. You can delete the file to start fresh or use the arrow keys (as you are typing addresses in the fields) to select an address and use the Delete key to remove it.

To Enable/Disable Autocomplete in Outlook, try the following:

1. Open Outlook, click Tools – Options

2. Click “Email Options” button then “Advanced Email Options”

3. Check/Uncheck “Suggest names while completing To, Cc, Bcc fields” to enable/disable Autocomplete.

4. Click OK,OK, Apply & OK.

Group Policy or Startup scripts to disable from Windows Registry

If you are an organisation and want to enable/disable Autocomplete on all your network domain pcs the you can use Group Policy or Startup scripts to disable from Windows Registry

Look for the key “ShowAutoSug” key under

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Preferences\]

and set its value as follows

“0″ – Disable Autocomplete
“1″ – Enable Autocomplete

[NOTE: depending on Office version the registry path may vary for intstance as "10" or "11" in the above key]