We just changed the configuration of our mail server and as a result my Outlook AutoComplete Cache was now wrong for a number of addresses, including all of our internal addresses. While some people find AutoComplete to be annoying (and it’s easy enough to turn off – go to Tools | Options, click Preferences, click E-mail Options, click Advanced E-mail Options, and uncheck “Suggest names while completing…” – ok – that wasn’t so easy), I’ve always loved it and it was massively annoying to start having emails bounce from people I work with every day.
So – like a good user – I started trolling around in Outlook looking for a way to clear the cache. I knew how to delete an item one at a time (simply highlight it when AutoComplete suggests it and hit delete). However, after a few minutes I couldn’t find the answer.
Fortunately, there’s this thing called a Help file and thankfully F1 still brings it up. I tried the offline help just for grins. No go – it told me how to delete one at a time, but I already knew that. I then tried Microsoft Office Online. Voila – Reset the nickname and automatic completion cache. The directions on the Microsoft site are a little tedious – if you don’t know your way around the filesystem, they are perfect for you; if you do know your way around, the instructions are as follows:
- Close Outlook
- Rename C:\Documents and Settings\<yourname>\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\yourname.nk2 to yourname.bak
- Start Outlook
I feel clean again.