Filling the Auto-Complete list with Contact addresses
I just reinstalled my computer but did not save the nk2-file to maintain my AutoComplete list so now no addresses show up when writing in the To-line.
Is there any way I can quickly fill AutoComplete with all my contacts at once instead of waiting for the list to rebuild itself again?
You can directly fill the Auto-Complete list again by creating a new message addressed to all your contacts at once. There is no need to actually send this message.
- Create a new message.
- Press the To… button.
- Select the contact list in the right top corner from which you would like to add the contacts from.
- Examples; Contacts folder, Global Address List (GAL) or a contacts folder in a Public folder.
- Select the first contact.
- Scroll all the way down to your last contact.
- Hold the SHIFT button on your keyboard while clicking on the last contact to select them all.
- Press the To –> button to add them all to the To… field.
- Repeat step 3 to 7 if you have contacts in additional lists that you would like to add.
- Press OK to close the dialog and to return to the newly created message.
- Now, depending on your Outlook version, do the following;
- Outlook 2007
Close the message and press “No” when prompted to save changes. - Outlook 2010 / 2013 / 2016 / 2019 / Office 365
You must send the message to actually store these addresses in the AutoSuggest cache. However, by placing Outlook in Offline Mode first via the Send/Receive tab, you can easily prevent it from actually being sent by removing it from the Outbox and then place Outlook back online mode.
- Outlook 2007
Now when you address a new message, the AutoSuggest/Auto-Complete feature will pop-up again.
Notes
Some additional notes about the AutoSuggest/Auto-Complete cache;
- The maximum number of contacts that can be cached is 1000. If you have more contacts than that, not all of them will be added.
- See this post in case you want to remove certain addresses from the AutoSuggest list again.
- See this post for alternative methods of automatically resolving names from your Address Book.
- Outlook 2010 doesn’t use an nk2-file but a special hidden message, a Stream_AutoComplete file and the Suggested Contacts folder.
- Outlook 2013, 2016, 2019 and Office 365 don’t have an nk2-file either nor does it have (or uses) a Suggested Contacts folder and only stores it in the special hidden message just like Outlook 2010.
