Quick Tip: Move Your Outlook Type-Ahead List to Another Computer
Microsoft Outlook has a neat feature that will help you fill in email addresses as you type. The addresses come from a type-ahead list that is populated as you send emails to people. After a while most people come to depend on this list, so much so that they often stop adding contacts to their address book. Then the shock comes when they get a new computer or have to reload their existing one, and the addresses are all gone. These addresses are not stored in your Outlook PST file and as such will not make move with the file.
But alas, there is an easy way to move your type-ahead list to another computer. The list is stored in a NK2 file stored in an obscure directory in your profile.
In Windows XP, Server 2003 & 2008 the file can be found in:
C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
In Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 the file can be found in:
C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
Simply locate all of the files with the extension “NK2″ and copy them to your new computer or back them up before you reload.
One Response to “Quick Tip: Move Your Outlook Type-Ahead List to Another Computer”
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Thank you, thank you, thank you. My wife has gotten so dependent on the type ahead list and not added the folks to her address book that when I got her a new laptop, she didn’t know anyone’s e-mail address any longer. This has saved the day. I did find out that her files on the new Vista machine were in the “C:\Users\USERNAME\Appdata\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook” subdirectory but your information above certainly put me on the right path. I’m a hero to her again. Thank you so very much.