Outlook Profiles?

olds

Elite Member
Mar 3, 2000
50,121
778
126
Outlook 2007
On my laptop when I start to type an email address in, Outlook knows what I have typed previously and gives me some choices.

I am moving offices and getting a new laptop, which file or files do I need from Outlook 2007 to restore that functionality on the new laptop?
 
Last edited by a moderator:

ThinClient

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2013
3,977
4
0
If you're talking about auto-fill when you're adding an address to the To: box, they all do it.
 

xSauronx

Lifer
Jul 14, 2000
19,582
4
81
Outlook 2007
On my laptop when I start to type an email address in, Outlook knows what I have typed previously and gives me some choices.

I am moving offices and getting a new laptop, which file or files do I need from Outlook 2007 to restore that functionality on the new laptop?

the nk2 file is used in office 2007 for this, if you are going to office 2007 copy it from the current pc and copy it back to the new one AFTER you open outlook once (i think you need to close/open outlook again once you copy?)

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/nk2_file_location.html
 

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
83,769
19
81
Yep NK2 file. Sometimes it existed in two locations in my experience. I don't know if that was due to an "all users" and "current user" deal though. This was one of the things I'd have to deal with when I was doing help desk along with other work as a jack of all trades in my past job.
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
51,475
7,219
136
I cheat and use the Everything search engine (search .nk2):

http://www.voidtools.com/

I right-click and open the containing folder, copy & paste that path into a text file, and copy that over with the NK2 file to the new computer, and paste the NK2 into the new path. Make sure you rename your NK2 profile to the new profile name, i.e. if your old one was Bob.nk2 and your new one is the default Outlook profile, rename it to Outlook.nk2.

If you're using 2010 or newer, it will be a weird stream_autocomplete file, which is even more fun to deal with. If you're migrating a newer version (i.e. 2007 to 2010), Microsoft has a fixit tool for migrating NK2 files into the newer format automagically:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/980542

Kind of silly that it doesn't take it with the rest of your profile stuff, especially when dealing with Exchange migrations. At my last job, we were >100 people, so I dumped Exchange & Outlook and went with Thunderbird, haha. Zipped up their profiles every weekend to the server for backup, no issues ever :D
 

jlee

Lifer
Sep 12, 2001
48,518
223
106
Grab your signature folder from your old system too (or re-create it). Also copy any PST files you may have saved locally.
 

xSauronx

Lifer
Jul 14, 2000
19,582
4
81
I cheat and use the Everything search engine (search .nk2):

http://www.voidtools.com/

I right-click and open the containing folder, copy & paste that path into a text file, and copy that over with the NK2 file to the new computer, and paste the NK2 into the new path. Make sure you rename your NK2 profile to the new profile name, i.e. if your old one was Bob.nk2 and your new one is the default Outlook profile, rename it to Outlook.nk2.

If you're using 2010 or newer, it will be a weird stream_autocomplete file, which is even more fun to deal with. If you're migrating a newer version (i.e. 2007 to 2010), Microsoft has a fixit tool for migrating NK2 files into the newer format automagically:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/980542

Kind of silly that it doesn't take it with the rest of your profile stuff, especially when dealing with Exchange migrations. At my last job, we were >100 people, so I dumped Exchange & Outlook and went with Thunderbird, haha. Zipped up their profiles every weekend to the server for backup, no issues ever :D

well 2010 doesnt require the nk2 to do the autocomplete like 2007 did. for 2010 the auto complete is also populated from the "suggested contacts" (people you email but dont create an actual contact for) and data is kept in the pst or on exchange

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/o...formation-and-configurations-HP010354943.aspx

Outlook Contacts Auto-Complete List
The Auto-Complete List is a feature which displays suggestions for names and e-mail addresses as you begin to type them. These suggestions are possible matches from a list of names and e-mail addresses from the e-mail messages that you have sent.

In Outlook 2010, the Auto-Complete List file (.nk2) is discontinued. The Auto-Complete List entries are now saved in your Microsoft Exchange Server mailbox or in the Outlook Data File (.pst) for your account.

i was happy about this, because the pst is in one directory, and the nk2 is in another, and that was just one more annoyance when backing up user data if they didnt use exchange