Reset AutoComplete Names

Outlook 2002 (aka XP) introduced, and in all subsequent versions a feature to maintain a list of people that you have emailed before, which you see when you start typing a name in to the TO: or CC: line of a new or forwarded message. This list is automatically created as you use Outlook and has a limit of 1000 entires.

You have three options to manage this feature:

1. Disable the capability altogether,
2. Reset the auto complete cache, so that you create a new one as you go along.
3. Delete individual entries.

Disable AutoComplete

1. In Outlook XP/2003, Click on "Tools", "Options" and then the "Preferences" tab.
2. Click on the button marked "Email Options" and then choose "Advanced Email Options".
3. Remove the check mark against "Suggest Names when completing To:, CC: or BCC: fields
4. Press Apply or OK on each box to close the options area.

Reset AutoComplete Cache

1. Quit Outlook and any applications that may be accessing Outlook.
2. Start Windows Explorer or My Computer.
3. Click "Tools", "Options" and then the "View" tab.
4. Under "Advanced Setting", verify/change the option to enable "Show Hidden Files and Folders".
5. Click OK or Apply to exit.
6. Click, "Start", "Search" and choose "For Files or Folders".
7. In the box, type "*.nk2" (notice that it is * <dot> nk2)
8. In the "Look in" box, ensure that your local drive (C: usually is chosen.
9. Click search now. The search should find at least one file.
10. If numerous files were found, choose the one from named after own profile (which is named after your username).
11. Right click on the correct file and choose "Rename".
12. Change the suffix to .bak so if your username was "jbloggs" the file could be called jbloggs.nk2 and you would rename it to jbloggs.bak.
13. Close Windows Explorer and restart Outlook.

Delete Individual Entries

1. Start typing the name that you want to delete.
2. When the name that you want to delete appears, use the cursor keys to highlight it.
3. Press the "Delete" key to remove the entry.