Transfering Outlook Quick Address List

This month I would like to include some handy Outlook tips. It’s safe to say that Outlook has become the most common mail client in the business world. Many people work with it on a day to day basis but never really tap into it’s full potential as a desktop/ laptop technician I should know more than I do about Outlook. Here is the first in a series of three common Outlook requests and some easy solutions.

You manually transfer a client’s e-mail from computer with Outlook to another. Having transferred the PST file you give the machine back to the user. The user complains that on his new machine when he is composing an e-mail he no longer has a drop down list of suggested email addresses. For whatever reason that list is not contained in the .PST file but in another file named after the profile name and ending in .nk2. So if the profile name is Patrick then the file name would be Patrick.nk2.

Unlike the .PST file, the .nk2 file is located in the
“…\Documents and Settings\%username%\ Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook” folder. Transfer the contents of that folder to the user’s new machine and that list will be back when they launch Outlook. Keep in mind that if the Outlook profile name is different on the new machine then this will not work. Inn that case you will have to rename the .nk2 file to match the name of the current profile.

Finally, if you need to look into an .nk2 file to figure to read the addresses it contains or want to edit try using this free utility.