From Network World:
"In response to our question last week about how to purge the cache that Outlook uses to auto-complete names entered in message address fields, readers Road Larse, Brian Tinsley and Kevin Square all responded more or less at the same time with the scoop.
The answer is that the nickname cache, as it is called, can be found at (we wrapped the path over two lines for clarity):
C:\Documents and Settings\(user name)\
Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\OutlookNK2
Earlier versions of Outlook called this file Outlook.NICK, but stored it in the same location.
Turns out that Microsoft has a KnowledgeBase article on the nickname cache, which notes that, "If the nickname cache is corrupted, Outlook may not be able to identify recipients, may offer incorrect recipients when automatically completing the e-mail address or . . . " - and this is the big one, folks - ". . . may send the message to the wrong person." Sigh.
You can delete the current nickname file to start anew (Outlook will create a new nickname file on the next restart), or you can rename the file as a backup. This file is also worth backing up in case of drive corruption. In response to our question last week about how to purge the cache that Outlook uses to auto-complete names entered in message address fields, readers Road Larse, Brian Tinsley and Kevin Square all responded more or less at the same time with the scoop.
The answer is that the nickname cache, as it is called, can be found at (we wrapped the path over two lines for clarity):
C:\Documents and Settings\(user name)\
Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\OutlookNK2
Earlier versions of Outlook called this file Outlook.NICK, but stored it in the same location.
Turns out that Microsoft has a KnowledgeBase article on the nickname cache, which notes that, "If the nickname cache is corrupted, Outlook may not be able to identify recipients, may offer incorrect recipients when automatically completing the e-mail address or . . . " - and this is the big one, folks - ". . . may send the message to the wrong person." Sigh.
You can delete the current nickname file to start anew (Outlook will create a new nickname file on the next restart), or you can rename the file as a backup. This file is also worth backing up in case of drive corruption.