Outlook: Delete Autocomplete Email Addresses

Contributed by David Kirk

Tagged: Microsoft Outlook

Even after you have corrected a wrong email address in your contacts, the old email will continue to bug you when outlook tries to autocomplete addresses for you.

Microsoft outlook stores any email address you type into the “To” field–wrong or right. For example, if I type in “mom@blag.com” instead of “mom@blah.com”, outlook will try to autocomplete the erroneous address into the email field. No matter where you try to correct this, the error email address will always be remembered.

Likewise, the bigger the cache of email addresses gets, the slower and more useless it becomes.

If you are lucky enough to trigger the autocompletion box, you can press the down arrow until the error email address is selected and then hit DELETE. Often, however, the autocompletion box will not be displayed. Microsoft has a work-around.

The easiest thing to do is to blitz the whole file. The file lives here where your-profile is unique to your installation: “C:\Documents and Settings\your-profile\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook”

Delete or rename all *.nk2 files at this location.

If you need a detailed, walk-through you can find it here:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=287623

34 Comments -

Susy said on November 11, 2008

To expand upon FYIGal’s reply (which I think is the simplest solution for the problem presented):

I was able to remove a wrong email address from the autocomplete list by putting my cursor in the “TO” box; type the first letter(s) of the wrong nickname/email; use the arrow keys to scroll till the wrong item is selected (arrow keys will keep the drop down window open), then just press the delete button. This will remove that particular nickname/email address from the autocomplete list.
Jessi said on November 13, 2008

There is an easier way. When you start typing in the TO: box and the drop down list pops up with the possible email addresses, scroll down with your arrow keys, and once you are on the email address that is incorrect, hit your delete key. And voila! It deletes that email address.
Anonymous said on March 3, 2009

when I,use out look for craigs list, email rejected because of an old contact. I,had in my address book has long been delited yet blocks me from using outlook to ciontact sellers on craigs list. email of deleted was,rBush5@tampabayjr.com
Anonymous said on September 25, 2009

Before I reinstalled Outlook 2007 I was able to delete a message by clicking on the X and continue reading the next message. Now, when I click on the X, the messages close taking me back to the message list. How do I correct this?

Thanks
Sarah said on October 14, 2009

In Outlook 2007- simply hit delete when the old address comes up. nice ‘n easy.
Anonymous said on October 26, 2009

didnt work for me
wct said on February 15, 2010

I just discovered an easier way to delete a specific address in list without having to delete/rename the entire cache…

1) Start to type the name in the “to” box, enough so that the faulty address comes up.
2) RIGHT click on the drop down box that shows the auto fill names
Anonymous said on March 16, 2010

This sounded too easy and it was…it didn’t work when I followed the walk-through description. No *.NK2 files were found.
Any other ideas?
Thanks!
Anonymous said on March 30, 2010

You’re brilliant. Simplest way to rid a recipient that’s been autoadded to the “autocomplete” list. Thanks for the post.
Anonymous said on April 5, 2010

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HP063767381033.aspx?pid=CH010496931033
Meg said on May 17, 2010

thanks! very helpful :)
Sauerfilho said on June 18, 2010

I have swaped Outlook express for Microsoft Outlook. Some ware in this process my contact list got lost in sub files. I am wondering if anyone knows of a way to scan ones computer for all email addresses contained there in and produce one single list and transfer it into outlook?
Thanks Werner
Newbie said on July 8, 2010

If the old email keeps popping up, just hit Ctrl + K and the computer will bring up suggested email addresses to finish the email. Choose the right email address and the computer will remember this as the new email address, not the old email.
Bethenyjohnston said on July 16, 2010

Or you can just delete the mistake autocomplete entries by pushing the down or up arrow to select the wrong entry and pushing the delete button
Make Maxx said on July 29, 2010

Thank you very. It is much utile…
Kmack22 said on August 11, 2010

fabulous! that works! simply start typing and when the incorrect autocomplete address shows up, press delete on your keyboard. I found that I then had to close that email without saving, and then start a new email and start typing the address I wanted and voila! it appeared correctly. thanks!
Colin Warwick said on August 13, 2010

Thansk! One typo “down error” should be “down arrow” (key)
Jonathan said on August 27, 2010

Thank you for this thead i deleting of email address on autocomplete is very easy with this kind of forum. Thanks a lot.
Anonymous said on August 27, 2010

Thanks, Colin. Typo corrected.
Colin Warwick said on August 27, 2010

You’re welcome! (BTW, it should be ‘erroneous email address’ (adjective) not ‘error email address’ (noun) :-) )
Anonymous said on August 27, 2010

google “error email address” About 110,000,000 results (0.49 seconds)
google “erroneous email address” About 448,000 results (0.20 seconds)

I agree “erroneous” is more correct, and I’ll edit the post… but we have to write so people using google can find us. ;)

Don’t let my sorry excuses dissuade you from proofing more of our tutorials. I’ll be glad to edit posts all day. :)
Colin Warwick said on August 27, 2010

Agreed. It’s hard to strike a balance between SEO for bots and TAO (target audience optimization) for humans. I lean toward the humans. Let the 20,000 Googlers figure out how to make their bot speak human. :-)
Colin Warwick said on August 27, 2010

Oh! BTW it’s not the number of search results that you should SEO for. It’s the monthly search volume. You can get that info from Google Keyword Tool if you have an AdWords account.
Ed said on September 8, 2010

This is a great tip. I have wanted to get rid of these bad entries for a LONG time. it is too bad there is nothing in the Outlook help online about this. Thank you so much.
giri said on September 20, 2010

thank you,,
Arsal said on September 29, 2010

Thank you very much, It was giving a big trouble becuase there are same name for two different people. I just highlight the unwanted name and press delete, and it works
kelseyW said on October 14, 2010

very, very helpful! thx!
LStarrider said on November 11, 2010

If you need to save these files to Your Contacts just begin an email type the name and when it comes up in the “To:” box, right-click and on the Context Menu choose “Add to Oulook Contacts”.
Then it is safe to delete the .NK2 file.
Salcalvert said on January 6, 2011

THANKS SO MUCH!! that has been bugging me for so long, I have one person in my address book that I always accidently use the wrong email for because of this stupid auto completing, and its just casued a big problem because she didnt get an important mail. It took me seconds to delete the wrong address with your instuctions, I wish Id known & done it a long time ago. Thanks again for your helpful post!
Tomchase said on February 2, 2011

It only works until you reboot your system. Once you reboot, everything you deleted with the “work-around” is back!
Capilot23 said on February 5, 2011

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

I have Office 2010 and have the same problem with Outlook in Office 2010. Your VERY SIMPLE “trick”, Quickly and Easily removes the unwanted addresses.

I then discovered that Outlook has taken and added email addresses from everywhere/anywhere that I have ever gotten an email from, including businesses, and “unsubscribe” lists.

I found that typing in just the first letter of EVERY letter in the alphabet PLUS all numbers from 0 – 9 pulled up lists of these that I have NEVER used or NEVER SENT to, but only have received from. I used the same “trick” of Down Arrow to Highlight the UNWANTED address and pressed DELETE on the keyboard. Presto, like magic they are gone.

I usually WAIT till Microsoft has put out at least one or two Service Packs before I EVER buy ANY of their products. Last year, in 2010, I did not wait, and bought Office 2010. What a ROYAL Pain in the behind it is.

For example, Word Does NOT come with a button to Print or to Save. You have to find where they are hidden and CREATE your own “ribbon”.

I can’t imagine ANYONE who uses word that would at some point Not want to print or save a document. Microsoft really makes it difficult to find where these features are, and then have to INSTALL them in a “ribbon”.

Because in 2010, Office 2010 was new, there are VERY few books on it. I did find one, but it is geared for people who have never used ANY Office products. It is great if you don’t even know how to create a document, set margins, etc, BUT it does NOT have the information for something as simple as Print or Save.

When will Bill Gates and Microsoft wake up??? I think NEVER.

To put out a word processor program and not think people would want a single button each for Print OR Save, is beyond me.
Nijee Taylor said on February 8, 2011

Here is a free NK2 Cache Rebuild tool, works really well.
http://www.outlooktip.com/install-outlook-nk2-autocache/
Pete said on April 27, 2011

So, how is this done if I use Outlook on a Mac? The delete options does not work.
Ct_fan said on May 19, 2011

I have outlook 2007. I dont see any *.nk2 files in my outlook subdirectory?? What am I doing wrong?

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Outlook: Delete Autocomplete Email Addresses

Even after you have corrected a wrong email address in your contacts, the old email will continue to bug you when outlook tries to autocomplete addresses for you.

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