Outlook AutoComplete

By | March 24, 2018
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Copy the AutoComplete list

The steps to export and import the AutoComplete list are different, depending on the version of Outlook that you are using.

Outlook 2010, Outlook 2013, and Outlook 2016

To copy the AutoComplete list in Outlook 2010, Outlook 2013, and Outlook 2016, follow these steps:

Step 1

To export the AutoComplete mailbox message, follow these steps:

  1. Exit Outlook, and then close Outlook Web Access or Outlook Web App (OWA) on all workstations that are connected to your mailbox.
  2. Download and install MFCMAPI from https://github.com/stephenegriffin/mfcmapi
  3. Run mfcmapi.exe.
  4. On the Session menu, click Logon.
  5. If you are prompted for a profile, select the desired profile name, and then click OK.
  6. In the top pane, locate the line that corresponds to your mailbox, and then double-click it.
  7. In the left-side navigation pane, expand Root Container, and then expand Top of Information Store or IPM_SUBTREE.
  8. Right-click the Inbox folder, and then click Open Associated Content Table. This action opens a new MFCMAPI window that contains various properties.
  9. Under the Subject column, right-click the item that has the subject IPM.Configuration.Autocomplete, and then click Export Message. This action opens the Save Message To File window.
  10. In the drop-down list, select MSG file (UNICODE), and then click OK.
  11. Select a folder location to which you want to save the message, and then click Save. Note this location.

Step 2

To import the AutoComplete mailbox message, follow these steps.

  1. Exit Outlook, and then close Outlook Web Access or Outlook Web App (OWA) on all workstations that are connected to your mailbox.
  2. Download and install MFCMAPI from http://mfcmapi.codeplex.com
  3. Run mfcmapi.exe.
  4. On the Session menu, click Logon.
  5. If you are prompted for a profile, select the desired profile name, and then click OK.
  6. In the top pane, locate the line that corresponds to your mailbox, and then double-click it.
  7. In the left-side navigation pane, expand Root – Mailbox, and then expand Top of Information Store or IPM_SUBTREE.
  8. Right-click the Inbox folder, and then click Open Associated Content Table. This action opens a new MFCMAPI window that contains various properties.
  9. To avoid duplicate entries, you must delete the existing AutoComplete message.Note Before you delete the IPM.Configuration.Autocomplete message, you must export the message by using the steps in the “How to export the Auto-Complete cache” section.To delete the existing AutoComplete message, follow these steps:
    1. In the Subject column, locate the item that has the subject IPM.Configuration.Autocomplete.
    2. Right-click the item, and then click Delete message. This opens the Delete Item window.
    3. In the drop-down list, select Permanent deletion (deletes to deleted item retention if supported), and then click OK.
  10. On the Folder menu, click Import, and then click From MSG.
  11. Locate the .msg file that you created in step 11 of the “How to Export the Auto-Complete List” section, and then click OK.
  12. In the Load MSG window that appears, select Load message into current folder in the Load style list, and then click OK.

The AutoComplete information is imported from the IPM.Configuration.Autocomplete_<hexadecimal code>.msg, where the placeholder<hexadecimal code> represents a long string of numbers and letters.

Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007

The steps to copy the AutoComplete list in Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007 are different. This is because Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007 store the AutoComplete list in the .nk2 file.

To copy the AutoComplete list in Outlook 2007, go to the following Microsoft website:

Copy the AutoComplete list to another computer

How to remove AutoComplete list entries one at a time

To remove entries from the AutoComplete cache one entry at a time, follow these steps:

  1. Open a new email message.
  2. Type the first few characters of the AutoComplete entry that you want to remove.
  3. When the entry appears in the list of suggested names, move your mouse pointer over the name until it becomes highlighted, but do not click the name.
  4. When the “X” icon appears next to the highlighted name, click X to remove the name from the list, or press the Delete key on the keyboard.

Issues with the AutoComplete cache

This section describes known issues that can occur with the AutoComplete cache. The AutoComplete cache can become corrupted over time and may not save new entries. If this happens, you can try to remove individual entries from the list. To do this, see the section titled “How to remove AutoComplete list entries one at a time.” If that does not resolve the issue, the whole AutoComplete list can be reset. To do this, see the section titled “How to clear the whole AutoComplete list.”

How to change the limit for the AutoComplete list

Because this configuration is untested, we do not recommend it. If you have a larger AutoComplete list, you could also lose a larger number of cached entries if your AutoComplete cache becomes unusable because of corruption. Given this disclaimer, you can use the following registry data to increase the AutoComplete list limit in Outlook.

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756 How to back up and restore the registry in Windows
  1. Exit Outlook.
  2. Start Registry Editor.
    • In Windows 8.x, press the Windows key, type regedit and then press Enter.
    • In Windows 7 and Windows Vista, click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press Enter.
  3. Locate and then select the following registry subkey:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\x.0\Outlook\AutoNameCheck

    Note The placeholder x.0 in this registry subkey represents your version of Microsoft Office. Use the appropriate value from the following list.

    Outlook 2016 = 16.0
    Outlook 2013 = 15.0
    Outlook 2010 = 14.0
    Outlook 2007 = 12.0
    Outlook 2003 = 11.0

  4. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD value.
  5. Type MaxNickNames, and then press Enter.
  6. On the Edit menu, click Modify.
  7. Type the new value for the limit, and then click OK.Notes
    • Make sure that you type the number in decimal form. That is the correct form in which to type the number.
    • Try increasing the limit by only a marginal amount to test the new limit. For example, to create a 20 percent increase in the limit in Outlook 2013, you would specify 1200 for the MaxNickNames value.
  8. Exit Registry Editor.
  9. Start Outlook.

Note The MaxNickNames registry value merely specifies the nondefault limit. Therefore, you can also use this value to lower the limit of the nickname cache.