Can the Outlook local address cache be primed?

Question

Is there a way to prime Outlook's local address cache with names/email addresses from the local address book? It's a real hassle when, for example, you move a user from another email client to Outlook and they have to either type in or look up the recipient's name the first time they email that person. It's so time consuming.

Update: Is the process different for Exchange mailboxes vs. IMAP?

Answer 1

There is a superb article on howtogeek.com which details how to do this.

Do you ever find it frustrating that you can’t make changes to the auto-complete entries in Microsoft Outlook? Even more annoying is the fact that items in your address book aren’t immediately added to the autocomplete list.

There’s a small utility named NK2View by the excellent Nirsoft that can help with this problem. You can delete items in the list, import from your address book, and even export auto-completed addresses for later import into Outlook as full contacts.

Download NK2View from Nirsoft, run it and use the F2 key to import addresses from your address book into the autocomplete cache.

I have tested it with my own copy of Outlook 2010 and it works a treat.