Have you ever noticed that some users complain?

Outlook seems to be the most popular email client in the business world, however if you have users on one machine they usually want to have there settings on all machines. Roaming profiles is ideal for this however there are always times when you have to do it manually.

The most common bug bear from users is when you move ore re-create their profiles on another machine, outlook has “forgotton” then email contacts. ie Quick list that drops down when you start to enter an email address.

The reason for this is that this information is held in a file within the users folders, not in the PST file (if you are using PST), or Exchange.

To find this file you are looking for a file with the extension .nk2 the full name will be the Outlook profile name with the extension .nk2.

This file can usaually be found in:

Windows XP
Drive:\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
Windows Vista and later versions
Drive:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook

If you have changed the profile name in Outlook when you set up the new account simply change the name of the .nk2 file to match.

NOTE that Outlook 2010 now stores this information inside the PST or Exchange mailbox. If you want to import these see the following link:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/980542

Outlook is a strange beast, it decides on its own what it want to block. This has become an ever increasing problem for config files being sent to me via email.

However, there is an easy way to change it (if you don’t mind hacking the registry!)

Outlook 2007, Outlook 2003, Outlook 2002 and Outlook 2000 SP3 (but not Outlook 98 or earlier Outlook 2000 versions) allow the user to use a registry key to open up access to blocked attachments. (Always make a backup before editing the registry.) To use this key:

1.Run Regedit, and go to this key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Outlook\Security (change 10.0 to 9.0 for Outlook 2000 SP3 or to 11.0 for Outlook 2003, 12.0 for Outlook 2007 )

2.Under that key, add a new string value named Level1Remove.

3.For the value for Level1Remove, enter a semicolon-delimited list of file extensions. For example, entering this:

.mdb;.url

would unblock Microsoft Access files and Internet shortcuts. Note that the use of a leading dot was not previously required, however, new security patches may require it. If you are using  “mdb;url” format and extensions are blocked, add a dot to each extension. Note also that there is not a space between extensions.
If you are using this registry entry, a glance at Help | About Microsoft Outlook will show Security Mode: User Controlled above the license information. See OL2002 You Cannot Open Attachments for more information on this registry entry.

Now, if you are a little worried about using regedit, then you can always try out this little tool instead:

Attachment Options

http://www.slovaktech.com/attachmentoptions.htm