Outlook: Frequently Asked Questions

This is an old, old FAQ list I started on my personal website, before I started Outlook Tips. It proved to be much easier to create a new page for each FAQ than it was to keep adding to this list (plus, its harder to find answers in a long list of questions and answers.) I moved it to the new site only because its still useful.

Question: I recently upgraded from Outlook 2002 to Outlook 2003 and now have 2 Personal Folders, both with the same information.

Close Outlook.
Open Control Panel and find the Mail applet.
Select the profile and press Remove.
Click the Add button and make a new profile.
After clicking finish, select the new profile from the Mail dialog and choose Properties, then View or change email accounts.
Select New Outlook data file and find your existing PST, add it to the profile and set it as the default.

**Note that while the dialog appears to only create a new pst, you can select an existing one to use.
For more information, see How to create a new profile

Question: Outlook is blocking potentially dangerous attachments. How can I stop it?

Use Attachment Options or a similar utility to make the changes for you (list of utilities is at Slipstick.com)
Modify the registry on your own. Instructions are available at Slipstick.com

Question: I don't have the Go, News command in Outlook 2003.

To get the News command back, go back to the Programs tab in Control Panel | Internet Options and change the default newsreader to Outlook Express. If OE prompts you to make it your default newsreader the next time you launch it, click the "Don't ask me again" box and then click the No button.

You may need to reset the menu or toolbar using Tools, customize.

Update: Go, News is was removed from Outlook 2007/2010 and does not work on any version in Windows 7 as there is no default news reader pre-installed.

Question: The auto-fill option pulls up every address a person had, even though I have removed the old addresses from my contacts.

The autocomplete cache is stored in a *.nk2 file at C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook. You can delete the file to start fresh or use the arrow keys (as you are typing addresses in the fields) to select an address and use the Delete key to remove it.

Two options:

If you right click on the PST and receive an error when you choose Close and can't remove the extras using File, Data File Management, then you have ghosts. The easiest way to remove ghosts is to create a new profile.

Published July 18, 2003. Last updated on June 16, 2017.