How to Back up or Copy an Outlook Autocomplete List

Back up the list of recently used emails in Microsoft Outlook

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Updated on January 28, 2021

What to Know

Download MFCMAPI. Go to Session > Logon, select a profile, and double-click your Outlook email profile in the Display Name column.
In the viewer, look under Root > IPM_SUBTREE, then right-click Inbox and select Open associated contents table.
Go to the Subject section, right-click IPM.Configuration.Autocomplete, then choose Export message and save it as an MSG file.

This article explains how to copy Outlook autocomplete data. Instructions apply to Outlook 2019, Outlook 2016, Outlook 2013, Outlook 2010, and Outlook for Microsoft 365.

How to Back up Your Outlook Auto-Complete List

Microsoft Outlook keeps a list of recently used email addresses that you typed in the To, Cc, and Bcc fields of an email message. Outlook keeps most of your essential data in a PST file, like your email messages, contacts list, and calendar items. The autocomplete list that displays when you start typing a name or email address is stored in a hidden message.

Check your Office version. Open Outlook and go to File > Office Account (or Account) > About Outlook. You'll see either 64-bit or 32-bit listed at the top.
Close Outlook.
Download MFCMAPI. There's a 32-bit and a 64-bit version of MFCMAPI. Download the right one for your version of MS Office, not for your Windows version.
Extract the MFCMAPI.exe file from the ZIP archive, then open the EXE file.
In MFCMAPI, go to Session > Logon.
Select the Profile Name drop-down arrow and choose the desired profile. There may be one called Outlook.
Select OK.
In the Display Name column, double-click your Outlook email profile.
In the viewer, select the arrow to the left of Root to expand it.
Expand IPM_SUBTREE.

If you don't see IPM_SUBTREE, choose Top of Information Store or Top of Outlook data file.
Right-click Inbox.
Select Open associated contents table.
Go to the Subject section, right-click IPM.Configuration.Autocomplete, and then choose Export message.
In the Save Message To File window, select the Format to save message dropdown arrow and choose MSG file (UNICODE).
Select OK.

Save the MSG file somewhere safe. You can now exit MFCMAPI and use Outlook normally.

If you replace the NK2 file at another computer, replace the original by either matching the file name or deleting the one you no longer want. Then, place your new NK2 file there.

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