Exchange 2003, Outlook Cache, Offline Address Book

New email addresses don’t show up in Outlook immediately after adding them in Exchange.

With Exchange 2003 and Outlook configured in Cached mode there is a known delay from the Offline Address Book in Exchange (OAB). When a new mailbox is created you will not see it in the OAB for 24 hours because the default update for this is 24 hours.

This is different from Oulook name cache because the cache in outlook reveals addresses previously typed in. If you have an old address in our outlook cache and then try to send an email to the person a user will complain that the old address still shows up. This is because they need to clear their outlook name cache. To clear your Cache and update the OAB you need to take the following steps.

To update the OAB in Exchange - This seems intrusive however the users will not notice any system hang while this happens and you can do it during normal business hours. This can take 2 minutes to a few hours depending on the size of your mailbox database.

1. Open Exchange System Manager (ESM).

2. Expand Recipients and then select Offline Address List.

3. Right click the Default Offline Address List on the right hand side and select "Rebuild".

4. You will get a message that "This operation rebuilds the Offline Address List" and you click Yes to continue.

To update the OAB in Outlook – This is also necessary to defeat the 24 hour delay with automatically updating. It can't be done from a central location for all users.

1. Open outlook

2. Click the down arrow next to send/ receive

3. Click "download address book". Once you've done this you should see the new email address in the OAB.

Outlook name cache

This is also not something that can be centrally managed for all users. All users will need to do this personally or you will have to do it for them.

1. Close Outlook and then open up Explorer.

2. Select Tools | Folder Options and click on the View tab.

3. Select Advanced View and check the boxes next to Show Hidden Files and Folders.

4. Open up the Search applet and search for *.NK2 files. There will be a NK2 file for each Outlook profile on the computer and it will be named profilename.NK2.

5. Rename the file to profilename.bak or delete the file. When you open up Outlook, it will create a new NK2 file and start a new nickname list.