O2K and O2K3 .nk2 files - compatible?

[Guest]

If I save a user's O2K version of a .nk2 file and copy it back to the
appropriate location after they have been upgraded to O2K3, will O2K3 use it
with out any glitches.

The upgrade is via a brand new ghost image, not an installation of O2K3 per
se.

Are there any caveats, e.g. should the user open Outlook before copying the
file over so it won't be overwritten?

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

They are compatible. Just make sure you follow the directions here for
migrating an NK2 file:
http://www.ingressor.com/autocompletetips.htm

 

[Guest]

The article doesn't mention .nick at all. In the interim, I've seen posted
that O2K3 files do not use .NICK files. It seems that if I copy the .NICK
file to a safe location, then back again, no good will result. O2K at least
would not create .nk2 files if it saw a NICK file, but the fix was to
basically start over by deleting the nick file and detect&repairing to get a
new .nk2...

Are there any conversion utilities, or can the file just be renamed?

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Why are you asking about NICK files? Not in play.

 

[Brian Tillman]

If I save a user's O2K version of a .nk2 file and copy it back to the
appropriate location after they have been upgraded to O2K3, will O2K3
use it with out any glitches.

O2K does not have an NK2 file. The autocompletion feature was added in
Outlook 2002.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Never mind. I thought you meant Outlook 2002 and Outlook 2003. I read your
shorthand incorrectly.
Actually NICK and NK2 files had the same structure and purpose, but there
were some changes made. I doubt you can rename a NICK file to NK2 and have
it work, but there's no harm in trying with a copy of the file. Just make
sure you rename it to match the new profile and place it in the correct
location.

 

[Guest]

Thanks you guys for your patient responses to my badly worded question. O2K->
NICK, O2K3->.NK2, different files different purposes.

Is there any hope of retaining the function O2K users had with their .NICK
files when they get upgraded to O2K3- keep in mind our upgrade isn't really
an upgrade, it's a reimage and the installation Wizard to give indiv profile
settings. In other words, we don't get to run the O2K3 upgrade against O2K;
it's basically a fresh install (so at no point will the NICK be exposed to
the Office upgrade which I think would make it into a .NK2.
In other words, it sounds to me like the users custom settings will have to
be reaquired from scratch.

yes, no, wrong way to ask question?

Thanks for being patient

 

[Brian Tillman]

Is there any hope of retaining the function O2K users had with their
.NICK files when they get upgraded to O2K3- keep in mind our upgrade
isn't really an upgrade, it's a reimage and the installation Wizard
to give indiv profile settings. In other words, we don't get to run
the O2K3 upgrade against O2K; it's basically a fresh install (so at
no point will the NICK be exposed to the Office upgrade which I think
would make it into a .NK2.

Updating Outlook 2000 to Outlook 2002/2003 does not modify the NICK file in
any way and OL 2002/2003 will not reference the NICK file for any purpose.
Since you'll be creating a new mail profile, the NK2 file that the first
address resolution in Outlook will create will start off with only that
resolution in it. At least, that's what I've seen.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

In theory, an upgrade installation might have retained the information in
the NICK file, but I doubt that would have been of any use. NICK files
contain only autoresolution data, not autocompletion data. Since
autocompletion only started with Outlook 2002, you were probably destined to
start from scratch no matter what. It doesn't take that long to build an
autocompletion cache.