If you're an employee at an office that hosts its own email server and the organization uses Microsoft software, you might have an Exchange server as your email service. You can set up an Exchange server if you use Microsoft services such as Azure. Microsoft Exchange is an email server application available in network environments that use mainly the Microsoft operating system. We'll set up a non-Exchange message in the next section, but this section covers Exchange users.
Native out-of-office messages using Outlook are only available to Microsoft Exchange users, but you can work with a non-Exchange account using rules. Outlook has a feature that lets you set these messages, which will be sent each time you receive a message in your inbox. The alternative is to create an out-of-office message that lets people know you're away. Email never sleeps, so when you come back you could come back to dozens of senders angry that you never responded.
Going forward, when new emails are coming in your Outlook, they will be automatically replied with the specified message template at once.You can't always be at your computer all day and night, and sometimes you leave for days either for vacation or because you're sick. Click the Next button twice to get into the Rules Wizard (Finish rule setup), please (1) type a name for the new rule in the Step 1 box (2) check options as you need in the Step 2 section (3) and click the Finish button.ġ0. Now in the Rules Wizard (what do you want to do with the message?), please do as following screenshot shown: (1) Check the reply using a specific template option (2) Click the linked text of a specific template (3) Now in the popping out Select a Reply Template dialog box, select the User Templates in File System from Look in drop down list, click to select the message template you created just now, and click the Open button (4) Now you return to the Rules Wizard, please click the Next button.ĩ. In the Rules Wizard (which condition(s) do you want to check), check the sent only to me option, and click the Next button. In the Rules Wizard, click Apply rule on message I receive from the Start from a blank rule section, and click the Next button.ħ. In the Rules and Alerts dialog box, (1) click E-mail Rules tab (2) select the email account that you want to apply the out of office setting from Apply changes to this folder drop down list (3) and then click New Rule. Go ahead to click Home > Rules > Manage Rules & Alerts, see screenshot:ĥ. And it's not necessary to choose saving folder any more.Ĥ. Note: After specifying the Save as type as Outlook Template (*.oft), the email will be saved to the default template folder automatically. Now in the Save As dialog box, please select Outlook Template (*.oft) from the Save as type drop down list, and click the Save button. The click File > Save As in the new message window.ģ. Click Home > New E-mail to create a new message, type the subject and message as you need. In this situation, the Manage Rules & Alerts function of Outlook can help you to set out of office auto reply as following steps:ġ. If your outlook haven’t connected to an Exchange Server, the above method will not work. Set out of office (automatic reply) with Manage Rules & Alerts function Click OK to activate the out of office message. If you need to enable auto-reply for external senders too, please (1) click the Outside My Organization (On) tab (2) check the Auto-reply to people outside my organization option (3) type the auto replying message in the below box. In the Automatic Replies dialog box, (1) select the Send automatic replies option (2) check the Only send during this time range option and specify the Start time and End time as you need (3) type the replying message in the below box. Note: If your outlook have not connected to an Exchange Server, you can't find the Automatic Replies option.Ģ. In the Mail view, select the exchange account on the Navigation Pane, and click File > Info > Automatic Replies. If you are using an Exchange account, you can auto reply a specified message for the received emails with setting the Out of Office Assistant while you are away.