Overview
What is an out of office message?
An out of office message is the auto responder that you have carefully designed to send to those who try to reach you while you are away from the office.
How do I set up an out of office message?
Outlook Desktop Client
- Select the File option.
- Select Automatic Replies from the given list.
- We recommend that you set a date range for your automatic replies. This will turn off automatic replies at the date and time you enter for the end time. Otherwise, you'll need to turn off automatic replies manually.
- On the Inside My Organization tab, type the auto responder message that you want to send to team mates or colleagues while you are out of the office.
- You may optionally decide whether to block your calendar, cancel meetings and/or decline new meeting invites during the date range indicated.
- Select OK to save it.
- Sending automatic replies to anyone outside my organization will send your automatic reply to every email, including newsletters, advertisements, and potentially, junk/phishing email. If you want to send automatic replies to those outside your organization, we recommend choosing My contacts only or none at all.
- We understand there may be valid reasons to notify external individuals when a mailbox is not being monitored or an alternate contact is available to provide assistance and have changed our policy to allow this in these rare cases.
Microsoft Reference
Webmail
- In webmail, select Settings > View all Outlook settings > Mail > Automatic replies.
- Select the Turn on automatic replies toggle.
- Proceed as for the Outlook Desktop Client and then select Save at the top of the window.
Microsoft Reference
Mobile Outlook App
You can also update your Automatic Replies from Outlook for iOS or Outlook for Android.
Why is an out of office message important?
An out of office message is important because it lets you keep people informed and tells them how to proceed in your absence. You can also select options for urgent matters within your out of office message.
What do you say in an out of office message?
Your out of office message should include the time period during which you will be out of your office, preferably including the exact dates. You should also include whom the messenger should contact in case of an emergency.
An example of a professional out of office message follows:
Hi there,
Thank you for your email. I will be out of the office from mm/dd to mm/dd and will have limited access to email / will not have access to email. If this is urgent, please contact [NAME] at [EMAIL] or [PHONE]. I will do my best to respond promptly to your email when I return on mm/dd.
Best regards,
NAME