Note: The other languages of the website are Google-translated. Back to English

How to set out of office (automatic reply) in outlook?

Sometimes, you are out of office and can’t deal with the emails in time. In this case, you might want to let people know why you're not responding to their emails even though you have received the emails. You can set out of office (auto replying rule) in Outlook with below workarounds:


Set out of office (automatic reply) with Out of Office Assistant with Exchange Account

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. Please do as follows:

1. In the Mail view, select the exchange account on the Navigation Pane, and click File > Info > Automatic Replies.
Note: If your outlook have not connected to an Exchange Server, you can't find the Automatic Replies option.

2. 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. See screenshot:

3. 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. See screenshot:

4. Click OK to activate the out of office message.


Set out of office (automatic reply) with Manage Rules & Alerts function

If your outlook haven’t connected to an Exchange Server, the above method will not work. In this situation, the Manage Rules & Alerts function of Outlook can help you to set out of office auto reply as following steps:

1. Click Home > New E-mail to create a new message, type the subject and message as you need. See screenshot:

2. The click File > Save As in the new message window.

3. 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. See screenshot:

Note: After specifying the Save as type as Outlook Template (*.oft), the email will be saved to the default template folder automatically. And it's not necessary to choose saving folder any more.

4. Go ahead to click Home > Rules > Manage Rules & Alerts, see screenshot:

5. 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. See screenshot:

6. In the Rules Wizard , click Apply rule on message I receive from the Start from a blank rule section, and click the Next button.

7. In the Rules Wizard (which condition(s) do you want to check), check the sent only to me option, and click the Next button. See screenshot:

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. Close the Rules and Alert dialog box.

Going forward, when new emails are coming in your Outlook, they will be automatically replied with the specified message template at once.


Set out of office (automatic reply) with Kutools for Outlook

The above method is somewhat troublesome and tedious for you to set them step by step. But here I will introduce you an easy and handy way to set out of office quickly and conveniently in Outlook.

Kutools for Outlook: Add more than 100 handy tools for Outlook, free to try with no limitation in 60 days. Read More      Free Trial Now

1. Click Kutools > Reply > Enable Auto Reply to activate this utility.
doc auto reply kto

2. Get into the Auto Reply Manager by clicking Kutools > Reply > Auto Reply Manager. Check the Account Name that you want to apply this function, and click the OK button. You can also edit the subject and auto reply text as your need. See screenshots:

And now the auto reply setting has been successfully set up.

Tip: Once closing the Outlook application the Auto Reply feature will stop working.


Demo: Set out of office (automatic reply) with Kutools for Outlook


Tip: In this Video, Kutools tab is added by Kutools for Outlook. If you need it, please click here to have a 60-day free trial without limitation!


Kutools for Outlook - Brings 100 Advanced Features to Outlook, and Make Work Much Easier!

  • Auto CC/BCC by rules when sending email; Auto Forward Multiple Emails by custom; Auto Reply without exchange server, and more automatic features...
  • BCC Warning - show message when you try to reply all if your mail address is in the BCC list; Remind When Missing Attachments, and more remind features...
  • Reply (All) With All Attachments in the mail conversation; Reply Many Emails in seconds; Auto Add Greeting when reply; Add Date into subject...
  • Attachment Tools: Manage All Attachments in All Mails, Auto Detach, Compress All, Rename All, Save All... Quick Report, Count Selected Mails...
  • Powerful Junk Emails by custom; Remove Duplicate Mails and Contacts... Enable you to do smarter, faster and better in Outlook.
shot kutools outlook kutools tab 1180x121
shot kutools outlook kutools plus tab 1180x121
 
Comments (14)
No ratings yet. Be the first to rate!
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
thanks for you are sent me this it me...........
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
what do you want me to say?
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Just a question here - what tool did you use on step 1 to highlight the options and circle them ( with number ) i have seen the tool in quite a few places but not sure which tool is that
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
All right!! this work for me after convert physical machine to virtual machine with vmware converter 5.1. Thank you.
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Is it possible to use the "End Time" setting in Outlook 2010 to use as a variable to automatically populate the message body? i.e. I want to write: I will be back in the office on . If you need support during this time contact ... etc... etc...
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Very helpful. Thanks :lol:
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Very helpful for beginners.
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Amazing help ..very helpfull
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
I used the out of office reply through "manage rules and alerts" Can you explain how to undo?
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Section on autoreply for non-techies excellent, very clear and works. Before Item 10 I think the instruction "click on Open" is necessary. Tried to do this quite a few times before and basically failed - this was GREAT.
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Is it possible to find a list of previous Out of Offices that I have set up?
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
You made my life simpler....Thank you for the Step by Step effort on Outlook.
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Thank you, whoever did this. But really Microsoft, the old box for managing alerts made setting up out of office messages so much easier!
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Hi, Can someone elaborate on how to use the "Rules" at the bottom of the initial screen under "Set out of office (automatic reply) with Out of Office Assistant with Exchange Account" before we click on OK https://www.extendoffice.com/images/stories/doc-outlook/doc-out-of-office/doc-auto-reply-04.png<br /> Would this allow for various out of office rules/replies pertaining to different topics such as away rule during holiday, or for a meeting, move announcement, etc. Thanks!
There are no comments posted here yet

Follow Us

Copyright © 2009 - www.extendoffice.com. | All rights reserved. Powered by ExtendOffice. | Sitemap
Microsoft and the Office logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
Protected by Sectigo SSL