You can send an out of office e-mail message to people while you are out of the office. If your mail account is a
Microsoft Exchange accountAn account managed by Microsoft Exchange Server. Microsoft Exchange
accounts are used by organizations with many users. They make it possible to synchronize e‑mail, calendars, and contacts between multiple computers., you can use the Out of Office Assistant. For
POPA common type of Internet-based mail account. Examples are Windows Live Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail. After you add a POP account to Outlook, messages from the account appear in the folder list under On My Computer.
or
IMAPA common type of Internet-based mail account such as Gmail, AOL Mail, and many others. Messages from these accounts appear in folders in the Outlook
folder list, under the name of the account.
accounts, you can set up a mail rule to automatically reply to new e-mail messages.
Do any of the following:
 | Turn on the Out of Office Assistant for an Exchange account |
The Out of Office Assistant works with the server that is running Microsoft Exchange Server
to automatically reply to e-mail messages while you are out of the office. Because the Exchange
server sends the messages (not Outlook), Outlook
does not need to be open for the reply messages to be sent.
-
At the bottom of the
navigation paneThe left pane of the main Outlook
window. In Mail view, the navigation pane displays the folder list. In Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, and Notes views, the navigation pane lets you show and hide items from your category list., click Mail 
.
 | Note If you have multiple Exchange
accounts, you must turn the Out of Office Assistant on or off for each account separately. To choose an account for which you want to turn on the Out of Office Assistant, select a folder in the account in the
folder listThe list of your mail folders visible in the navigation pane, which is the pane on the left side of the main Outlook
window. The folder list is only visible in Mail view.
before you continue to the next step. |
-
On the Tools tab, click Out of Office.
-
Click Send Out of Office messages.
-
In the Reply to message with box, type the text that you want to include in your automatic reply.
-
Do any of the following:
To | Do this |
|---|
Set start and end dates for an Out of Office message | Select the I am out of the office between check box, and then set your Start date and End date. |
Set options for replying outside your organization (if enabled by your Microsoft Exchange
administrator) | Select the Send replies outside my company to check box, and then complete the information. |
| Note Your
delegateA person who has permission to access another person's Microsoft Exchange
calendar, tasks, notes, address book, or mail folder. If granted the appropriate level of permission, a delegate can also send and reply to invitations and messages for the other person.
cannot turn on or turn off the Out of Office Assistant for you. |
| Turn off the Out of Office Assistant for an Exchange account |
-
At the bottom of the
navigation paneThe left pane of the main Outlook
window. In Mail view, the navigation pane displays the folder list. In Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, and Notes views, the navigation pane lets you show and hide items from your category list., click Mail .
| Note If you have multiple Exchange
accounts, you must turn the Out of Office Assistant on or off for each account separately. To choose an account for which you want to turn off the Out of Office Assistant, select a folder in the account in the
folder listThe list of your mail folders visible in the navigation pane, which is the pane on the left side of the main Outlook
window. The folder list is only visible in Mail view.
before you continue to the next step. |
-
On the Tools tab, click Out of Office.
-
Click Do not send Out of Office messages.
 | Tip If you set a start and end date for your Out of Office message, it will turn off automatically when it reaches the end date. If you want to turn off the Out of Office message before the end date, click Do not send Out of Office messages. |
| Create a mail rule to automatically reply to incoming mail messages |
You can set up a mail rule in Outlook
to automatically reply to new e-mail messages. Mail rules can be set up for all account types in Outlook, including
POPA common type of Internet-based mail account. Examples are Windows Live Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail. After you add a POP account to Outlook, messages from the account appear in the folder list under On My Computer.
and
IMAPA common type of Internet-based mail account such as Gmail, AOL Mail, and many others. Messages from these accounts appear in folders in the Outlook
folder list, under the name of the account.
accounts.
Important
Because mail rules are run by Outlook
and not the mail server, your computer must be on and Outlook
must be open for automatic reply messages to be sent.
-
At the bottom of the
navigation paneThe left pane of the main Outlook
window. In Mail view, the navigation pane displays the folder list. In Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, and Notes views, the navigation pane lets you show and hide items from your category list., click Mail .
-
On the Organize tab, click Rules, and then click Edit Rules.
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In the left pane of the Rules dialog box, click the account type for which you want to create the rule.
| If you don't know what type of account you have |
-
In the Rules dialog box, click Show All, and then under Personal Settings, click Accounts.
-
In the left pane of the Accounts dialog box, click the account.
The account type appears under the account description. In this example, the account is a POP account.
-
To return to the Rules dialog box, click Show All, and then under E-mail, click Rules.
-
Click Add 
.
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In the Rule name box, type a name for the rule, such as
Vacation response.
-
Under the Add Action button, on the Change status pop-up menu, click Reply.
-
Click Reply Text, type the automated reply that you want Outlook
to send, and then click OK.
-
Make sure that the Enabled check box is selected, and then click OK.
-
To turn off the automatic reply messages, double-click the rule to open it, and then clear the Enabled check box.
| Tip You can also turn off a rule by clearing the check box next to the name of the rule in the Rules dialog box. |
| Turn off a mail rule |
-
At the bottom of the
navigation paneThe left pane of the main Outlook
window. In Mail view, the navigation pane displays the folder list. In Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, and Notes views, the navigation pane lets you show and hide items from your category list., click Mail .
-
On the Organize tab, click Rules, and then click Edit Rules.
-
In the left pane of the Rules dialog box, click the account type for which you want to create the rule.
| If you don't know what type of account you have |
-
In the Rules dialog box, click Show All, and then under Personal Settings, click Accounts.
-
In the left pane of the Accounts dialog box, click the account.
The account type appears under the account description. In this example, the account is a POP account.
-
To return to the Rules dialog box, click Show All, and then under E-mail, click Rules.
-
Double-click the rule to open it, and then clear the Enabled check box.
| Tip You can also turn off a rule by clearing the check box next to the name of the rule in the Rules dialog box. |
