Everyone deserves a vacation or a short break from work. However, if you're going on vacation for a few days and won't be available at the office to attend to clients, it's a good idea to set up automatic replies or out-of-office emails in Outlook. This way, you can let others know when, why, and for how long you'll be unavailable. You can also let them know who to contact in your absence using out-of-office replies. In this article, you'll learn how to schedule out-of-office emails in Outlook.
You can easily set up and schedule out-of-office email in Outlook for the web, Windows, and Mac. Unfortunately, you can't do the same from Outlook mobile appsIn this post, we'll cover all three platforms and show you how to schedule out-of-office notifications in Outlook.
Scheduling Office Mail Outages in Outlook Web
The Outlook desktop apps are good, but Outlook on the web remains the most feature-rich of the three. New features like Outlook Spaces On Outlook on the web first and then expanding to other platforms.
Here's how to set up automatic replies in Outlook on the web.
Step 1: Visit Outlook on the web.
Step 2: Click the Settings icon in the upper right corner and select View all Outlook settings.
Step 3: Select Mail from the left sidebar and click Automatic Replies.
Step 4: Enable automatic replies toggle.
Step 5: You can set your replies to start and end at a specific time. Otherwise, they will continue until you turn them off. Enable sending replies only within a time period. Set a start and end time.
Step 6: Write your custom response with all relevant details and hit the Save button below.
While drafting a reply, you can use Outlook's rich text editor to create a perfect response. You can also enable sending replies to your contacts list at the bottom. However, we wouldn't recommend this because if you enable the option, only your saved Outlook contacts will receive an automatic reply. Others may miss your out-of-office reply.
Schedule Office Mail Outages in Outlook for Mac
Microsoft currently supports two Outlook apps on Mac. The new Outlook toggle in the Outlook app on Mac takes you to The new Outlook experience Which Microsoft is planning soon.
The Out of Office feature is only available in the old Outlook Mac app. Here's how to use it.
Step 1: Open the Outlook app on your Mac.
Step 2: Select Tools from the menu bar.
Step 3: Click “Out of Office”.
Step 4: Enable automatic replies for your Outlook account.
Here you have the option to create different auto-responders within your organization and outside your organization.
Step 5: Select the start time and end time and press OK at the bottom.
Unfortunately, Outlook Mac lacks a rich text editor for creating automated replies.
Set up automatic replies in Outlook Windows
On Windows, we have the Mail app built into the operating system and the Outlook app, which is part of the Microsoft 365 suite. For the example below, we'll use the Outlook app from Microsoft 365.
Step 1: Open Outlook on Windows.
Step 2: Keep the mail menu open and select File from the menu bar.
Step 3: From the Info page, you'll find the Auto Replies option. Click it.
Step 4: Enable sending automatic replies and select a start and end time.
Step 5: Write your auto-reply using a functional text editor and then click OK at the bottom.
One area where Outlook for Windows excels over Outlook for Mac and Outlook web is the use of rules in automatic replies.
After you have written your auto-reply, you can click on Rules, and a custom menu will open for setting rules.
Select Add Rule and you can create various automation rules in Outlook. For example, you can Automatically forward specific emails To a different email address.
You can also set Outlook to automatically delete specific emails with marketing keywords. This way, when you return from vacation, you won't be bombarded with hundreds of emails.
Another scenario could be custom replies. Let's say some customers are more important to you. You can add their email address to your rules and assign them a custom email reply. The reset will still result in regular automatic replies in Outlook. The possibilities are endless.
Set automatic replies in Outlook
Setting up automatic replies during out-of-office hours demonstrates your professional approach to your business. Your clients and email clients appreciate an email update. Follow the steps above and schedule your out-of-office email in Outlook.
