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Email

Using 'Out of Office Assistant'

If you will not be checking your email for a while, you can create a reply that will automatically be sent to people the first message time they send you an email while you are away.

There are two ways to activate the "Out of Office Assistant," either from your desktop Outlook client or through Outlook Web App (OWA). Note that Mac users must always use OWA to activate the Out of Office Assistant.

From your desktop Outlook Client

  1. From the Tools menu and select Out of Office Assistant.
  2. Activate the Out of Office assistant,
    • check the button, "Send Out of Office auto-replies"
    • check the button, "Only send during this time range:"
      • enter the start time and end time
    • type in an auto-reply for senders inside your organization
    • click on the tab, "Outside My Organization"
    • check the button(s) to choose whether to send this reply to your Contacts only or anyone outside your organization
    • type in an auto-reply for senders outside your organization
  3. Click OK.


From Outlook Web App (OWA)

  1. Log onto OWA.
  2. From the top-right, select Options.
  3. From the left-menu, select Out of Office Assistant.
  4. Activate the Out of Office assistant,
    • check the button, " "
    • check the button, " "
      • enter the start time and end time
    • type in an auto-reply for senders inside your organization
    • check the button, " "
    • check the button(s) to choose whether to send this reply to All External Senders or just those in your Contacts list
    • type in an auto-reply for senders outside your organization
  5. From the top-left of click Save.


Last updated March 15, 2010.