It’s not always possible to keep up with the many messages that arrive in your working email inbox. Sometimes, you might be out of the office and unable to reply, or you might be taking time off from work for a vacation or personal matter.
But you may not want to leave all those messages unread and unanswered, as it could cause confusion among your contacts. Instead, you might want to set up automatic out of office messages. This guide looks at how to set an out of office message on Outlook, step by step.
How to Set an Out of Office Message on Outlook (New)
We’ll start off with how to set up your out of office messages on the New version of Outlook.
Step 1. Click the “Settings” button (shaped like a gear) in the top-right corner to bring up the Settings pop-up window.
Step 2. Select “Automatic Replies.”
Step 3. Toggle the switch to the “On” position next to “Turn on automatic replies.” You can then type in the content of the out of office message you want to send out. You can also tick the box next to “Send replies only during a time period” and choose the exact times and dates desired. Also, tick the box beside “Send replies only to contacts” if you only want the reply sent to people you know.
Step 4. Once you’ve configured everything as desired, click “Save.”
How to Set an Out of Office Message on Outlook (Classic)
Next, a set of instructions for those who are still using the Classic version of Outlook.
Step 1. Click the “File” button in the top-left.
Step 2. Click on “Automatic Replies.”
Step 3. Check the circle next to “Send automatic replies.” Then type in the contents of your out of office message and configure the dates and times, if desired. You can also click the “Rules” button to have more control over how your message gets sent. Click “OK” when you’re done.
How to Set an Out of Office Message on Outlook (Web)
Finally, here are the relevant instructions if you want to set up your out of office message using the browser version of Outlook.
Step 1. Click the “Settings” button in the top right corner.
Step 2. Go to “Account,” and then “Automatic Replies.”
Step 3. Turn automatic replies on using the toggle switch. Then enter your message contents, set the parameters (time, date, etc.) and click “Save” when you’re happy.
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