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: Mac users must always use the Outlook Web App to activate the Out of Office Assistant.

Included in this article are instructions on using Out of Office Assistant

From your desktop Outlook client

  1. From the File menu, 

    select the Automatic Replies (Out of Office) button to open the Out of Office set up window.



  2. In the Out of Office set up window, select/click on Send automatic replies

  3. Check the Only send during this time range box:

    1. enter the start time and end time

    2. You can type an auto-reply for senders Inside your organization and/or Outside My Organization by selecting the corresponding tab

    3. Type in an auto-reply for senders

  4. Click OK.

From Outlook Web App (OWA) 2016

  1. Log onto OWA.

  2. From the top-right, select the Settings gear and choose Automatic replies to open the Out of Office set up window.

  3. In the Out of Office set up window, select/click on Send automatic replies

  4. Check the box for Send Out of Office auto-replies only during this time period:

    1. enter the start time and end time

    2. enter an auto-reply for senders Inside your organization

    3. check the button Send automatic reply messages to senders outside my organization if you want to create a message for external senders
      or

    4. check the button(s) to choose to send this reply to only those in your Contact list

    5. enter the auto-reply message for senders outside your organization

  5. From the top-left of the setup window, click OK.

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