Setting a Vacation / Out-of-office Message in Outlook

Automatic responses can be set while you are on vacation or away from the office. These automatic responses can be configured in either Outlook client, or Outlook Web Access (OWA).

Outlook client (2016/2019) setup

  1. Open Outlook and click the File tab.
  2. Click on Automatic Replies (Out of Office) >> Send automatic replies.
  3. If desired, check Only send during this time range to schedule when autoreplies are active. If you do not specify start and end times, the autoreplies will be sent until you check Do not send automatic replies.
  4. Click the Inside My Organization tab, in the field labeled AutoReply only once to each sender with the following message, type your autoreply message. 
  5. Click the Outside My Organization tab, select the Auto-Reply to people outside my organization check box and type the body of your autoreply. Choose whether you want replies sent to My contacts only or to Anyone outside my organization who sends you messages. Choose OK. 

Outlook Web Access (OWA) setup

  1. Sign in to OWA.

  2. At the top of the page, select  >> View all Outlook settings >> Mail >> Automatic replies.

  3. Select the Turn on automatic replies toggle.

  4. Check Send replies only during a time period, and then enter a start and end time. If you don't set a time period, your automatic reply remains on until you turn it off by selecting the Automatic replies on toggle.

  5. Check any of the following options that you're interested in:

    • Block my calendar for this period

    • Automatically decline new invitations for events that occur during this period

    • Decline and cancel my meetings during this period

  6. In the box at the bottom of the window, type a message to send to people during the time you're away.

  7. If you want senders outside your organization to get automatic replies, select the check box for Send replies outside your organization.

  8. When you're done, select Save at the top of the window.

If you didn't set a time period for automatic replies (step 4), you'll need to turn them off manually. To turn off automatic replies, sign in to Outlook on the web, choose Settings Settings >> View full settings >> Mail >> Automatic replies and then toggle off Automatic replies on.

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