How To Configure an Out-of-Office Notification – A Detailed Guide

In our busy lives, we all need a break from time to time, even from our emails. But, when we’re away, we don’t want to miss out on communicating with other people. The solution to this problem is that you can let them know that you’re away and when you’ll be back by setting up auto-replies on Outlook. In this article, we discuss how to configure an out-of-office notification in Office 365 in detail.

Determine What Your Outlook Email Account Type is

In order to determine how to configure an out-of-office notification in Office 365, you need to know what your email account type is since there are different methods for different account types. The various account types are: 

1. Exchange
2. POP/POP3
3. SMTP
4. IMAP

To determine your account type, follow the steps given below:

1. Go to the files tab on the top left corner.
2. Under the Account Information option that is available in the Info Section, select the account that you want to know the email type of. 
3. For a Microsoft Exchange account, you will be able to see an automatic replies option. You can click on it and follow the on-screen instructions. 
4. For POP3 and IMAP types of accounts, there are no automatic replies available. You can create rules instead to send out your Out-Of-Office notification.

How to Configure an Out-Of-Office Notification in Office 365

To set up automatic replies in Outlook, follow the steps given below: 

1. In the desktop app of Outlook, click on the file option.
2. In the Info section, click on the automatic replies option. 
3. In the window that appears, select the send automatically option. 

You can also define a range of dates, at the end of which, it will automatically get disabled until you turn it back on again. If you do not set a date range then you will have to turn it off manually.

1. You can then enter the message that you want your coworkers to get on the Inside My Organisation option. 
2. On the outside my organisation option, be careful while choosing the auto-reply to anyone outside my organisation option since this will send your message to every incoming email. To prevent this, you can choose my contacts only option. 
3. Click on the OK button to save the changes you’ve made. 

How Can You Set an Away Message for POP/IMAP Account Types?

The process of setting up an away message for POP, IMAP/SMTP accounts is different from Exchange accounts. These types of accounts do not have a built-in feature to enable automatic replies. You will have to create email templates and configure rules to respond with the template to every email you receive. This method can be applied to any Outlook version from 2010 to 365. Follow the steps given below to set an away message. 

Step 1: Create a message template to inform people that you’re away

1. In Outlook, make a new email with the subject and text that you want to convey using your away message.
2. Click on the file > Save as option and save this as an Outlook Template.
3. Now you can close the message window without sending it out. 

Step 2: Set up the auto-reply with the template you made.

1. Click on the file option and then select the Manage Rules option. 
2. In the dialogue box that appears, click on the New Rule option.
3. Under start from a blank rule, You can select the apply rules on messages I receive option and then click next. 
4. Choose the condition of the rule that you want to apply. If you want to set up an auto-response for all messages that are incoming, then you don’t need to check any boxes here and just click the next option.
5. Specify what you intend to do with the message. Since we want to use the template we created, select the select action(s) option > Edit the rule description > a specific template link. 
6. Select a Reply Template dialogue window that will appear. Choose the user templates in the file system, and select the away message template that you made. 
7. In the lower pane, you will be able to view your template. Click on the next option. 
8. You can add exceptions to the rule, else you can click next without selecting any option. 
9. In the final step, you can name your rule. To activate the rule immediately, check the turn on this rule box. Click on Finish after you have saved your rule.

How to Configure an Out-Of-Office Notification in Newer Versions of Outlook?

To set up auto-replies in newer versions of Outlook, you can follow the steps given below;

1. Click on the view option and open the view settings. 
2. Choose Accounts > Automatic Replies and turn on automatic replies.
3. To define the time period, you can select the send replies only during a specific time period box. 
4. Under the automatic replies in your organisation, you can use the formatting option.
5. If you want to send automatic replies outside your organisation, tick the send replies outside your organisation box. 
6. If you want to limit the recipients, you can select the send replies only to contacts box.
7. Once you have configured the settings to your liking, you can save them. 

How Can You Create Auto Replies for Outlook on the Web?

The process of creating auto replies for Outlook on the web is straightforward. You can follow the steps given below to set it up:

1. Click on the settings option. 
2. Click on mail and then choose the automatic replies option.
3. Choose the automatic replies toggle to turn this feature on.
4. You can choose to send automatic replies for a specific time by choosing the box next to the send replies only during a time period option. 
5. Input the message that you want to send automatically to the emails that you received. 
6. When you have made the necessary changes, click on save.

Tip: Remember to deactivate the automatic replies if you haven’t specified a time period. 

How to Turn Off the Out of Office Notification in Office 365?

These methods depend greatly on the version of Outlook you are using as well as the type of account you have. Here are the instructions on how to turn off an Out of out-of-office notification in Office 365. 

How to Turn Off Auto Reply in Classic Outlook

When out-of-office notifications are enabled, a yellow box appears saying automatic replies are being sent for this account. To stop sending these automatic replies, you can click the turn-off button on the right side of the message. 

You can also alternatively choose the following path: File > Info > Automatic replies and change the settings as you need. 

How to Disable Out-of-Office Rule in Outlook?

If you have set up rules for your POP and IMAP accounts, you can disable the rule manually. Here is how you can do them: 

1. Click on File > Manage Rules and Alerts.
2. Look for the rule associated with your away message and select the box next to it. 
3. Click on the OK option to save the changes. 

Tip: To remember to turn off the automatic replies, you can set a reminder in Outlook by creating a task with an alert to remind.