A Complete Guide on How to Adjust Out of Office in Outlook

[jrineakter]

Picture it: You're packing for a much-needed vacation and ready to unwind. But a torrent of emails floods your inbox just as you're about to turn on vacation mode and turn off work mode. How frustrating!

Or maybe you're busy networking during an important business trip, but the team communication app keeps pinging and interrupting your conversations!

Replying to all those emails manually isn't the best way to go. This is where a well-crafted out-of-office message will save you from chaos. It keeps everyone informed about your unavailability by allowing you to send replies specifying when you'll be back.

Since most businesses work south korea number data with Microsoft, Outlook is usually the official email channel. So, let us guide you step by step on how to set up an out-of-office reply in Outlook to keep an eye on your inbox.

What is an Out of Office Message?
An out-of-office (OOO) message is an automatic reply (canned response) that is sent to anyone who emails or messages you when you are away. Think of this inbox management tool as your virtual “unavailable” signal that lets clients, colleagues, and other contacts know when they can expect to hear from you.

This auto-reply is useful in the following situations:

Time off or vacation : When you are on vacation, paid leave, sick leave, parental leave, bereavement leave, etc.
Business trips or official engagements: When you are on business trips, attending conferences and events, on company retreats, attending juries, etc.
Temporarily Away: When you want minimal interruptions while practicing focused or deep work, reserving focus time for projects, in a meeting, etc.
To summarize, automatic responses sent to contacts announce your absence and let them know the start and end time of your unavailability, allowing you to maintain collaboration at work .

How to Set Up Out of Office in Outlook: A Step-by-Step Guide
Whether you access Outlook through a desktop, web, or mobile app, setting up an OOO message is accessible in any version of Outlook.

Here's how to adjust the "Out of Office" message in Outlook:

Step 1: Open Outlook and go to settings
Here's how to get to Outlook settings on different platforms:

Outlook on the web: To open Outlook on the web, go to the website and sign in to your account. Once finished, click on the settings icon (gear icon) in the top right corner. In the left panel, click on the Account section and select Automatic replies from the right panel menu. Set up your message and save it to send an appropriate automatic reply.
How to Adjust Automatic Replies in Outlook: Open Outlook and go to Settings

via microsoft

Outlook for Windows app: Open the Outlook app on your desktop or laptop and sign in to your account. Click the File tab in the top left corner of the Outlook window and scroll down to Automatic Replies
Outlook for Mac app: Open the Outlook app on your Apple desktop or laptop computer and click the Outlook menu in the top left corner. Scroll down to Preferences and select Automatic Replies to send responses confirming dates you'll be out of the office.
Outlook mobile app: Open the Outlook app on your iOS or Android device. Tap the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen. Select the account you want to set up automatic replies for. Select the Automatic Replies option.
Step 2: Activate automatic responses and the corresponding deadline
Once you've located the Automatic Replies feature, toggle the switch to activate it. You now have two options:

Set Outlook to send an automatic reply indefinitely until you manually turn it off
Define start and end times if you want to activate auto-replies only during a specific date range. Here, the auto-reply feature will automatically turn on and off on the respective start and end dates of the defined period, allowing you to send auto-replies without any manual intervention.