Set an out of office reply in Outlook

An out of office reply buys you the thing that matters most while you are away, which is nobody wondering whether you have seen their email. It takes a couple of minutes. The only complication is that Microsoft now ships two versions of Outlook and the menus are in different places, so start by working out which one you are looking at.

New Outlook, and Outlook in a browser

1. Open the settings. On the ribbon, click View, then View settings. If you are using Outlook in a browser, click the gear icon at the top right instead.
2. Go to automatic replies. Choose Accounts down the left hand side, then Automatic Replies.
3. Turn them on. Switch Turn on automatic replies to on. A box appears for your message.
4. Set the dates, if you know them. Tick Send replies only during a time period and put in your start and end. Outlook then switches the replies off for you on the date you come back, which is the whole point of doing it this way.
5. Write the message for colleagues. Everyone inside the business gets this one.
6. Decide about people outside. Tick Send replies outside your organization and write a second, shorter message. Send replies only to contacts limits it to people already in your contacts, which keeps mailing lists and junk from getting a reply that tells them you are away.
7. Click Save. The setting applies to the mailbox, not to the computer, so it works on your phone too.

Classic Outlook

1. Open the File menu. Click File at the top left.
2. Click Automatic Replies. The button sits near the top of the page. If it is not there, the account is a POP or IMAP one rather than a Microsoft 365 mailbox, and this feature does not exist for those. Call us and we will sort something out.
3. Choose Send automatic replies. Select the option at the top of the box.
4. Set a date range, if you know it. Tick Only send during this time range and fill in the start and end.
5. Write both messages. Inside My Organization is for colleagues. Outside My Organization is a separate tab with a separate message, and nothing goes outside the business unless you tick the box on that tab.
6. Click OK. Done.

What to put in it, and what to leave out

• Give the date you are back, as an actual date. Nobody can do anything with back next week.
• Name one person who can help while you are away, with their email address. One person, not a list of four, or the sender will pick the wrong one.
• Leave out where you are going. I am in Spain until the 14th tells a fraudster that you cannot easily be reached by phone and that a rushed payment request in your name might work.
• Keep the external message shorter and blander than the internal one. It goes to anyone who emails you, including people you have never dealt with.

When it does not go smoothly

Nothing is going out.

Usually one of two things. The date range has not started yet, or the external message is written but the box to send replies outside the organisation has not been ticked.

Somebody emailed three times and only got one reply.

That is deliberate. Outlook sends one automatic reply per person per out of office period, so people are not buried in them.

You need it set on a colleague’s mailbox.

We can do that from the administrator side without their password. Email the service desk with the mailbox address and the wording you want, and say who has authorised it.

You are off sick and cannot get to a computer.

Ring us on 03333 22 11 00. We will put the message on for you.

If you get stuck

Call the service desk on 03333 22 11 00 or email support@easylifeit.com. Tell us which version of Outlook you are in, if you know, and we will walk through it with you.

Menu paths checked against Microsoft’s documentation, How to set up out of office automatic replies in Outlook, September 2026. Microsoft moves these menus about between updates. If your screen does not match what is written here, call us rather than hunting for it.