How to Send Automatic Out of Office Replies From Outlook? February 2025

Answer

How to Send Automatic Out-of-Office Replies From Outlook Web Version

If you’re going away on vacation or taking some time off, setting an automatic “out of office” reply for your emails is very useful. These automatic replies let people who email you know you are unavailable to respond to their messages. Here’s how to set up an automatic out-of-office reply in Microsoft Outlook!

At the top of the page, select > Mail > Automatic replies in Outlook on the web or Outlook.com.
Select the Turn on automatic replies toggle.
Select the Send replies only during a time period check box, 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.
Select the check box for 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
In the box at the bottom of the window, type a message to send to people when you're away.

If you like, you can use the formatting options at the top of the box to change the font and color of the text or customize your message in other ways.
If you want senders outside your organization to get automatic replies, select the check box for Send replies outside your organization, and then in the text box below it, add a separate message for that audience.

Note: Sending replies outside your organization will automatically send your reply to every email you receive, including newsletters, advertisements, and potentially junk email. If you want to send automatic replies to those outside your organization, we recommend choosing Send replies only to contacts.
When you're done, select Save.
If you didn't set a time period for automatic replies (step 3 earlier), you'll need to turn them off manually. To turn off automatic replies, sign in to Outlook on the web, choose Settings > Mail > Automatic replies, and then select the Automatic replies toggle.