Out of Office Responses

Out of Office Responses

If you plan on being away for an extended period of time, an Out of Office response is a great way to let people know that you are unavailable, give them information about who to contact during your absence, etc.

1. Go to outlook.office365.com.

2. Sign in with your Tufts email address and password.

3. Click on the Settings icon toward the top right of the page.

Office 365 Settings icon

4. Scroll to the bottom of the menu and select View all Outlook settings.

5. Make sure Mail is selected in the left-hand settings menu.

6. Select Automatic replies.

Office 365 Automatic Reply settings page

7. Click the slider to Turn on the automatic replies.

8. (Optional) Check the box next to Send replies only during a time period. If you do choose this option, use the Start and End time fields to specify your out of office period.

Office 365 automatic reply options

9. Block my calendar for this period – Check this box to have Outlook block off your calendar during the time period that you specified.

10. Automatically decline new invitations for events that occur during this period – Check this box to have Outlook decline invitations for events that are scheduled to occur while you are away.

11. Decline and cancel my meetings during this period – Check this box to have Outlook decline any standing invitations and cancel meetings that you scheduled during your out of office period.

12. In the first text box, type the reply that you would like to have automatically sent to Tufts people who email you while you are away.

Editing automatic reply to people in your organization

13. If you want an automatic reply to be sent to people outside of Tufts University, check the box next to Send replies outside your organization.

Editing automatic replies to people outside your organization

14. Select whether you want replies to go only to external senders in your Contacts list or to all external senders.

15. In the second text editor box, type the automatic reply that you would like these people to receive. You can copy and paste the message from the first text box, if appropriate.

16. Click SAVE at the top of the page to save your changes.

1. Open the Outlook desktop application.

2. Click File in the top toolbar.

Windows Outlook desktop application with File button highlighted

3. Click Automatic Replies (Out of Office).

Windows Outlook Automatic Reply option

4. Select Send automatic replies.

5. Check the box next to Only send during this time range. Otherwise, your automatic reply will continue to be sent until you manually turn it off.

6. Specify a Start and End time for your automatic reply.

7. Use the text editor in the Inside My Organization tab to create the automatic reply that you would like to send to Tufts people who email you during the specified time period.

Windows Outlook Automatic Reply Editor

8. Click the Outside My Organization tab.

9. Check the box next to Auto-reply to people outside my organization if you would like an automatic reply to be sent to people outside of Tufts University.

10. Determine whether you would like your automatic reply to be sent only to people on your Contact list or anyone outside of Tufts.

11. Use the text editor to create the automatic reply that you would like to send to people outside of Tufts. You can copy and paste the automatic reply from the Inside My Organization tab, if appropriate.

12. Click OK.

1. Open the Outlook desktop app.

2. Click Tools in the top menu bar.

Tools menu in Outlook desktop app

3. Select Out of Office….

4. The Autoreply Settings window will open.

5. Check the box next to Send automatic replies for account.

6. In the first text box, type the message that you would like people to receive as an automatic reply when they email you. This message will be send to people within Tufts University.

7. Check the box next to Only send replies during this time period if you want to specify the time period during which automatic replies should be sent. You will also need to specify a Start and End time for your automatic replies. Otherwise, your automatic reply will continue to be sent until you turn it off manually.

Outlook desktop app auto reply setup

8. Want to send an automatic reply to people outside of Tufts? Check the box next to Also send replies to senders outside my organization.

9. Select whether you want replies to go only to external senders in your Contacts list or to all external senders.

10. In the second text editor box, type the automatic reply that you would like these people to receive. You can copy and paste the message from the first text box, if appropriate.

Auto reply setup for senders outside of organization

11. Click OK.