How to set Out of Office messages on Exchange

From Provider Notes

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Outlook Web Access (OWA) 3 Outlook 2003 3.1 Advanced Rules 4 Outlook 2007 4.1 Advanced Rules 5 Entourage 2004

Introduction

With the implementation of ISC's Microsoft Exchange server, Out of Office responses require that each individual user manage their own reply settings. There is no way for someone with delegate access to set these responses. The instructions below will walk a typical end-user through setting up their Out of Office response on each of the supported Exchange clients.

Outlook Web Access (OWA)

If you are away from your main computer, or are on a Apple Mac OS computer, you can use the OWA webpage to set your Out of Office message.

1. Open your web browser, and navigate to the OWA webpage (https://outlook.exchange.upenn.edu/owa )
2. Log in using your Exchange credentials
3. Click "Options" in the upper right hand corner
4. In the left-hand pane, click the "Out of Office Assistant" link
5. Check off the radio button "Send Out of Office auto-replies"
6. To set the date range that your Out of Office response will be sent, select the "Send Out of Office auto-replies only during this time period" checkbox
   • Set your Start time and End time date ranges
7. You may also choose to change your Out of Office message displayed in yellow by checking the "Replace my current Out of Office message with the following:"
   • Enter your new Out of Office message in the text box
8. If you wish to send auto-replies to email addresses outside of the Exchange server (recommended), check the "Send Out of Office Replies to External Senders" checkbox
   • It is your choice whether you would like to select the radio button for sending replies to people outside of your Contact list
9. Again, if you wish to change the default message shown in yellow, check the "Replace my current external Out of Office message with the following:" checkbox, and enter your custom text in the textbox.
10. To turn off auto-replies, select the "Do not send Out of Office auto-replies"
11. When you are finished with your modifications to your Out of Office settings, click the "Save" button in the upper grey bar.

Outlook 2003

• Launch Outlook 2003, and enter your login credentials when prompted.
• Make sure that you are in the Email view, and navigate to Tools --> Out of Office Assistant

1. • If you do not see the option for Out of Office Assistant, you may not have the menu expanded all of the way. If there is an arrow icon at the bottom of the menu, click on it, and you should see all of the options available for the tools menu, including the Out of Office Assistant.
2. Click the "I am currently Out of the Office" radio button
3. Fill in your AutoReply message in the text box.
4. Click "OK" to save your changes.
5. To turn off your auto-reply, select the "I am currently In the Office" radio button.

Advanced Rules

Please note that there are Out of Office rules that can be applied to incoming messages in addition to replying with your Out of Office message. These can be incredibly flexible, but are intended for the advanced Outlook user. If you wish to explore the options available to you, click on the "Add Rule" button at the bottom of the Out of Office Assistant window. For a complete discussion of the options available, click on the "Microsoft Office Outlook Help" menu item, and search for "Out of Office rules"

Outlook 2007

• Launch Outlook 2007, and enter your login credentials when prompted.
• Make sure that you are in the Email view, and navigate to Tools --> Out of Office Assistant
• Click the "Send Out of Office auto-replies" radio button
• * Check the checkbox for "Only send during this time range"

1. • Set the time range that you will be sending automatic replies
2. If you wish, you may change the message displayed in the text box, modifying font, font-size, color, etc
3. IMPORTANT: If you wish to send auto-replies to individuals outside of the Exchange server, including people at other organizations, you will need to click on the "Outside My Organization" tab and configure your settings once again.
4. When you are finished, click on the "OK" button.

Advanced Rules

Please note that there are Out of Office rules that can be applied to incoming messages in addition to replying with your Out of Office message. These can be incredibly flexible, but are intended for the advanced Outlook user. If you wish to explore the options available to you, click on the "Rules" button at the bottom of the Out of Office Assistant window. Complete discussion of the options available, click on the ? icon at the upper right corner of the Out of Office Assistant window.

Entourage 2004

There is no way to configure server-side rules with Entourage 2004. While you can configure local rules to behave in a similar way to the Out of Office Assistant discussed above, these will not apply to messages that arrive while your Entourage client is not running (if your computer is turned off, for instance). You should configure the Outlook Web Access Out of Office Assistant as described above.