How to use the Out of Office Assistant in Outlook

This article describes how to use the “Automatic Replies (Out of Office)” (Outlook 2010 and Outlook 2013) and “Out of Office Assistant” (Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2003).

TO USE THESE OUTLOOK FEATURES AND THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE, USERS MUST HAVE AT LEAST ONE “MICROSOFT EXCHANGE” OR “EXCHANGE” TYPE ACCOUNT SET UP IN THE ACTIVE OUTLOOK PROFILE.

If you do not have an Exchange email account setup in Outlook 2013, 2010, 2007, or 2003

Users who do not have an Exchange account set up in Outlook will not see the “Automatic Replies (Out of Office)” (Outlook 2010 and Outlook 2013) or “Out of Office Assistant” (Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2003) features on their menu.

However, users who do not have an Exchange account set up in Outlook may be able to emulate or mimic some functionality of the “Automatic Replies (Out of Office)” feature.

For help and guidance on how to emulate or mimic the Out of Office feature, we suggest users read and follow these articles:

• Outlook 2010 and 2013 (only)
• Automatically reply to email messages without using an Exchange Server account
  (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/automatically-reply-to-email-messages-without-using-an-exchange-server-account-HA010354932.aspx)



• Outlook 2010 and earlier versions of Outlook
• How to emulate the Out of Office Assistant in Microsoft Outlook
  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311107)

How to determine whether you have an Exchange account in the active Outlook profile

For Microsoft Office Outlook 2010 and 2013:

1. Open Outlook 2010 or 2013
2. Click “File” and then click “Account Settings” and then click “Account Settings…”
3. In the “Account Settings” dialog box, you may view all the different email accounts that you have setup in the active Outlook profile.
4. In the “Type” column, check whether you have any of the “Microsoft Exchange” type.
5. Click “Close” to close the “Account Settings” dialog box.

For Microsoft Office Outlook 2007:

1. Open Outlook 2007
2. Click the “Tools” menu and then click “Account Settings…”
3. In the “Account Settings” dialog box, you may view all the different email accounts that you have setup in the active Outlook profile.
4. In the “Type” column, check whether you have any of the “Exchange” type.
5. Click "Close" to close the "Account Settings" dialog box.

For Microsoft Office Outlook 2003:

1. Open Outlook 2003
2. Click the "Tools" menu and then click "E-mail Accounts..."
3. In the “E-mail Accounts” dialog box, select “View or change existing e-mail accounts”
4. The e-mail accounts setup in this active Outlook profile should now be displayed.
5. In the “Type” column, look to see if you have any of the “Exchange” type.
6. Click "Close" to close the "E-mail Accounts" doalog box.

How to turn on “Automatic Replies (Out of Office)” (Outlook 2010 & Outlook 2010) or the “Out of Office Assistant” (Outlook 2007 & 2003)

For Microsoft Office Outlook 2010 and 2013:

1. Make sure that you have a folder in the Exchange account’s message store selected.
   NOTE: If you have other account types setup in the active Outlook profile, each account may have its own message store. If you do not have a folder contained within the Exchange account’s message store, the “Automatic Replies (Out of Office)” option will not be visible in step 3 later in this section.
2. Click the File tab, and then click the Info tab in the menu.
3. Click Automatic Replies (Out of Office).
   Note If you do not see this option, you are not connected to an Exchange Server. For non exchange account user, visit the following Microsoft Website:
   Automatically reply to email messages without using an Exchange Server account
4. In the Automatic Replies dialog box, select the Send Automatic Replies check box.
5. If you want to specify a set time and date range, select the Only send during this time range check box. Then set the Start time, and then set the End time.
6. In the Inside my organization tab, type the message that you want to send within your organization, and in the Outside my organization tab, type the message that you want to send outside your organization.
7. Click OK.
8. If you selected the “Only send during this time range” option in step 4, the Automatic Replies (Out of Office) feature will continue to run until the date and time set for the End Time in step 5 is reached.
   Otherwise, the Automatic Replies (Out of Office) will continue to run until you repeat step 1 and select the “Do not send automatic replies” option.

For Microsoft Office Outlook 2007:

1. On the Tools menu, click Out of Office Assistant….
2. In the Out of Office Assistant dialog box, select the Send Out of Office auto-replies check box.
3. If you want to specify a set time and date range, select the Only send during this time range check box. Then set the Start time, and then set the End time.
4. In the Inside my organization tab, type the message that you want to send within your organization, and in the Outside my organization tab, type the message that you want to send outside your organization.
5. Click OK.
6. If you selected the “Only send during this time range” option in step 4, the Out of Office Assistant feature will continue to run until the date and time set for the End Time in step 5 is reached.
   Otherwise, the Out of Office Assistant will continue to run until you repeat step 1 and select the “Do not send Out of Office auto-replies” option.

For Microsoft Office Outlook 2003:

1. On the Tools menu, click Out of Office Assistant….
2. In the Out of Office Assistant dialog box, click I am currently Out of the Office.
3. In the AutoReply only once to each sender with the following text box, type the message that you want to send while you are out of the office.
4. Click OK.
5. The Out of Office Assistant will continue to run until you repeat step 1 and select the “I am currently In the Office” option.

The “Out of Office Assistant” as it is known in Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2003, is now known as “Automatic Replies (Out of Office)” in Outlook 2013 and Outlook 2010.

For more information about how to work with rules, we suggest these articles:

• Outlook 2010 and Outlook 2013
• Manage email messages by using rules
  (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/manage-e-mail-messages-with-rules-HA010355682.aspx)



• Outlook 2007
• Manage messages by using rules
  (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/manage-messages-by-using-rules-HA010096803.aspx)
  
  


• Outlook 2003
• About managing messages with rules
  (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/about-managing-messages-with-rules-HP001052476.aspx)