How to set up out of office automatic replies in Outlook

1. On the View tab, select   View settings in new Outlook.

2. Select Accounts > Automatic Replies. 

3. Turn the Automatic replies toggle on.

4. Select Send replies only during a time period, and then enter start and end times.

5. Select Send replies only to contacts if you want automatic reply messages to only be sent to those external senders who are in your Contacts list.

   Note

   If you are using a work or school account, you will also have the option to Send replies outside your organization. Sending replies outside your organization will send your automatic 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.

6. When you're done, select Save.

Determine email account type

There are two ways to send automatic out-of-office replies in classic Outlook. The way you do it depends on the type of email account you have.

Select File on the left end of the ribbon:

How to set up an automatic reply

1. Select File > Automatic Replies.
   

2. In the Automatic Replies box, select Send automatic replies.
   Optionally, set a date range for your automatic replies. This will turn off automatic replies at the date and time you enter for the end time. Otherwise, you'll need to turn off automatic replies manually.

   Note

   If you don't have Automatic Replies, go to use rules to send an out of office message and follow the steps.

3. In the Automatic replies tab, type the response that you want to send.

   Note

   If you have a work or school account, you can type the response that you want to send on either the Inside My Organization tab or the Outside My Organization tab. Sending automatic replies to anyone outside my organization will send your automatic reply to every email, including newsletters, advertisements, and potentially, junk email. If you want to send automatic replies to those outside your organization, we recommend choosing My contacts only.

4. Select OK to save your settings.

Turn off automatic out-of-office replies

When classic Outlook is setup to send automatic replies, you'll have a message under the ribbon with this information. Select Turn off to disable automatic out-of-office replies. If you want to modify the dates for your automatic reply or the message sent, use the steps above to modify your settings.

Troubleshooting: I don't have Automatic Replies

If you don't have Automatic Replies after selecting File, you might be using a Gmail, Yahoo, or other POP or IMAP account that doesn't support the Outlook Automatic Replies feature. You can set up a rule that will reply to incoming messages—if you leave Outlook running while you're away. For more information, go to use rules to send an out of office message.

1. At the top of the page, select Settings  > Account > Automatic replies in Outlook on the web or Outlook.com.
2. Turn the Automatic replies toggle on.
3. Select the Send replies only during a time period check box, and 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.
4. In the box at the bottom of the window, type a message to send to people during the time 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.
5. Select Send replies only to contacts if you want automatic reply messages to only be sent to those external senders who are in your Contacts list.
6. 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  > Account > Automatic replies and then select the Automatic replies toggle to turn it off.