Skip to end of metadata
Go to start of metadata

You are viewing an old version of this page. View the current version.

Compare with Current View Page History

Version 1 Next »

Staff and Faculty can create an out-of-office automatic reply in Office 365 Web Access or in the Outlook desktop application.

"Send 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 only those inside your organization, we recommend choosing "My contacts" only.

Creating an Out-of-Office Automatic Reply for Windows

 Creating an Out-of-Office Automatic Reply for Windows

Create an Automatic Reply in Office 365 Web Access

  1. Log in to Office 365 and open the Outlook mail app.
  2. Click the settings icon.
  3. Under Settings, click Automatic replies.
  4. Click the radio button for Send automatic replies.
  5. If you wish to specify a start and end date for your automatic reply, click the checkbox for “only send during this time range” and set a date range for your automatic replies.  If you do not choose an automatic end time, you will have to manually turn off automatic out-of-office replies.
  6. To send replies only to senders inside the organization, deselect the “Also send replies to senders outside my organization” box.   If you choose to send replies to senders outside of the organization, select to send to your contact list, or all external senders, and enter your automatic reply.
  7. Setup your automatic reply and then click OK.

Manually turn off automatic reply

  1. Log in to Office 365 and open the Outlook mail app.
  2. Click the settings icon.
  3. Under Settings, click Automatic replies.

  4. Click the radio dial for Don’t send automatic replies.

Create an Automatic Reply in Outlook for Windows Desktop Client

  1. Select File > Automatic Replies.
  2. In the Automatic Replies box, select Send automatic replies.
  3. If you wish to specify a start and end date, click the checkbox for “only send during this time range” and set a date range for your automatic replies.  If you do not choose an automatic end time, you will have to manually turn off automatic out-of-office replies.
  4. On the "Inside My Organization" tab, type the response that you want to send to teammates or colleagues while you are out of the office.
  5. Select OK to save your settings.

Manually turn off automatic reply

  1. Click the File tab, and then click the Info tab in the menu.
  2. In the "Automatic replies" section, select Turn off.

Creating an Out-of-Office Automatic Reply for Mac

 Creating an Out-of-Office Automatic Reply for Mac

Office 365 Account

Creating an Automatic Reply

  1. On the "Tools" tab, click Out of Office.
  2. In the "Auto-reply Settings" box, check the Send automatic replies for account "X” box (where "X” is the account you’d like to send out of office replies from).
  3. Under "Reply once to each sender with," enter your automatic reply.
  4. To set the start and end dates, select the Only send replies during this time period check box, and enter the start and end dates and times. If you do not choose an automatic end time, you will have to manually turn off automatic out-of-office replies.
  5. To send replies only to senders inside the organization, deselect the "Also send replies to senders outside my organization” box. If you choose to send replies to senders outside of the organization, choose to send to your contact list or all external senders and enter your automatic reply.

  6. Click OK.

Turning Off an Automatic Reply

  1. On the "Tools" tab, click Out of Office.
  2. In the "Auto-reply Settings" box, uncheck the Send automatic replies for account "X” box (where "X” is the account you’d like to send out of office replies from).

Gmail Account

Creating an Automatic Reply

  1. At the bottom left corner of the of the navigation pane, click Mail.
  2. On the "Home" tab, click Rules, and select Edit Rules.
  3. In the "Rules" box, click Show All.
  4. In the "Outlook Preferences" box, under Personal Settings, click Accounts.
  5. In the "Accounts" box, in the left pane, click the account.
  6. To return to the "Rules" box, click Show All, and then under "Email," click Rules.
  7. In the "Rules" box, click Add a rule .
  8. In the "Rule name" box, type a name for the rule, such as Vacation Reply.
  9. Under "Do the following," click the Change status button, and choose Reply.
  10. Click Reply Text, and type the automated reply that you want Outlook to send, and click OK.
  11. In the "Rules" box, you’ll see the Vacation Reply rule you created.

Turning Off an Automatic Reply

  1. At the bottom left corner of the of the navigation pane, click Mail.
  2. On the "Home" tab, click Rules, and select Edit Rules.
  3. Uncheck the "Automatic reply" rule.

Apple Mail

Creating an Automatic Reply

  1. Launch Mail and navigate to Mail > Preferences > Rules.
  2. Click Add Rule and give it a description.
  3. In the first drop-down, select Account ,and in the drop-down next to it, select the email you wish to set up the automatic reply for.
  4. In the "Perform the following actions" drop-down, select Reply to Message.
  5. Click Reply message text and enter your automatic reply. Click OK.
  6. Click Don’t Apply. If you click Apply, your rule will be applied to all your existing messages as well as new messages.

Turning Off Automatic Reply

  1. Rules in Apple are active by default. To turn off your automatic reply navigate to Mail > Preferences > Rules.
  2. Deselect the box next to the automatic reply rule.

Office 365 Web Access

Creating an Automatic Reply

  1. Log in to Office365. Open the Outlook mail app.
  2. Click the "Settings" icon.
  3. Under "Settings", click Automatic replies.
  4. Click the radio button for Send automatic replies.
  5. You can select start and end times by clicking the checkbox for "Only send during this time range” and set a date range for your automatic replies. If you do not choose an automatic end time, you will have to manually turn off automatic out-of-office replies.
  6. To send replies only to senders inside the organization, deselect the "Also send replies to senders outside my organization” box. If you choose to send replies to senders outside of the organization, select sending to either your contact list or all external senders and enter your automatic reply.
  7. Set up your automatic reply. Then click OK.

Manually turn off automatic reply in Office 365 Web Access

  1. Log in Office 365 and open the Outlook mail app.
  2. Click the settings icon.
  3. Under Settings, click Automatic replies.
  4. Click the radio button for Don’t send automatic replies.

Troubleshooting Automatic Replies from Office 365 to Gmail

Faculty can create a workaround for automatic replies that are not received by students in their UConn Gmail accounts.

 Archiving Gmail Using Outlook

"Automatic Replies" is a setting in Microsoft Outlook that enables the account owners to create an automatic response to incoming messages. This setting is frequently used for out-of-office messages.
Students have an Office 365 mailbox, even though their official university email account is on G-Suite. Their Office 365 account typically forwards data to their G-Suite accounts, but automatic replies are an exception and are not forwarded.
As a workaround, faculty and staff can create a rule in Outlook so that automatic replies are delivered to students’ Gmail accounts.

How to Create an Automatic Reply Forwarding Rule for Delivery to Students' Gmail Accounts

  1. Open Outlook.
  2. Click the Home tab at the top of the screen.
  3. Click Rules in the top ribbon, and then select Manage Rules & Alerts from the dropdown menu.
  4. Click New Rule…, and select Apply rule on messages I receive. Click Next.
  5. Ensure that none of the conditions are checked. Click Next and then click Yes in the popup box.
  6. Check the box by have server reply using a specific message.

Related Pages


  • No labels