Outlook Express: Out Of Office Reply

[Charlotte Dixon]

I've seen the "out of office reply" on emails a few times. Do any of you know how to program that in Outlook Express 6 ?

 

[Couch Potato]

Generally that is a function of the email server. Contact your ISP.

 

[deturner]

SUMMARY
The Out Of Office Assistant is not available in Outlook Express. You may be able to duplicate its functionality by applying message rules.
MORE INFORMATION
The Out of Office Assistant is a feature of Microsoft Outlook that enables you to automatically reply to e-mail messages from people who send you mail when you are not available. Outlook Express does not have this functionality. To simulate the functionality of an Out of Office Assistant in Outlook Express you must first create an out of office message, and then an out of office rule. Additionally, it is important to remember that this function only works while Outlook Express is running and logged on to the e-mail server.

Here is the link: No "Out of Office" in Outlook EXPRESS

The out of office is controlled from the server. OUTLOOK (not express) has the out of office assistant but it must be utilized thourgh Microsoft Exchange Server (typically run on corporate servers as a central mail depository but also utilized by a good majority of ISP's)

There are ISP's that allow you to set an "out of office" message and there should be a way through the "web mail" portion of your account.

I can log on to my email through the internet and set my "out of office".

DaveT in NC

 

[Otis Key]

Nice DaveT. That was easier than you or me typing all that out.

 

[Jeff Horton]

Ummm...... WRONG!!

You can create an automatic reply using the rules wizard. Takes some time to set it up the first time but you can do it.

 

[deturner]

Ummm...... WRONG!!

You can create an automatic reply using the rules wizard. Takes some time to set it up the first time but you can do it.

The problem with an automatic reply using the rules wizard is this.

Suppose you are out of the office or away from your computer. The rules do not run until you actually connect to your mail server and download the email. Thus you receive the email anyway and you are not technically out of the office.

In order for the "out of office" feature to work while you are REALLY out of the office, it must be initiated from the server. When the messages come in to the server, the "out of office" feature automatically sends a reply to the sender. If you do not have it set up on the server, the "out of office" reply will not send the message just by having a "rule" set up. Unless your computer at the office stays on 24 hrs and is set to automatically download email. When the email processed on your computer, the rules run and the "out of office" message will be delivered.

Thus, utilizing the "rules wizard", your computer must remain on and your email program must remain running. This would be a problem if you did not set it to "save messages on server" and you wanted to check your email from a remote location. All of your messages would be back at the office because the email program continuously was downloading and processing the rules.

DaveT in NC
Former IBM support tech and MCSE (NT)

 

[Robert Anderson]

Message rules are a very helpful but much underused capability of Outlook Express. Just to give an easy example, I use a message rule to route all fax email from Maxemail to a fax folder. Once you get the hang of things, you can create a rule in 30 seconds or less.

 

[Couch Potato]

Generally your ISP will provide a method for sending an "Out of Office" type of auto reply, but if you want to use rules as Jeff suggested, here are the steps:

Create a message in Outlook Express that you would like to send and save it to a location where you keep things like form letters, order forms, etc. (or just put it in that folder where you pile everything) and name it something like "Out of Office"

Next go to the Tools menu and select Message Rules - Mail...

In box number one scroll down to the "For all messages" line and put a check mark.

In box number two scroll down to the "Reply with message" line and put a check mark.

In box three click on the "message" link that appears after the previous step and navigate to and select the "Out of Office" message you have saved earlier.

In box four give the rule a name like "Out of Office" and click OK.

You will then be in the dialog box where you enable and disable rules. (obviously you only want to enable this rule when you are out of the office.)

Keep in mind you may respond to and encourage spam if you reply to it. You may want to define the rule for specific types of messages or senders. I used the "For all messages" for the simplest way to accomplish the task. You will need to leave the computer running and have Outlook Express set to check for mail automatically.

 

[Jeff Horton]

Deturner, good point. I am on an always on connection and never turn off my computer. So I didn't even think of that! It doesn't apply to me but it would a lot of folks.