Set out of office (automatic reply) with the Manage Rules & Alerts function

For those connecting with Point-Of-Presence (POP) inboxes, us the Manage Rules & Alerts function to tailor your out of office auto reply, more specifically:


1. Click Home > New E-mail to create a new message, type the subject and message as you need. See screenshot:

2. The click File > Save As in the new message window.

3. Now in the Save As dialog box, please select Outlook Template (*.oft) from the Save as type drop down list, and click the Save button. See screenshot:

Note: After specifying the Save as type as Outlook Template (*.oft), the email will be saved to the default template folder automatically. And it's not necessary to choose saving folder any more.

4. Go ahead to click Home > Rules > Manage Rules & Alerts, see screenshot:

5. In the Rules and Alerts dialog box, (1) click E-mail Rules tab; (2) select the email account that you want to apply the out of office setting from Apply changes to this folder drop down list; (3) and then click New Rule. See screenshot:

6. In the Rules Wizard , click Apply rule on message I receive from the Start from a blank rule section, and click the Next button.

7. In the Rules Wizard (which condition(s) do you want to check), check the sent only to me option, and click the Next button. See screenshot:

8. Now in the Rules Wizard (what do you want to do with the message?), please do as following screenshot shown:

(1) Check the reply using a specific template option;

(2) Click the linked text of a specific template;

(3) Now in the popping out Select a Reply Template dialog box, select the User Templates in File System from Look in drop down list, click to select the message template you created just now, and click the Open button;

(4) Now you return to the Rules Wizard, please click the Next button.

9. Click the Next button twice to get into the Rules Wizard (Finish rule setup), please (1) type a name for the new rule in the Step 1 box; (2) check options as you need in the Step 2 section; (3) and click the Finish button.

10. Close the Rules and Alert dialog box.

Going forward, when new emails are coming in your Outlook, they will be automatically replied with the specified message template at once.