ContentsHow to Set Up an Out of Office Reply in the Outlook Desktop AppHow to Set Up Out of Office Replies in the Microsoft Outlook Web Version
Ha reminds me of an admin here once who would leave like 10 bullet points on who to contact for what. We got a kick out of the point that was “for catering emergencies…contact…”.
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So, take a lesson from @courtwhip, editor at PEDESTRIAN.TV, who wrote the above hilarious out-of-office email, fully stocked with mentions of the best movies from the 1990s. (By the way, "Splinter" is from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and as we all know, he loves pizza.)
I remember a phone tree that at the end of the normal boring options there was “To hear a duck press 8”
If you’ll be away for a portion of time observing a holiday, create a cheerful auto-reply in your absence! Instead of my phone, it’s the jingle bells that will be ringing until 1/2; I will be out of office until then, please expect a reply with 24 hours of my return. I’m leaving on a jet plane! The Stern Firm will be out of the office until 3/4 on a company-wide retreat. We will respond to all messages promptly upon return.
During the holidays, many offices shut down in a way that they do not throughout the rest of the year. For these rare few days, you may be completely inaccessible to customers and unable to help employees who are trying to sneak in a little extra work through the holidays. Use this checklist to make sure that you've shut down the office correctly--and that you're able to get everything back up and running smoothly again when the holidays are over.
The example above (which comes from NY Times) may not take advantage of some of the tips we mentioned, but it’s great because it’s so short. Due to its absent-minded straightforwardness, such a message can be perceived as a real, non-automated reply — as if you were so busy that you only carved out a few seconds to type these five words.
The best holiday messages are short, cheerful and specific. Try to include the person’s name, as well as a memory from the holiday season or year.
To be honest, if it wasn’t for the bloody flashing red light I’d never bother with it. Can’t stand the flashing light.
My OOO auto reply is fairly detailed. I have links to information for products I work with, an alternate point of contact for people to approach, etc. It’s really a CYA thing. What irks me about some OOO auto replies is when the person who is out has an alternate point of contact who is also out. Both are obvious planned absences, and both people are on the same team. Don’t they talk to one another about vacation??
Maybe I'm over-reading your advice or observations here, but, like, being straightforward and honest without being deliberately blunt or getting in your bon mots is basically the expectation at most of the companies I've worked at. Professional politeness is fine, and good, actually, as long as it's not a cover for other, less praiseworthy behaviors, and what constitutes "important" is going to vary wildly, depending on whose boss is the one assigning the tasks — my boss may not care that an employee's access to a system gets delayed by a week or two, but the employee whose sales are dependent on having access to that system certainly does, for entirely understandable reasons. This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts Home Buying 101 First Time Homebuyer Experienced Homebuyer Home Loan Process Refinance 101 Cash-Out Refinance Consolidate Debt Lower Your Monthly Payments Reduce Mortgage Insurance Higher Loan-to-Value Loans FHA Insured Conventional Home loans VA Home Loans USDA loans 203k Approved to Move Loan Officers Customer Hub FAQs Glossary Calculators Contact Us Mobile App Videos About Rates Blog > What to Say in Your Out-of-Office Email and Voice Messages When You Take Time Off What to Say in Your Out-of-Office Email and Voice Messages When You Take Time Off
My office has a shared vacation calendar, which I think is a more helpful way to handle this.
When Amy Spurling, cofounder of the company perks software company Compt, went on vacation, she ended her message with a clear direction about who to contact: “If you need immediate help, please contact [name and email address]. I will be responding to all emails on my return.”
But that sounds boring, right? Luckily, there are ways to spice up your OOO message by adding humor in just the right places.
As an employer one of our policies is to Call in absent days not text them in. This hasn’t worked well as employees ( especially young employees) will still text in those types of messages. It would be wonderful to have a feature in the iPhone that allows for instant text response that can be set up for certain contacts( employees). Something similar to an out of office message in email…” I am not receiving text, please call … … …. and speak to me directly”
My favorite was one the one that said “I am out of the office and don’t plan on ever returning.”
If you’re using the web version of Outlook, you can set up out of office replies by going to Settings > View all Outlook settings > Mail > Automatic replies. Then turn on automatic replies, write your message, and click Save.