It’s important to get the tone and content right because it can make or break your reputation as a company.
Education Details: Create an out-of-office template. In Outlook, create a new email message. Enter a subject and message body for your out-of-office template. Select File > Save As.. Give your template a name and in the Save as type drop-down, select Outlook Template (*.oft).. You can change the location for your template, but you can also pick the default location, which is usually c:\users\ username \appdata
.
But I also believe there’s meaningful power in the mundane cultural norms we set and practice. Email, for better or worse, makes up a large chunk of how knowledge workers communicate. So much of this communication is muddled by broken email habits and larger anxieties around performing productivity. We’re constantly nervous about asking too much of others or doing too little on behalf of our coworkers. But we’re also stuck in work patterns that force us to communicate constantly and normalize working and demanding things from colleagues at all hours.
Hi and thank you for your message. I’ll be out of the office on [DATE]. Please contact my manager, [EMAIL] for assistance.
Nicely done! Now check your email to confirm your subscription so you can get started with the free bonuses! We use this field to detect spam bots. If you fill this in, you will be marked as a spammer. GET BETTER AT EMAIL NOW! When you grab the kit you’ll also be subscribed to receiving further emails from Productivityist. But don’t worry… we won’t send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.
Think about your tone and mood - you don't know who'll be getting these out of office auto reply emails so be mindful of the impression you make. Think of the boss, the CEO, a colleague you like, family members, clients you like. That said, there are some bridge-burner examples below to tempt you!
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.
I feel for the people who have to cover others’ out-of-office for a few hours or a day, just as much as I feel for those who have to arrange cover whenever they’re out for a meeting. If the purpose is showing demanding clients that they can get a quick response to their issues at any time, then…won’t talking to someone who doesn’t have any context about their business piss them off even more? It all feels like unnecessary stress to put on people.
While it’s vital that you get the main points across in any vacation email, brevity is important. If you’re looking for something a little more to-the-point, try this one:
Changing it every evening is definitely too much, though. I would assume the vast majority of people sending business email understand the concept of working and non-working hours…
An out of office email is an automatic response you can set up to be sent when someone tries to get in touch with you whilst you’re away from the office.
Thank you for your email. I will be out of the office from mm/dd to mm/dd and will have limited access to email / will not have access to email. If this is urgent, please contact [NAME] at [EMAIL] or [PHONE]. I will do my best to respond promptly to your email when I return on mm/dd. Why is out of office message important?
I hate when senders ignore the instructions in my OOO message. Usually, my message is something simple like: “I am out [Dates], returning to the office [Date]. Please contact Jane (jane’s email address) in my absence. General [department] questions may be sent to [general dept email address].” To me that says if you are sending me anything then I won’t see it until I return. If you have something you need to be resolved right away, you can contact Jane or send it to our department inbox (where it should be going anyway).
Other than that, I keep it simple like most folks here, but back in my younger days I had one that started something like “I am out of the office on vacation until (date). I will not be checking emails, voicemails, (work queue system), or generally thinking about this place at all…”
Of course, if you’re expecting something (or someone) urgent to pop into your inbox, send them a separate note with your personal email or phone number. Alternatively, you can also just make sure whoever your go-to contact is has that information in case you do need to be reached. Once you handle that, you can do what your out-of-office says you’re doing and actually spend the day recharging.
I do find the above quite amusing, but it would never fly at my place of work! lol!
I’ve honestly considered changing my OOO message/voicemail to “You’ve reached Lisa. I’m overwhelmed right now, so I’ll get back to you eventually.”