If your request is urgent, there’s no use sitting idly in my inbox. So, please send your request to [contact name] at [contact email].
If instead you ask your co-workers to cc or bcc on replies then you will know which have been dealt with. (I think for internal mails it’s more reasonable to ask that if the original person contacts someone else, they cc you so you know who is dealing – and in smaller organisations where people know you personally you could also send a mail round the day before you leave to say you’re going to be out and to ask that any enquiries are directed to [name]in your absence, to try to avoid them coming into your inbox in the first place.
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Please see the video here, explained step by step: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0jJwjpE87o. Hope this help.
I have a couple people that I work with though who set them for outside their normal work hours, like they automatically kick on at 4:30pm and off at 8am or whatever, and then there’s the one special snowflake who sets her out of office not only when she leaves for the day every day, but also when she takes her half hour lunch or her fifteen minute break, Jesus wept.
A literary agent I follow told the story of a long argument her autoreply had with a would-be author. She’d set up the outbound email while out of town and apparently an author who queried her with his book took offense to it. He replied back in frustration that he didn’t get a personal response. Her autoreply sent back another automated message, which he then in increasing anger kept responding to.
This OoO has to be in the tech sector. I can see something like this as an (internal only) OoO at my workplace. I actually kinda love it. Yes it’s wordy but it also makes the recipient take a beat and consider the importance of their issue and where to go if needed. It will also cut down on interruptions to the “catch-all” person in the standard OoO, which is generally the Admin. I have always hated being the go-to on people’s OoOs. I spent more time trying to find info on what Urgent Emailer insisted was URGENT than I did doing any actual work. And the urgency was never really necessary.
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My husband’s voice mails says “…if you need immediate assistance call Mary at ####…”, only Mary retired something like eight years ago. I mention this to him every once in a while. It hasn’t changed.
After I tweeted this example, dozens of people sent me examples of OOO messages they’d set or particularly good examples they’d seen in the wild. One example from a boss (via a TikTok) who offers emailers a decision tree of sorts. “Option 1.) Wait it out. Ask yourself, ‘is this urgent and important?’ If not, take a beat…you and I will be better off with this expectation set now,” the email begins. This one stands out because it’s extremely detailed, manages expectations and also offers who to contact in different situations. It models good behavior of taking time off, but also gives the original sender a variety of option. Most importantly, the responder forces the original sender to assess whether this is actually an urgent request.
In the Settings panel, select “Automatic replies,” then click “Turn on automatic replies.”
Please note that all company offices will be closed [date] to [date]. We will reopen [date], and close again for [date] and [date]. We wish you all the warmest of holiday cheer!
Rather than clutter your general greeting, set an auto-attendant for a campaign-specific phone number. You can assign a unique number to each of your campaigns. Record a voicemail message that helps callers to learn more about your marketing campaign.
I’ll be back in the office on 7/19 and will happily respond then. Have a great weekend! Holiday Out-of-Office Messages 10. “Holiday revelry and debauchery ahead. Proceed with caution (if you dare).”
We sent a message from the Android phone to the iPhone number that has already been set in vacation settings. And finally, we received an auto-reply text from iPhone to the Android phone.
Yup. That’s almost verbatim what I do. It’s the standard around here and now I’m grateful for that!
My bank still does that, and it seems to serve a good purpose there–I appreciate knowing if I should call someone else to get things done that day.
'The very fact you were content to type out your query long hand and settle back to wait for a reply suggests you can wait' (Credit: Getty Images)