Microsoft Outlook allows you to set a rule ON your account to automatically check incoming messages and reply with a designated email to let your contacts know that you are out of the office. The following are step-by-step instructions ON setting up such a rule:

1. Open Microsoft Outlook.

2. Click ON New, to open a new email message.

3. There and type in the subject line and body as you would like the auto-reply message to show. Leave the To line blank.

4. Click, File, and then Save As to save the file. In the Save as Type box, select Outlook Template .oft.

Note: If you do not see the Outlook Template.oft option here and you must make Outlook the default email editor. To do so and click Tools, Options, the Mail Format tab and uncheck the box that says Use Microsoft Word to Edit Email Messages, click Apply, and then OK.

5. Close the email message you just created.

6. When Outlook asks you if you want to save the message and select No.

7. Open the Rules screen by clicking Tools and then Rules and Alerts.

8. Click ON New Rule.

9. Select START from a blank rule.

10. Select Check messages when they arrive.

11. Click Next.

12. Do not check any of the boxes under Which condition (s) do you want to check.

13. Click Next.

14. When the box pops up asking This rule will be applied to every message you receive. Is this correct? - Click Yes.

15. Under Step 1, click the box next to reply using a specific template.

16. Under Step 2, click ON the link a specific template.

17. Click the arrow next to Look In.

18. Select User Templates in the File System.

19. Click ON the Out of Office Reply you created in step 3. The name will be whatever you wrote as the subject of the email.

20. Click Open.

21. Click Next ON the Rules Wizard two times (ON the What do you want to do with the message? and Are there any exceptions? screens.

22. If you want to turn ON the auto-reply message immediately and click finish. If you would like to wait to turn ON the auto-reply later, uncheck the Turn ON this rule box and click finish.

23. Click Apply to save

24. Click OK to exit

25. If you left the Turn ON this rule box checked and your Out of Office Auto-Reply is now working!

26. You can test it's functionality by sending yourself an email doing a send/receive two times. If you receive the test message and the auto-reply and you have completed the steps correctly!

Additional Notes

Make Sure Your Rule Works - Leave Your Computer ON!

The out of office auto-reply feature only works if you have your computer ON, your Outlook open and the email account sent to automatically send/receive. Make sure that you are set up to do so under Tools, Options, the Mail Setup tab and Send/Receive option screen. You can schedule an automatic send/receive at any interval you prefer. Once your computer is set up correctly, you can put it in Hibernate mode and where you can continue to receive and reply to messages without leaving the computer in FULL POWER. To do so and click START, Shut Down, and change the option box to Hibernate. Feel free to turn OFF the monitor while you are gone and just leave the computer to silently check your mail.

Turning the Auto-Reply ON at a Later Time

If you unchecked the Turn ON this rule box during setup, you can turn ON the AUTO reply at a later time by following these easy steps:

1. In Outlook and click Tools and then Rules and Alerts

2. Click the checkbox next to the rule you created.

3. Click Apply.

4. Click OK.

5. Your rule is now turned ON!

Turning the AUTO Reply OFF

When you get back to the office and just follow these simple steps to turn the Auto-Reply OFF:

1. Click Tools and select Rules and Alerts

2. Uncheck the box next to the Auto-Reply rule

3. Click Apply

4. Click OK

5. The rule is now turned OFF!

Editing the Reply Message

After using the Out-of-Office reply once and you don't need to redo the whole process the next time you are out of the office. Follow the steps ON the following slides to change your message:

1. The trickiest part is finding the message again and click in the following order:

1. START Bar
2. My Computer
3. Local Disk (C:)
4. Documents and Settings
5. Your Name (one folder will be the name of the computer)
6. Application Data
7. Microsoft
8. Templates
9. Finally- The Out of Office Message!

3. Edit the text of the message to read what you would like the Auto-Reply message to say.

4. Click, File, and then Save As to save the file.

5. In the Save as Type box, select Outlook Template .oft.

6. Close the email message you just created.

7. When Outlook asks The file already exists. Do you want to replace the file? 'Select Yes.

8. Turn ON the rule using the directions above.