When to set an out-of-office message
You should set an out-of-office message whenever you're not going to check your email for any length of time – whether you're on maternity leave, on holiday, on a train or in a long meeting.
If you forget to set the out-of-office message before you go away, you can do it from your Barnardo's phone. See below.
How to set an out-of-office message on a PC
Click the File tab in Outlook
then the Automatic Replies (Out of Office) button
Then you get options to send your out-of-office reply to Barnardo's emails only, or to send the same or different messages to internal and external emails. You can also choose to set a date range. See example below.
How to set an out-of-office message on a Mac
Click the Tools tab in Outlook, then click Out of Office... in the dropdown menu.
Then you get options to send your out-of-office reply to Barnardo's emails only, or to send the same or different messages to internal and external emails. You can also choose to set a date range. See example below.
Sample out-of-office message
Tick the box at the top to start setting up your out-of-office message, and write your message in the field below.
If someone is responsible for your projects while you're away, add their contact details.
You can choose when Outlook starts and stops sending the message by ticking the box by 'Only send replies during this time period' and selecting your dates and times.
If you haven't set a date range, you'll get a warning when you return to work that you have an active out-of-office message.
You can also choose to send the same message or a different one to people emailing you from outside Barnardo's.
Click OK at the bottom to activate your message.
How to set an out-of-office message on an iPhone
Go to mailboxes by clicking the 3 bars at the top left of your phone screen.
If you have more than one mailbox, select the one you want to send out-of-office messages from.
Then click the cog at the bottom right of the screen to go to settings.
On the settings screen, click Out of Office.
on the Out of Office screen, click Send Automatic Replies.
Then choose whether your message goes only to Barnardo's or external emails, or both. You can also choose to set a time duration.
Then click Save.
Write your out-of-office message, as in the example below:
Then click Save.
People receiving your message
Your message will go just once to each person who emails you while it is active. People emailing you will also get a warning that you have an out-of-office message set while they are still writing their email to you!