Auto-reply?

[mofo]

I use Microsoft Outlook (not express). Is there any way to set-up an auto reply to my incoming emails while i'm gone? I do not have MS Exchange, is there any other way to do it? thanks.

[keithy397]

Type 'auto respond' in the Outlook help and you'll have the answer.

[mofo]

I don't see any "out of office assistant", i believe this is because i do not have MS Exchange installed, hence my initial question.

[Stryker]

Originally Posted by mofo I don't see any "out of office assistant", i believe this is because i do not have MS Exchange installed, hence my initial question.

You shouldn't need Exchange to use the OOOA. You should have the OOOA in your "Tools" menu inside of Outlook, but if for some reason you can't find it you can also set up a rule (also under the tools menu) to automatically send a reply to every message that comes in.

Take a look around for Out of Office Assistant again, as it should be there. Make sure the Tools menu is expanded fully so you can see each option.

Stryker

[mofo]

It's nowhere to be found in the tools tab, and when i type "out of office assistant" in thew help field it says it requires MS exchange. It also says the same thing after i tried to apply a new rule. I'm leaving in the morning, any other ways i could set this up before the trip?

[LiVeWiRe]

mofo,

Hopefully you will get this in time...

You can 'emulate' the OOO assistant by using a template and rule in Outlook.

First, create a new message that contains the reply you would like to send while you're away. Once you're finished, click on 'File' and then 'Save As'. In the pop-up menu, choose 'Outlook Template' as the File Type. Name your template. You can save it in the default location.

Once you have created your template, go to 'Tools' and then 'Rules and Alerts'. Click on 'New Rule' and then 'Start from a blank rule'.

Check messages when they arrive and then select 'with my name in the to or cc box'. Then click 'Next', and select 'reply using a specific template'. Then click on 'reply using a specific template' in the box below and browse and select the template you created above.

If you want to set any exceptions, do that in the next step. If not, click 'Next' and then name the rule. Then click 'Finish'.

I would test just to be sure it was set up correctly.

If you have any questions, let me know...

HTH,
-LW

[LiVeWiRe]

I did some additional testing with this and it appears that Outlook has to be running in order for this to work...

-LW

[doctorgonzo]

Yes, because without an Exchange server, the rule is stored in the Outlook client, not on the mail server itself. Thus, the rule will only be triggered when the Outlook client is running AND it checks for new mail.

[LiVeWiRe]

Yep, client-side rules vs. server-side rules...should have thought about it before.
-LW