It is standard practice for individuals to turn on automatic replies from their email inbox when they plan to be away from their computer for an extended period of time. The Microsoft Outlook 2016 application supports the ability to enable auto replies and schedule them to begin and end on a specific date. In addition, Outlook users have the option to set different reply messages for senders inside and outside of their organization.

Step 1:


Launch the Outlook 2017 program on your PC using the Start menu in the lower-left corner of the screen. Depending on your organization’s security policy, you may be prompted to log in with your email credentials.

Step 2:

Go to the “File” area in the upper section of the Outlook window and click the “Automatic Replies” button.

Step 3:

Select the radio button next to “Send” at the top of the pop-up window. You will then have the choice of enabling auto replies or immediately or only during a scheduled period.

Step 4:

Check the option labeled “Only send during this time range” to schedule your automatic replies for certain dates. You can then manually enter the range of days and times when you want replies to be sent automatically.

Step 5:

Go to the “Inside My Organization” tab below and enter the message you want to be sent as your internal auto response. You have the option to include text and formatting, but keep in mind that no signatures will be automatically added to your replies.

Step 6:

Switch to the secondary tab to set an automatic reply for people who email you from outside your server domain. You can copy and paste the previous message if you want the replies to be identical.

Step 7:

Select which external people will receive automatic replies by choosing between the “My Contacts only” and “Anyone outside my organization” options.

Step 8:

Click the “OK” button to save the settings and enable your automatic reply schedule.

Automatic reply settings are saved to your email server, which means you do not need to keep the Outlook application running in order for the replies to be sent. For more information, visit the Microsoft support website.