At the bigger companies I’ve work for we’ve always used Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes which gives you access to the handy Out of Office Assistant. However, I have been working at smaller companies with POP accounts for some time now, and was resigned to the fact that all emails sent to me when I was on holiday would have to be ignored. Wrong!
I’m not sure how I didn’t find this before, but on Microsoft’s knowledge base website, I found this article on how to emulate the Out of Office Assistant using Outlook without Exchange.
Basically, you create an Outlook template (an .oft file) and set up a rule that replies to any emails received with the template you’ve created. Once you’re back at work, turn off the rule. Voila! The only drawback is that you have to leave your computer on and Outlook open because it’s not a serverside option. But hey, better than nothing! (At least your boss might think so.)
I know this is way late to reply to this thread.. but I found it useful Ani. Spanx fer sharing. -j
I found this useful as well, but when I tried to save the e-mail, I did not have the outlook template in the drop down box? How do I go about getting access to this, to save a template in outlook? I have a pop e-mail account and trying to use this while away.
Thanks!!!
I’m not exactly sure what you mean, but could you possibly mean that you tried to save the reply email but couldn’t save it as an Outlook Template File? If that’s the case, try making sure you don’t have Word turned on as your email editor. You can check this by going Tools > Options > Sending Email (I think, I’m on a Mac so I can’t check!).
I guess that is where my problem is. I don’t know how to turn Word off as my editor for the e-mail. I went to Actions- New mail message- plain text, etc.. but still opening it in Word format. I think this is why I’m not able to get the outlook template as an option when I’m “save as” on the e-mail. Also did you ever have any issues with leaving your computer running while away- does this mean I would have to undo the automatic shut down, like it does after 20 minutes or so, with no use?
Thanks for all your help!
Tricia
I actually just figured out how to turn off my Word e-mail editor! For anyone else that asks – Tools – Options – Mail Format -compose as Plain text and unclick the “use as word editor boxes”.
Whew..this has only taken me days to figure this out! Hey when all else fails use the help wizard on outlook e-mail!!
I’m glad you figured it out! Just remember you have to have your computer turned on and receiving mail automatically for this to work.