Let people who email you know you’re unavailable by sending them an automatic out-of-office message. Outlook for Mac offers two types: one for Exchange accounts whose automatic replies come from the server, and one that runs it itself for each type of email account.
The instructions in this article apply to Outlook for Microsoft 365 for Mac, Outlook 2016 for Mac, and Outlook for Mac 2011.
Set up automatic out of office reply in Outlook for Mac with Exchange
Here’s how your Exchange account automatically replies to new messages (even when Outlook for Mac isn’t running):
Choose Tool > Outside of the house.
Choose Send messages outside of the office Check the box.
In which Reply to messages with Enter the message you want and a date when recipients can expect a personal reply.
In which start date In the text box, enter the date and time when you do not expect to be able to check your email.
In which Deadline In the text box, enter the date and time of your return.
Choose Send replies outside of my company to Check the box.
Choose either Address book contacts only or Everyone outside of my company.
In which Reply once to each sender outside of my company In the text box, enter a message for the out of office reply for senders outside your organization.
Choose OK.
Set up out of office auto reply in Outlook for Mac with other email accounts
Here’s how Outlook for Mac automatically replies to messages while it’s running and receiving email for non-Exchange accounts:
Choose Tool > Rules.
Step aside IMAP or POP depending on the account for which you create the automatic vacation reply.
Click on .
In which rule name text field, enter Auto reply when out of office.
To send automatic replies only to people in your address book, play the criteria From Is a contact.
In which Sent to Enter your email address in the text field.
Choose Do the following and choose answers as the first action.
Choose response body and enter the desired response for your out-of-office autoresponder.
Choose OK.
If you have different rules, use the blue up and down buttons to change the order of the auto out of office reply rule. For example, if you want to categorize or delete messages before sending the auto reply, but you want the auto reply to override rules that categorize email and stop further processing of those messages.
Close the Rules window.