An out of office message is an automatic reply that tells people you are away and when they can expect an answer. A good one takes a minute to write and saves you from a pile of follow-ups, while a poor one confuses senders or shares more than it should. This guide gives you ready-to-use out of office message examples for a holiday, sick leave, parental leave, travel and leaving a company, then shows how to switch on automatic replies in Outlook and Gmail and how to avoid the problems that automatic replies can cause.
What to include in an out of office message
Every effective message answers the questions a sender will have the moment they read it. Will my message be seen? When will I get an answer? Who can help me now? Write for a person who is a little impatient and has not read anything else you have written.
- A clear subject line. "Out of office until 14 November" tells the sender everything before they open the reply.
- The dates you are away, and the date you will be back. Say the day you return, not only the day you leave.
- What happens to their message. Say whether you will read email while away. If you will not, say so plainly, so that nobody waits for an answer.
- An alternative contact with a name, a role and an email address or phone number, for anything urgent.
- A polite close, and your name and role.
Leave out the details that are not needed. You do not have to say where you are going, who you are with or why you are away. A message that announces an empty house or a long trip tells strangers more than you intend, because automatic replies go to everybody who writes, including spammers and people you do not know.
Out of office message examples you can copy
Replace the details in square brackets with your own. Each example is short on purpose.
Simple vacation or holiday message
Subject: Out of office until [date]
Hello, and thank you for your message. I am out of the office from [start date] and will return on [return date]. I will have limited access to email while I am away and will reply when I am back. If your matter is urgent, please contact [name] at [email address]. Kind regards, [your name]
Public holiday or office closure
Subject: Our office is closed for [holiday]
Thank you for getting in touch. Our office is closed on [date] for [holiday] and will reopen on [date]. We will reply to your message on our first working day. For anything urgent, please write to [shared mailbox address]. Best wishes, [team name]
Sick leave
Subject: Out of office
Hello, I am out of the office at the moment and cannot reply to email. I will be back on [date], and I will answer your message then. If you need help sooner, please contact [name] at [email address]. Thank you for your patience, [your name]
You do not need to mention an illness, and in most cases you should not. "Out of the office" is enough.
Parental or maternity leave
Subject: Out of office on leave until [date]
Thank you for your message. I am on leave until [date] and I am not checking email. For [topic or area], please contact [name] at [email address]. For anything else, please write to [shared mailbox address] and the right person will pick it up. Thank you for your understanding, [your name]
Travelling for work, with limited access
Subject: Travelling, slower replies until [date]
Hello, I am travelling for work until [date] and will reply to email as soon as I can, which may take a day or two. If your request cannot wait, please contact [name] at [email address]. Thank you, [your name]
Leaving the company
Subject: I have left [company name]
Thank you for your message. I no longer work at [company name], and this mailbox is not monitored. Please send your message to [name] at [email address], who will be glad to help. I wish you all the best. [your name]
Out of office for a team or shared mailbox
Subject: Our team is away until [date]
Thanks for writing to [team name]. Our team is away until [date]. We will answer your message in the order we receive it when we return. If you need urgent help, please contact [name] at [email address]. Thank you, [team name]
A lighter, friendly version
Subject: Away until [date]
Hi there! I am away from my desk until [date] and I am keeping away from my inbox too. I will get back to you when I return. If it is urgent, [name] can help at [email address]. Thanks for your patience, [your name]
A light tone is fine for a team that knows its customers well. For most business contacts, the plain versions above are safer, because they read clearly in any language and carry no risk of misunderstanding.
How to set an out of office message in Outlook
The menu names change a little between Outlook versions, so look for the feature called Automatic Replies.
- Open Outlook and find Automatic Replies in the settings or the File menu, depending on your version.
- Choose to send automatic replies, and tick the box to send only during a time period.
- Enter your start and end dates and times.
- Write your message. Many versions of Outlook let you write one message for people inside your organisation and another for people outside it. Use the outside one to say less.
- Save, then send a test message from another address to check what a sender sees.
How to set an out of office reply in Gmail
Gmail calls this feature the vacation responder, shown as "Out of office AutoReply" in some versions.
- Open Gmail settings and choose to see all settings.
- On the General tab, scroll to the out of office or vacation responder section.
- Turn it on, and set the first day and the last day.
- Enter a subject and a message.
- Choose whether to reply only to people in your contacts, or only to people at your organisation. Replying only to known contacts reduces the amount of automatic mail that goes to unknown senders.
- Save the changes, and test from another account.
Out of office messages and automatic reply loops
Two mailboxes with automatic replies can answer each other without end. A mail loop wastes resources, and it can fill an inbox or lead a mail system to block your address. Well-built systems avoid this with rules from the standard on automatic responses: they send at most one reply to each sender in a period, and they mark their automatic mail with a header so that other systems know not to answer it. Our guide to automatic replies, mail loops and the Auto-Submitted header explains how these rules work.
If you build your own auto-reply, for example in an application that answers incoming mail, follow the same rules. Mark the reply as automatic, do not answer mail that is itself automatic, and never reply to a mailing list or a no-reply address. See inbound email processing for how incoming messages can be handled safely.
Mistakes to avoid
- No end date. People then receive "I am away" for weeks after you are back. Use a time period so the reply switches itself off.
- No alternative contact. An absence message that only says "I am away" leaves urgent matters stuck.
- Too much personal detail. Dates and reasons are for you to decide. Avoid giving your location or the address of an empty home.
- Promising a reply time you cannot meet. "I will reply within one hour" is a poor promise during leave. Say "when I return".
- Forgetting the shared mailbox. If a team address receives customer mail, set a message there too.
- Not testing. A test email takes a minute and shows you what a stranger sees.
- Leaving it on after you leave a job. Ask your administrator to set a final reply that points to a colleague, so contacts are not left guessing.
Out of office replies for businesses that send email at scale
Companies that send marketing or transactional email will receive a flood of automatic replies after a campaign. Those replies are not a problem to be suppressed. They are useful signals, as they confirm an address is live, though they should not be counted as engagement. Do not treat a reply as a sign of interest, and do not remove an address because it answered with an absence message. Send campaigns from an address that can receive replies, or use a dedicated reply-handling address, so that real answers are not buried. If you send with an API or an SMTP service, read inbound parse to see how to process replies automatically. A bounce is different from an automatic reply: a bounce means a message was not delivered, while an out of office reply means it was.
A quick checklist before you leave
- Write the message and read it aloud once.
- Check the dates, including the time zone if you work with people abroad.
- Name a colleague and confirm that they know they are the contact.
- Turn on the reply, and send yourself a test.
- Check your inbox on the day you return, and make sure the reply has switched off.
Send email that your recipients can answer Use a sending domain with proper authentication, and route replies to an address you read.
References and further reading
Frequently asked questions
What should an out of office message say?
Say that you are away, give your return date, state whether you will check email, and name another contact for urgent matters. Keep it short and share no personal details.
Should I say why I am away?
You do not have to. Dates and an alternative contact are what the sender needs. Avoid mentioning illness, your location or an empty home.
How do I set an out of office reply in Gmail?
Open settings, choose to see all settings, find the out of office or vacation responder section on the General tab, set the dates and message, choose who receives it and save.
How do I set automatic replies in Outlook?
Open Automatic Replies from the settings or File menu, turn them on, set a time period, write your message, save, and test from another address.
Can two out of office messages create an email loop?
Yes, if both systems answer each other. Good systems limit the replies to one per sender and mark them as automatic. Follow the same rules in any auto-reply you build.