So you are going on holiday and need to let everyone know that you are not going to be answering their emails, looking at their funny forwards, or reading about Nigerian money scams in your junk mail folder!

The Out of Office Assistant looks after your inbox whilst you are away, by replying with a custom message whenever someone sends you an email.  The message could be as simple as “Hi, I am not in the Office, email will not be read until I return”… or could include alternative contact details, or maybe the contact details of a colleague who is looking after your job whilst you are away.

To turn on the Out of Office Assistant in Outlook 2007:

1. On the Tools menu in Outlook 2007, click on “Out of Office Assistant”
2. Select “I am currently Out of the Office”
3. Type your custom message in the box below
4. Click OK

Simple as that!  If you could not find the Out of Office Assistant button in the tools menu, it might mean you are not using an Exchange server at your workplace.  Outlook needs to be connected to an Exchange server for the Out of Office Assistant to work properly (or at all!)

When you get back from holidays… you will want to turn off your Out of Office Assistant.

In Outlook 2007, in the tools menu select “Out of Office Assistant”.  Then select “I am in the Office”

Get Smart with the Out of Office Assistant!

You can get smarter with the Out of Office Assistant in Outlook 2007… by adding additional rules to be processed whenever an email appears in your inbox.  For example, you might want to delete every email from your boss (not recommended), or move emails from a distribution list into a folder you have set up. 

To add more rules to your Out of Office Assistant… go to the tools menu again, select “Out of Office Assistant”, and then click “Add Rule”.

Now you can go on holiday and not have to worry about your email every 5 minutes!

tags: help, oof, out of office, outlook 2007, tips

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