Email and Microsoft 365
What to put in an out-of-office reply
Your out-of-office reply is probably the most widely read thing you write all year.
1 min readExplainer
The short version
An automatic reply goes to everyone who emails you, including strangers and scammers. Keep it short and useful.
Why it matters
An automatic reply is sent to anyone who emails you, including marketing lists, strangers and scammers. It confirms your address is real and tells them something about you and your company.
Attackers use these replies. If they know you are away and who is covering, they can email your colleague pretending to be you, or pretend to be the colleague to your clients.
What to include
- That you are away and when you will be back.
- Who to contact for urgent matters, by role if possible (“our accounts team”) with a shared address.
- For clients and suppliers who need to reach the business, the main office phone number.
What to leave out
- Where you are, or why you are away.
- Your personal mobile number.
- Details of who is covering for which client or which payments.
- Anything about the office being empty.
Use the two versions
Outlook lets you set one reply for people inside your organization and a different one for everyone else. Inside, you can give more detail. Outside, keep it to the basics. You can also send the outside reply only to people in your contacts.
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