Out of Office and Vacation Message Setup

With our new Exchange server, you will set up your Out of Office or Vacation Message from within Outlook, Entourage, or Outlook Web Access (OWA).

Features included with the Exchange Outlook Out of Office or Vacation Message setup:

1. The Out of Office Message will send an automatic reply to a sender only one time and will not respond to subsequent messages from the same sender until the message is turned off and on again.
2. You can automatically send separate Out of Office Messages to internal [Mills College] or external [email addresses outside of Mills College] recipients.
3. If you know in advance that you will be out of office, you can create your message in advance and it will automatically start and stop according to the times you specify.
4. If you set up your Out of Office Message without a start or end time, you will be prompted every time you log in to check your email with an option to turn off the Out of Office Message or keep it active.

 Outlook (PC Users): 

1. Open Microsoft Outlook
2. From the upper menu bar select the Tools menu
3. Select Out of Office Assistant
4. Click the radio button next to Send Out of Office auto-replies
5. Check Only send during this time range
6. Enter the Start time and End time
7. Select the Inside My Organization tab
8. Click in the text box and compose your out of office message
9. Optional: Select the Outside My Organization tab
10. Check the Auto-reply to people outside my organization 
11. Click in the text box and compose your out of office message
12. Select OK to save your entry
    

Entourage (Mac Users):

1. Open Entourage
2. From the upper menu bar select the Tools menu
3. Select Out of Office
4. In the Reply to message with text box, compose your out of office message
5. Select More Options
6. Set the time out of office by selecting I am out of the office between
7. Optional: Set options for replying to outside of Mills College recipients by selecting Send replies outside my company to
8. Close and Save
    

Outlook Web Access (OWA)

1. Select Options from the upper right-hand area of the OWA browser window
2. Select Out of Office Assistant from the left-hand menu
3. Click the radio button next to Send Out of Office auto-replies
4. Check Send Out of Office auto replies only during this time period:
5. Enter the Start time and End time
6. Click in the text box and compose your out of office message
7. Optional: Select the Send Out of Office auto-replies to External Senders
8. Click in the text box and compose your out of office message
9. Select Save to save your entry 

If you need assistance please email helpdesk@mills.edu or call (510) 430-2005.