I'm trying to set up a system where a person's out of office (OOF) message is sent out every time they receive an email. The problem is that customers are getting the initial OOF response but forget and email again, leading to frustration when they don't get a response for days. I've found that toggling the OOF message off and on once a day resets the response count, but it's a bit tedious. Setting up a mail rule seems complicated, and I can't figure out how to schedule it in the new Outlook, where I can't even create certain mail rules. I mentioned to my manager that auto-replying to every message in an email chain might annoy some people. Has anyone faced this issue before and how did you handle it? Are there any third-party services that offer better options than Outlook and Exchange Online?
4 Answers
Honestly, is this a professional environment or what? It feels like dealing with a bunch of toddlers not understanding how OOF replies work!
It’s honestly not your fault if external customers don’t pay attention to properly configured OOF replies. But if you’re looking for a solution, you can probably set this up with Power Automate for more flexibility.
For automating responses, you can set up two transport rules in Exchange. The first rule should identify the email address you want to automate and set the appropriate headers to suppress auto-responses. The second rule can help prevent spam on auto-generated replies. It might take a bit of configuration, but it's doable!
You might want to check out CodeTwo 365 Signatures. It handles auto-replies really well and lets you customize the responses, even for shared mailboxes. You can send multiple auto-responses, too. Just check if you can get licenses specifically for the auto-responder feature.
How does it work for the end-user? Do they set it up in Outlook, or is there a web portal for CodeTwo? We’re considering switching from Exclaimer.
We have a similar situation and suggest setting up rules instead of relying on OOF replies. Have you tried using a transport rule? It’s not perfect but it might help as a temporary solution while you explore other options.