Q: When I will be out of the office, how do I set up email auto-replies on MIT's Exchange service?

Answer

To turn on auto-replies with Exchange, you'll need to use an Exchange email client to tell the Out of Office Assistant to send automatic responses while you're away.

Use Outlook Web App (OWA) to set up Out of Office email auto-replies:

1. Log in to Outlook Web App.
   
2. Click on the gear icon in the top right corner of the screen and select "Options" from the dropdown menu.
   
3. Select Organize Email  > Automatic replies.
   Result: The Automatic Replies settings screen appears.
    
   
   
4. Toggle on Send automatic replies.
5. Enter your message in the field provided below the text "Send a reply once to each sender inside my organization with the following message".  It is the first text entry box. See: Q: What should I put in my Out of Office message?
6. If you choose to send automatic replies to those in your contacts list or all external senders, click "Send automatic reply messages to senders outside my organization" then choose either "Send replies only to senders in my Contacts list" or "external senders".  
7. If you chose to Send to all External senders, you need to enter a message in the field provided below the text "Send a reply once to each sender outside my organization with the following message".  If the external senders option is checked, there must be a message within the field or senders outside of MIT will not receive it.  
8. Click the Save button at the bottom of the page.

Warning: The Out of Office assistant may reply to mailing lists in some instances. This is not an issue with Mailman mailing lists. IS&T recommends using Mailman mailing lists to avoid out of office messages being sent to list members. For more information about mailing lists and how to get a Mailman list, see: Email Lists at MIT.