How can I set up a recurring automatic reply during specific hours?

Anonymous
2024-01-31T22:31:14+00:00

I work in an industry where my clients may require urgent assistance outside of normal business hours. My business engages a third party to handle after-hours emergencies on behalf of the team, but we often receive complaints that clients cannot easily access the after-hours emergency contact number, despite it being available on our website and our after-hours voicemail. In most cases, clients will call the team and disregard the voicemail, then follow up with an email complaining that we're unavailable.

It would be beneficial to have the option to set up an automatic reply where the after-hours contact information is sent to clients when our staff are emailed between 5pm and 8:30am, 5 days per week.

I have tried using the rules feature and fiddled around with the automatic reply feature, but neither would allow me to set up a recurring automatic reply without setting a start and finish date/time. I also checked whether it's possible to synchronize an automatic reply with my calendar block-outs, but this wasn't possible either.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

Outlook | Windows | New Outlook for Windows | For home

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

74 answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2024-05-17T11:01:47+00:00

    Oh yes, just realised you haven't had the Monday off yet! Will wait to hear :)

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2024-06-06T09:26:04+00:00

    Hi Eleni

    Is there a chance this will be something that is developed? I am in a similar situation working part-time; I like to set an out-of-office on my non-working days, Monday/Thursday, and it becomes annoying to have to turn it on when I leave on Friday and Wednesday and then remember to turn it off on Tuesday and Friday.

    I work a 4-day week so I am in the same situation. This function exists in the Outlook calendar when scheduling events etc., so I can't understand why it's not in Outlook emails. It's very annoying and will lead to mistakes when you forget one week or you're not able to access your emails etc. We should not have to set up an overcomplicated rule or generally change how our Outlook operates and automates emails, to implement such a very basic need.

    Was this answer helpful?

    10+ people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Deleted

    This answer has been deleted due to a violation of our Code of Conduct. The answer was manually reported or identified through automated detection before action was taken. Please refer to our Code of Conduct for more information.

    Comments have been turned off. Learn more

  4. Anonymous
    2024-07-05T13:01:29+00:00

    Absolutely agree - I don't work Mondays, and it would be so much simpler if I could have something like this. It seems like such a straightforward request, not sure why it hasn't been developed!

    Was this answer helpful?

    3 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2024-07-08T07:15:28+00:00

    Literally!! I'm shocked Outlook does not have this feature already. They need to get on to it ASAP.

    Was this answer helpful?

    5 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments