Automatic replies only to emails outside the organization?

Question

Automatic replies only to emails outside the organization?

Michal Rama 40

Hello,

I need to set up automatic replies for a shared mailbox. However, only for external emails, it doesn't matter for emails within the organization.

There is an option for automatic forwarding in the Admin Center. I can even set it to send a completely different message. However, I don't see anywhere an option to not send anything at all within the organization.

Please help

Thank you

Jack-Bu 6,865 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-01T13:17:18.1166667+00:00

Hello Michal

It’s been a while since our last interaction.

I wanted check if you’ve had a chance to review the response provided by Gabriel. We hope it addressed your questions thoroughly.

If you have any further questions or need additional clarification, please feel free to return and ask at any time.

Additionally, if you feel this discussion has been helpful, please consider marking this thread as accepted by clicking “Accept the answer.” This helps surface the information provided for others encountering similar issues and contributes to building a stronger, more informed community.

2 answers

Your answer

Jack-Bu 6,865 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-01T13:17:18.1166667+00:00

Hello Michal

It’s been a while since our last interaction.

I wanted check if you’ve had a chance to review the response provided by Gabriel. We hope it addressed your questions thoroughly.

If you have any further questions or need additional clarification, please feel free to return and ask at any time.

Additionally, if you feel this discussion has been helpful, please consider marking this thread as accepted by clicking “Accept the answer.” This helps surface the information provided for others encountering similar issues and contributes to building a stronger, more informed community.

Answer 1

Aniket Gharat 0

Outlook does not allow autoreply exclusively for external users. However you can Use Power Automate for auto reply. Works perfectly for shared mailboxes and gives you full control over external vs internal filtering.

Steps

Go to Power Automate (https://make.powerautomate.com)

Create → Automated Cloud Flow

Trigger: When a new email arrives in a shared mailbox (V3)

Add Condition: Check if sender is external

Example expression: not(endsWith(triggerOutputs()?['body/from/emailAddress/address'], '@yourcompany.com'))

If YES (external sender): Add action: Send email from shared mailbox (V2)
- To: triggerOutputs()?['body/from/emailAddress/address']
- Subject: RE: @{triggerOutputs()?['body/subject']}
- Body: Thank you for your email. We will get back to you shortly.

Advantages

Works even when no one opens Outlook
Fully controlled logic (domain-based filtering)
No dependency on desktop
Audit + maintainable (important for enterprise)

Mareo 0 Reputation points

2026-09-16T09:55:40.8833333+00:00

Outlook does not allow autoreply exclusively for external users.

Hi hello,

do you have info on when this this started? I know I was able to set this up in March. I had to adjust the text and was not able to save without checking the "inside organization" part. Any idea what update this? When was this?

Answer 2

Anonymous

Hello @Michal Rama

You can try using Exchange PowerShell like below:

Set-MailboxAutoReplyConfiguration 
-Identity ******@domain.com 
-AutoReplyState Enabled 
-ExternalMessage "External auto-reply message." 
-ExternalAudience All

This is the closest supported behavior to sending automatic replies only to external senders.

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Anonymous

2026-06-29T10:30:39.5366667+00:00

Hello @Michal Rama

Is there any update from you?

If yes, please feel free to let me know.