If you'll be away from your email account, for example, on a vacation and without access to the Internet, you can set up an automatic reply to notify people that you won't be able to get back to them right away. When people send you a message, they will receive an email message.

Turn your vacation reply on

• In the top right, click the Gear icon, then select See all settings

• Scroll down to the Vacation responder section

• Select Vacation responder on

• Specify First day, Last day, subject, and Message

• At the bottom of the page, click Save Changes

• While the vacation responder is enabled, you'll see a banner on top of any Gmail page, displaying the subject of your vacation response.

• To stop automatically sending replies, click End now within the banner.

• If you'd like to edit the response, click Vacation Settings.

Note: Your Email signature will be added at the bottom of your automatic reply.

Note: Your vacation reply starts at 0:00 on the start date and ends at 23:59 on the end date, unless you manually end it earlier. In most cases, your vacation response is only sent to people the first time they message you.

Note: Incoming email messages that marked as spam folder will not receive an automatic reply.

Automatic reply message

To ensure effective and professional out-of-office emails, please keep the following guidelines in mind.

• Specify the start and end dates:

It is crucial to clearly state the dates of your absence in your out-of-office email.

This allows recipients to understand the duration of your unavailability and plan their communication accordingly.

• Provide an alternate contact person:

Whenever feasible, include the name and contact details of a colleague who can assist the recipient in your absence.

This ensures continuity of support and prevents any delays in addressing urgent matters.

• Inform the recipient about response expectations:

Clearly communicate when the recipient can expect a response from you or when they can approach you once you return to the office.

This helps manage their expectations and enables them to plan their follow-up accordingly.