It’s a good practice to set up an out-of-office message when you are on vacation or not working. This helps colleagues and people outside the University know you are not available.

You can schedule automatic replies in Teams or in Outlook. Your settings will appear both in Teams and Outlook because they are synchronized. This means that:

• Every out-of-office status and message scheduled in Teams will appear in Outlook
• If you choose to update your out-of-office details in Outlook, your changes will appear as well in Teams

Your out of office status will also sync with automatic replies in your Outlook calendar.

There are two ways to schedule your out of office status and message in Teams:

• Scheduling an out-of-office from your profile picture
• Scheduling an out-of-office from the settings menu

Using Teams you can also:

• Add, edit or delete a status
• Clear your out-of-office message

 

Scheduling an out of office from your profile picture

1. Click on your profile picture at the top of Teams 

2. Select 'Set status message'

3. Select 'Schedule out of office' at the bottom of the options

4. From the screen that appears, turn on the toggle next to 'Turn on automatic replies'

5. Type an out of office message in the text box. This message will appear when people contact you in Teams or open your profile. It'll also be sent as an automatic reply in Outlook.

Due to Outlook settings, an out-of-office message is required to set your status and sync with your Outlook calendar.

If you would like to send an automatic message to people outside the University network, select the check box next to 'Send replies outside my organization' and choose between your contacts or all external senders. You can:

• Tailor your out of office message to this audience
• Use the same message you typed above by copying/pasting it into the text box

Select the check box 'Send replies only during a time period' to add a specific start / ending date (and time) to display your message.

6. Select the 'Save' button

 

Scheduling an out of office from the settings menu

1. Click on the dots next to your profile picture at the top of Teams 

2. Select 'Settings' ()

3. Click on 'General' and go to the 'Out of Office' section

4. Select the 'Schedule' button to open the out of office screen

5. Type an out of office message in the text box. This message will appear when people contact you in Teams or open your profile. It'll also be sent as an automatic reply in Outlook.

You can also:

• Turn on the automatic replies option
• Tick the 'Send replies outside my organization', would like to send an automatic message to people outside the University
• Turn on the option 'Send replies only during a time period' if you want to add specific start / end dates

 

How to change your status 

1. Click on your profile picture at the top of Teams 

2. Select 'Set status message'

3. Type your status into the blank field:

4. Click on 'Done'. People will see your status as follow:

 

To edit or delete your status

1. Click on your profile picture

2. At the end of your message you will find two icons:

• a pencil
• a bin

3. Click on the pencil icon to edit your status. Once finished editing, click on 'Done' to save you changes

4. Click on the bin icon to delete the message. Your status will disappear immediately.

You can chose to automatically delete your status clicking on the 'Clear status message after' link. Using this option you will be sure that your status will be deleted after 1 hour, 4 hours or at the end of the day. If you select 'Never' you will have to delete your status manually.

 

How to clear your out-of-office message using Teams

1. Click on the dots next to your profile picture at the top of Teams 

2. Select 'Settings' ()

3. Click on 'General'

4. Go to the 'Out of Office' section and click on 'Schedule'

5. Turn off the toggle next to 'Turn on automatic replies'

6. Select the 'Save' button. 

 

Useful links

Microsoft Training Center | Outlook - How do I...?

How to create automatic replies (Out of office) in Office 365

How to add a shared (generic) email account to Outlook for Windows using the desktop client

How to add an email account to Outlook