📨 How to Set Out of Office Replies in Exchange Server (2013/2016/2019)

When a colleague is away, it’s important to let senders know automatically. Microsoft Exchange provides a simple way to configure Out of Office (Automatic Replies) either by the user themselves or by an administrator. Here’s the complete guide.

1. User Method (Outlook / OWA)

• Outlook (desktop app)
  Go to File → Automatic Replies (Out of Office). Select Send automatic replies. Add your message for Inside My Organization and Outside My Organization. Optionally set start and end dates.
• Outlook Web App (OWA)
  Log in to OWA. Navigate to Options → Organize Email → Automatic Replies. Enable automatic replies and configure your message.

2. Admin Method (Exchange Management Shell)

If the user cannot log in, administrators can set Out of Office replies on their behalf using PowerShell:

Set-MailboxAutoReplyConfiguration -Identity "[email protected]" -AutoReplyState Scheduled -StartTime "MM/DD/YYYY HH:MMAM" -EndTime "MM/DD/YYYY HH:MMPM" -InternalMessage "Internal auto-reply message here." -ExternalMessage "External auto-reply message here."

Key Parameters

• Identity → the user’s mailbox (email address or alias).
• AutoReplyState → Enabled, Disabled, or Scheduled.
• StartTime / EndTime → define when replies begin and stop.
• InternalMessage → message for colleagues.
• ExternalMessage → message for outside senders.

3. Verification Ritual

After setting the configuration, always verify:

Get-MailboxAutoReplyConfiguration -Identity "[email protected]"

• AutoReplyState is set to Scheduled.
• StartTime and EndTime match the intended period.
• InternalMessage and ExternalMessage are correct.

4. Testing

• Send a test email from an internal account → confirm the internal reply.
• Send a test email from an external account → confirm the external reply.
• After the EndTime, send another test → confirm no auto-reply is sent.

🛡️ Comfort Insight

Think of this process as carving a temporary scroll into the Exchange shrine: the scroll activates at the start time, delivers the message faithfully to all senders, and at the end time, the scroll rolls up automatically, leaving the mailbox back to normal.

✨ With these steps, your organization can ensure smooth communication even when team members are away.