Set boundaries with email Auto Reply

It’s tempting to work 24/7 but you need to set boundaries and give yourself some time and space, and you can do both and you can use email auto-reply to do this.

Set up auto-reply emails around vacation times, or weekends, or conferences – whenever you are going to be away from emails for a little while. It simply communicates with your correspondents that you’ve received their email, and when they can expect you to deal with it.  And it gives you breathing space too. You don’t have to worry about replying – you’ve already got it covered.

Quick steps to Turning on Vacation Responder in GMAIL

• Go to Settings – the cog top right of your screen
• Go to See All Settings
• Go to General Settings – this is where you are most likely to be
• Scroll all the way to the bottom until you see Vacation Responder
• Fill in the fields
• Select the Start date and time
• Select the End date and time
• Add the appropriate text
• Set to start automatically
• SAVE

Set your Status in GMail

You can also quickly set your status in Gmail to “Away” or “Vacationing” and this will let people who are trying to contact you that you are out of the office BUT it doesn’t tell them useful information which an automatic response email will.

You’ll find your Status button at the top of your screen slightly to the right of the middle. It will most likely say “Active”

• Click on it and change your status.
• Select one of the pre-prepared statuses, or make up your own.

Set Automatic REplies in OUTLOOK Desktop APP

• Open up your Outlook
• From the File Menu
• Select Automatic Replies
• Select Only send during this time
• Set Start date and time
• Set End  date and time

You now have 2 options – inside your organisation, and outside your organisation.

What do you tell people that are already part of your organisation or company?

You might use less formal language, or direct the correspondent to an extension number.

Whereas for correspondents that are from outside your organisation or company, you might direct them, using more formal language, to a helpline, service desk, or to a different colleague.

• Compose your out-of-office message and click OK

While Outlook has Automatic Replies running, as you open your email, it will remind you and allow you to turn the feature off.

Other Email Providers and Email Apps

Most email providers have an auto-reply feature.

If you cannot find it, search for “Auto-reply”  or “Out of office” from your email help bar.

Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail, BTInternet, Outlook.com – all use Auto-reply.

Search for their exact instructions in their help section.