Set Up Automatic Replies (Out of Office)

Applies to: All CRL staff  |  Category: Email & Outlook  |  Est. time: 5 minutes

Automatic replies — also called an “out of office” or OOO message — send a reply on your behalf while you’re away, so people know when to expect a response. Set it once and it turns itself off on the date you choose. This takes about 5 minutes.

Good to know: you can write two different messages — one for people inside CRL and, optionally, a separate one for people outside the company. Setting a start and end time is the easy way to make sure the message stops on its own when you’re back.

Option A — New Outlook for Windows

This is the Outlook app on your CRL computer. If you see a New Outlook toggle in the top-right corner, leave it on.

Click the View tab, then View settings.

Go to Accounts → Automatic Replies.

Turn on the Automatic replies toggle.

Tick Send replies only during a time period, then set your start and end dates and times. (Skip this if you’d rather turn it off manually later.)

Under Send replies inside your organization, type the message CRL coworkers will see.

To reply to outside senders too, tick Send replies outside your organization and type a separate message. Choose whether it goes to anyone who emails you or only to people already in your Contacts.

Click Save.

Option B — Outlook on the web

Use this from any browser — handy when you’re away from your CRL computer.

Sign in at https://outlook.office365.us/. This is CRL’s GCC High webmail address. Don’t use outlook.office.com — your CRL account won’t sign in there.

Click the Settings gear in the top-right corner.

Go to Accounts → Automatic replies.

Turn on Automatic replies, set the time period and messages exactly as in Option A, and click Save.

On your phone

In the Outlook mobile app, tap your profile picture (top-left) → Settings (gear) → tap your CRL account → Automatic Replies. The options match the steps above.

Turning it off

If you set a time period, the reply stops automatically at your end time — nothing more to do. To end it early, return to the same screen and switch the Automatic replies toggle off.

Tip: keep the message short and factual — the dates you’re out, when you’ll reply, and who to contact for anything urgent. There’s no need to include personal details about where you’re going.

Next steps

For more on your CRL mailbox, see the CRL Email Accounts chapter of this knowledge base.

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© CRL Technologies, Inc. — Internal IT Knowledge Base. For CRL staff use only.