Out-of-Office Reply in Gmail and Outlook: Set It Up Right

Gmail calls it the vacation responder and Outlook calls it automatic replies. Both let you set start and end dates so the reply switches itself off, and both can limit replies to people in your contacts. For a one-person business, that second setting matters most: reply to everyone and every newsletter and sales email in your inbox gets your away message too. One catch for Outlook users: if the mailbox is a Gmail, Yahoo or other IMAP or POP account added to Outlook, the built-in option isn’t available, and you’ll need one of the workarounds below.

Before you start

You’ll need: access to the mailbox, on the web or in its app.
Applies to: Gmail (personal and Google Workspace), Outlook.com, Outlook on the web, new Outlook for Windows, classic Outlook for Windows, and iCloud Mail.
Time: about 5 minutes, plus a couple more to write the message.
How we checked this: based on Google’s, Microsoft’s and Apple’s own help pages, checked October 18, 2026, with iPhone and iCloud steps added on October 20, 2026. Both companies move these menus between app updates, so yours may look slightly different.

Write the message first

Have the text ready before you open the settings. A useful away message answers three questions: when you’re away, when the sender can expect a reply, and what to do if it can’t wait. If nobody covers for you while you’re gone, say so plainly rather than implying there’s a team behind you.

Thanks for your email. I’m away from [date] to [date] and will reply after I’m back on [date]. If it’s about an active project and can’t wait, [phone number or backup contact]. Otherwise there’s no need to resend; your message will be waiting for me.

Leave out where you’re going and why. Clients only need the dates and the next step.

Wording for other situations

The same three answers work for most absences. A few variations:

An unplanned day or two off, when you don’t know exactly when you’ll be back:

Thanks for your message. I’m unexpectedly out of the office and expect to reply by [day]. If it’s urgent and about a current project, please call [number].

A long absence, such as parental leave, where someone else is covering:

I’m away until [date]. While I’m out, [name] is handling my current projects and can be reached at [email]. For anything else, I’ll reply when I’m back.

Travelling with limited access, when you’ll still check in occasionally:

I’m travelling until [date] with limited email access and checking messages once a day. Replies may take a little longer than usual.

Reduced working days, if you work part-time on a regular schedule, an always-on reply sets expectations without a date range:

Thanks for your email. I work Monday to Wednesday, so if you’ve written on another day, I’ll reply on my next working day.

Avoid naming the dates in the subject line for long absences. If you leave the subject blank, Gmail threads the reply inside the sender’s conversation, which looks less like a form letter.

Set up the vacation responder in Gmail

These steps work for a personal Gmail account and for Gmail on a Google Workspace business account.

In Gmail on a computer, select Settings (the gear icon at the top right), then See all settings.
On the General tab, scroll down to Vacation responder and select Vacation responder on.
Choose the start date and an end date, then add a subject and your message.
To keep the reply away from newsletters and strangers, tick the box under the message to send it only to people in your contacts.
Scroll to the bottom and select Save Changes.

On an Android phone, open the Gmail app, tap the menu, then Settings, choose your account and tap Vacation responder. Turn it on, fill in the same details and tap Done.

In the Gmail app on an iPhone or iPad:

Tap the menu icon at the top left, then Settings.
Under Compose and Reply, tap Vacation responder.
Turn on Vacation Responder, then enter the dates, subject and message.
Optionally, turn on the option to send replies only to your contacts, then tap Save.

How Gmail decides who gets it

The reply runs from 12:00 AM on the start date to 11:59 PM on the end date, according to Google.
Most senders get it only the first time they write. Someone who emails again more than four days later, while the responder is still on, gets it again.
If you edit the message, anyone who writes again receives the new version.
Messages that land in spam, and messages sent to a mailing list you’re on, don’t get a reply.
Your email signature is added below the reply. If you add a subject line, Gmail sends the reply as a separate email instead of inside the sender’s conversation.

While the responder is on, Gmail shows a banner at the top of your inbox. Select End now in that banner to switch it off early.

Set up automatic replies in Outlook

Outlook has several versions with different menus. Use the one that matches where you read your email.

Outlook.com and Outlook on the web

Select Settings (the gear icon at the top right), then Accounts > Automatic replies.
Turn on Turn on automatic replies.
Tick Send replies only during a time period and set the start and end times. Without an end time, replies keep going until you turn them off.
Optionally, tick the calendar options: Block my calendar for this period, Automatically decline new invitations for events that occur during this period, or Decline and cancel my meetings during this period. Think twice about the last one: as its name says, it declines and cancels meetings already in your calendar for those dates, not just new invitations.
Type your message. On a Microsoft 365 work account, also tick Send replies outside your organization (see the next section for why).
Select Save.

If your screen doesn’t match, Microsoft says you may be on classic Outlook on the web, where the same options are under Settings > Account > Automatic replies.

New Outlook for Windows

On the View tab, select View settings.
Go to Accounts > Automatic replies and turn on the Automatic replies toggle.
Select Send replies only during a time period and enter the start and end times.
Type your message, choose who receives it (Send replies only to contacts, and on a work account Send replies outside your organization), then select Save.

Classic Outlook for Windows

Select File > Automatic Replies, then Send automatic replies.
Set a time range if you want the replies to stop on their own.
On a work account you’ll see two tabs, Inside My Organization and Outside My Organization. Write your message on both, and on the outside tab choose My contacts only or Anyone outside my organization.
Select OK. To stop early, select Turn off in the banner under the ribbon.

Microsoft says each person who emails you gets the automatic reply once while it’s on. In the Outlook app for iPhone and Android, automatic replies are available for Microsoft 365, Exchange and Outlook.com accounts.

Set up an automatic reply in iCloud Mail

If your business address is an iCloud Mail address, including a custom domain on iCloud+, the automatic reply is set on iCloud.com rather than in the Mail app on your iPhone or Mac:

Go to icloud.com/mail and sign in.
Select the Settings button at the top of the mailbox list, then Settings.
Choose Auto-Reply in the sidebar.
Tick Automatically reply to messages when they are received and write your message.
Optionally, set a date range so the reply stops by itself.

Apple says each sender gets at most one automatic reply in any 24-hour period, and the reply still works if you forward your iCloud Mail elsewhere. One more thing to check before you go: if your iCloud storage is full, new mail stops arriving, so free up space or upgrade first.

Choose who receives your reply

This is where business owners working alone get caught out. On a Microsoft 365 business account, your “organization” is usually just you, so nearly every client counts as outside it. Leave Send replies outside your organization unticked and clients get nothing at all.

Ticking it for everyone has the opposite problem. Microsoft warns that replying to all outside senders also replies to newsletters, ads and possibly junk mail, and recommends the contacts-only option. The same trade-off applies to Gmail’s contacts checkbox.

Contacts-only works only if your clients are actually saved as contacts. Before you leave, spend a couple of minutes adding anyone you’re working with who isn’t already in your address book. If you’d rather not maintain a contact list, reply to everyone and accept that some automated senders will get your message too.

If Outlook has no Automatic Replies option

Microsoft says automatic replies aren’t supported for Gmail, Yahoo or other POP or IMAP accounts added to Outlook, which is usually why the button is missing. You have three options:

The account is Gmail: turn on the vacation responder in Gmail itself, using the steps above. It’s a setting on your Gmail account rather than in Outlook, so it applies however you read your email.
It’s another provider, such as your web host’s email: sign in to that provider’s webmail and look in its settings for an auto-reply, autoresponder or vacation option.
Last resort, classic Outlook only: save your message as an Outlook template, then create a rule that replies to incoming messages using that template. Microsoft notes that the rule only works while Outlook is left running on your computer, so it fails as soon as your laptop sleeps or you close the app.

If you keep running into these limits, it may be time for a mailbox that supports automatic replies properly. Our guide to getting a professional email address on your own domain compares the main options and prices.

Before you leave

A few minutes of preparation stops most of the problems that turn up while you’re away:

Test it. Turn the reply on, send yourself a message from a personal account, and check that the reply arrives and reads well. Then set the real dates.
Tell active clients directly. An automatic reply is a backstop, not a substitute for a note a week before you go.
Check your storage. A full mailbox bounces new mail, and you won’t be there to notice.
Look for anything scheduled to send while you’re away, such as invoices or newsletters, and pause or reschedule it.
Block your calendar so nobody books a call with you. Outlook can do this from the automatic replies screen; in Google Calendar, add an out-of-office event.

If it doesn’t work

Nobody is getting the reply: check the dates. Gmail only starts replying at midnight on the start date. In Outlook, make sure you saved the settings and that the time period includes today.
Clients aren’t getting it, but you tested it from your own address: on a work account, the outside-organization setting is probably off, or you chose contacts-only and the client isn’t in your contacts.
Someone got it once and not again: that’s by design. Gmail repeats the reply to the same sender only after four days, Outlook replies to each sender once, and iCloud Mail replies at most once every 24 hours.
The reply lands in the sender’s spam folder: your domain may be failing email authentication checks. Our guide to fixing SPF, DKIM and DMARC shows how to check in two minutes.
Replies are still going out after you’re back: you didn’t set an end date. Select End now in Gmail’s banner or Turn off in Outlook.

For more step-by-step guides like this one, browse our how-to guides.

Related guides

Sources

Update, October 20, 2026: added the Gmail app on iPhone and iPad, iCloud Mail, wording for other kinds of absence, and a short checklist for before you leave.

Last checked: October 20, 2026. Google and Microsoft change these settings screens regularly. If something here no longer matches what you see, let us know.

How to set up an out-of-office reply in Gmail and Outlook