FAQ: Microsoft Outlook

Custom Out of Office

Many of us would like to use the Outlook "Out of Office" feature but we don't want to reply to spammers. In order to get around this problem we have documented the steps below so you can create your own rule in Outlook to reply to only the e-mails from UMB addresses, but no others. Or perhaps you'll want to reply to everyone (UMB or non-UMB addresses), but you don't want to reply to the e-mails with [SPAM: in the Subject line. You can make these rules as simple or as complex as you like. It is highly recommended you test your rule for awhile before depending on it to do all you expect.

One down-side to creating an Out of Office using the Rules Wizard is it cannot be programmed the way the real Out of Office is. That is, the real Out of Office will reply only once/day per unique e-mail address. This is something we cannot fix.

The rule below will not respond to any e-mails coming in from offsite, nor will it respond to UMB mailing lists which can be really annoying to the members of the mailing lists.

Creating a Custom Out of Office Rule in Outlook 2003

  • Go to Tools menu; press Rules and Alerts; press New Rule; select Check Messages when they Arrive under Start from a blank rule; click Next
  • Select condition(s) window:
    • Put a checkmark in the box which says "where my name is in the To box";
    • Press Next
  • Select action(s) window:
    • Put a checkmark in the box which says "have server reply using a specific message";
    • Click on specific message in the lower window and fill in the e-mail Subject and Body that you'd like to send out;
    • Press Save and Close;
    • Press Next
  • Select exception(s) window
    • To NOT reply to e-mails from UMB mailing list servers:
      • Put a checkmark in the box which says "except with specific words in the sender's address";
      • Click on specific words in the lower window and type @lists.umb.edu and press Add button;
      • Press OK;
    • To NOT reply to other Out of Office messages:
      • Put a checkmark in the box which says "except if it is an Out of Office message";
    • To NOT reply to e-mails with SPAM in the Subject:
      • Put a checkmark in the box which says "except if the subject contains specific words";
      • Click on specific words in the lower window and type [SPAM: and press Add button;
      • Press OK;
    • To NOT reply to e-mails from yourself, specific people, or specific distribution lists:
      • Put a checkmark in the box which says "except if from people or distribution list";
      • Click on people or distribution list in the lower window and select addresses from the UMB directory, or type any email address in the lower window, each one separated by a semi-colon;
      • Press OK;
    • Press Next
  • Finish rule setup window:
    • Give it a useful name
    • You'll have a rule which looks something like this:
      Many of us would like to use the Outlook "Out of Office" feature but we don't want to reply to spammers. In order to get around this problem we have documented the steps below so you can create your own rule in Outlook to reply to only the e-mails from UMB addresses, but no others. Or perhaps you'll want to reply to everyone (UMB or non-UMB addresses), but you don't want to reply to the e-mails with [SPAM: in the Subject line. You can make these rules as simple or as complex as you like. It is highly recommended you test your rule rules wizard
    • Press Finish
  • This rule should probably be placed at the top of your list of rules so it always fires.
  • You can check and uncheck the box to make it active or inactive.
  • You can also edit the rule to change the body of your Out of Office message as needed.

Again, it is highly recommended you test your rule for awhile before depending on it to do all you expect.

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