When you’re out of the office or away from home, you don’t want to leave your friends and associates wondering why you haven’t responded to their e-mail messages. That might result in bad feelings or missed opportunities! Using Outlook 2003, you can easily set up an automated reply to messages you receive while you’re gone. How you create the reply differs depending on the type of server your e-mail account uses.

How do you check what type of server your account uses?

Play Demo 

You can easily check whether your e-mail account uses a Microsoft Exchange server or a different type such as POP3 or IMAP. This demo shows you how.

How to do it (text version):

• What is an Exchange Server e-mail account?
• Use Outlook with MSN and MSN Hotmail

Set up an automated reply for a Microsoft Exchange server account

Play Demo 

If you have an e-mail account that uses a Microsoft Exchange server, you can quickly set up an automated reply to messages using the Out of Office Assistant. And you can set up rules to manage your incoming messages so that your Inbox stays organized even while you’re away. This demo shows you how.

How to do it (text version):

• Automatically reply to incoming messages while out of the office (Exchange e-mail account)
• Troubleshoot the Out of Office Assistant

Set up an automated reply for a POP3 or IMAP server account

Play Demo 

If you have an e-mail account that uses a POP3 or IMAP server, the Out of Office Assistant isn’t available to you. However, you can still send automatic replies by creating an e-mail template in Outlook 2003, and then combining it with Outlook rules. This demo shows you how.

How to do it (text version):

• Automatically reply to incoming messages with a POP3 or IMAP e-mail account

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