When HR professionals are away from the office for a period of time, it can be difficult to communicate specific information or follow-up activities to different people and groups within the organization. By using the AutoReply feature in Microsoft Office Outlook®, you can automatically send different reply messages to different people while you are away from the office.

Setting up AutoReply

For this example, you are the Director of HR and will be on vacation for five days. Before you go, you need to set up a custom reply message for your HR Manager and one for your senior recruiter. The reply messages need to be different because you have different tasks you need each person to do. You also need to set up a reply message that will address all other e-mail messages sent to you.

 Important   Because this is a client-only rule, replies will only be sent when Outlook is running, so you need to leave your computer turned on with Outlook running. However, you can turn the power off to your monitor.

Step 1: Create your automatic reply templates

 Note   Before you can save a message as a template, you must temporarily turn Word off as your e-mail editor.

1. Start Outlook.
2. Create a new Outlook message.
3. In the message body, type the message you want to send to the HR Manager. For this example, you want the HR Manager to meet with the new-hires regarding the updated benefit plans.
4. On the File menu, click Save As.
5. In the File name box, type a name for this reply template. For this example, you are creating a message for the HR Manager, so you will name it HRMGR.
6. In the Save as type box, click Outlook template, and then click Save.
7. On the File menu, click Close, and then when prompted to save, click No.

Follow these steps to create two more custom reply messages: one for your senior recruiter and one for all other e-mail messages you receive while you are away. Be sure to name the templates appropriately when you save them.

Step 2: Create rules to send the custom replies that you just created

1. On the Tools menu, click Rules and Alerts.

    Note   For Outlook 2002 and earlier, click Rules Wizard.

2. Click New Rule.

    Note   For Outlook 2002, click in the Apply changes to this folder list, click the Inbox you want to create the rule for, and click New. For Office 2000 click the New button.

3. Click Start from a blank rule.

    Note   For Office 2000 there is no Start from a blank rule selection so procede to step 4.

4. Click Check messages when they arrive, and then click Next.
5. In the Which condition(s) do you want to check list, select the From people or distribution list check box.
6. In the Rule description list, click the underlined phrase, people or distribution list.
7. In the Type name or select from list box, type the name of the HR Manager to whom you want to send the custom reply, and then click From.

    Note   You can also use the Show Names from the list to select people from your Outlook Address Book.

8. Click OK, and then click Next.
9. In the What do you want to do with the message list, select the Reply using a specific template check box.
10. In the Rule description list, click the underlined phrase, a specific template.
11. In the Look in list, click User Templates in File System.
12. Click HRMGR (the reply template you created for your HR Manager), click Open, and then click Next.
13. Select the check box next to any exceptions you want to apply, and then click Next.
14. In the Please specify a name for this rule box, type a name for the rule.
15. Click Finish, and then click OK.

Repeat steps 1-15 to create rules that use the custom reply templates you created for your senior recruiter and for all other e-mail correspondents.

 Note   Be sure to select the appropriate reply template in step 12 for the rule you are creating. Also, you can select a group or distribution list from the Type name or select from list box in step 7 when you set up your rule that replies to all other e-mail messages.

Bon voyage!

Now when you leave for vacation you can be sure that your HR Manager, your senior recruiter, and everyone else who sends you e-mail messages will automatically receive an appropriate response.