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HTML formatting for Out of Office responses

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› Exchange Server › HTML formatting for Out of Office responses

Last reviewed on October 19, 2012     5 Comments

A user asked how to send HTML formatted Out of Office replies, as the Out of Office Assistant only sends plain text OOF.

"I can get the Outlook Client to send HTML Out of Office emails, but then the client needs to be on all the time for this to work (obviously not acceptable). An Out of Office Assistant rule to Reply only works internally, not with external addresses. Why is the standalone version of Outlook capable of sending HTML Out of Office Emails, but the more expensive version of Outlook + Exchange incapable of sending HTML Out of Office Emails? "

Before we get into how to send HTML formatted replies, I'm going to point out that if you are using a rule to reply with a template, it's not an OOF. It's a rule replying to a message. It's not even close to an OOF, even though its often offered as a solution to POP3 users who are looking for an out-of-office reply.

To send HTML replies using OOF assistant, you need to set up an OOF rule with a template. While in the OOF dialog, go to Rules... , Add Rule... then choose the option to reply with template. You can compose this template using HTML.

Whether or not this reply gets sent to external users depends on the configuration of your Exchange server. Many administrators disable the option that allows automatic replies to Internet addresses. If your rule works for internal addresses but not to Internet addresses, you'll need to speak to your administrator.

The setting that controls this is in the Exchange Management Console, Organization Configuration, Hub Transport, Remote domains. The administrator will double click to open the Default domain and check the settings for OOF and Automatic replies.

HTML formatting for Out of Office responses was last modified: October 19th, 2012 by Diane Poremsky

Related Posts:

  • Out-of-Office is missing or grayed out
  • Using Out of Office Replies
  • To Make Automatic Reply Rules
  • Allow some users to send External Out-of-Office Replies

About Diane Poremsky

A Microsoft Outlook Most Valuable Professional (MVP) since 1999, Diane is the author of several books, including Outlook 2013 Absolute Beginners Book. She also created video training CDs and online training classes for Microsoft Outlook. You can find her helping people online in Outlook Forums as well as in the Microsoft Answers and TechNet forums.

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clay (@guest_215813)
August 28, 2020 6:07 am
#215813

Thanks but I want to learn how to make the response to have the name of the sender

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Diane Poremsky(@diane-poremsky)
Author
Reply to  clay
September 23, 2020 11:46 pm
#215947

You'd need to use a 3rd party utility to customize the messages to that extent. Sorry.

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Kevin (@guest_210876)
April 16, 2018 3:41 pm
#210876

I have found that creating the html OoO reply in a new message then copying and pasting into the Automatic reply the html carries over

2
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fernando (@guest_173980)
February 13, 2013 4:49 am
#173980

Hi,
thanks for your solution. however, I see an issue with this solution. It seems that every message fitting the defined rule gets answer. For me a real OOO should only answer once each sender. Do you know whether is possible to do this?
Regards

0
0
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Diane Poremsky (@guest_173983)
Reply to  fernando
February 13, 2013 5:31 am
#173983

The real OOO does only send 1 reply per email address (per session). Are you creating a rule in the Out of Office assistant or in Rules Wizard?

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