This feature is also useful if you change your email address; If someone sends a message to your old address, an automated reply can be sent with your new address.
To create an automatic response, you must first create the message to be sent and save it as a template.
1. On the Home tab, in the New group, click New Email to create a new mail message (or click Ctrl+N):
2. Exit the To field blank, type the subject of the automatic reply in the Subject field, and type the text that you want to appear in the body of the message.
3. In the message window, click the File tab, and then click Save As:
4. In the Save As dialog box:
- Click the down arrow next to Save As Type and choose Outlook Template (*.oft)
- Type a file name for your message in the File Name field. file
- Then click Save.
5. Click the button Close in the message window to close the message.
6. When prompted to save the message, click No.
To create a rule to automatically reply to new email messages, do the following:
1. In the On the Home tab, in the Move group, click Rules, and then click Manage Rules and Alerts… :
2. In the Rules and Alerts dialog, click New Rule:
3. Outlook starts the Rules Wizard. You can create rules using a template or starting with a blank rule; for an automatic reply, click the Apply rule on messages I receive option, and then click Next:
4. The wizard displays the options for creating a blank rule. Select the check box where my name is in the To box and any other criteria you want, and then click Next.
5. Select the action to take when the conditions are met by checking the corresponding checkbox. For an automatic reply, check respond using a specific template.
6. In the Step 2 area, click the a specific template link to select the template (message ) to use.
7. In the Select a Response Template dialog, open the folder that contains the template you want to use, click the template to select it. and click Open.
8. Lists the conditions and actions of the rule. Click Next.
9. In the wizard screen that appears, you can click any of several check boxes to specify any exceptions, but none are required for autoresponse. Click Next.
10. Outlook displays the complete mail rule. In the Step 1: Specify a name for this rule field, type a name for the auto-response rule, and then click Finish.
You can create a wide variety of message rules by selecting the appropriate conditions and actions. For example, for actions, you can select to forward a message, move it, mark it as important, etc.
Note: The reply using a specific template rule in the Rules Wizard sends its automatic response only once to each sender during a single session. A session is each time you start Outlook until you exit the application. This rule prevents Outlook from sending repetitive replies to a single sender from which it receives multiple messages. During a session, Outlook keeps track of the list of users to whom it has responded. However, if you exit and then restart Outlook, this is considered a new session and the list of senders who have received automatic replies is reset.
To delete a rule, see Turn off rules in Outlook 2010.
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