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Five tips for better Out of Office messages
Whilst
most users are aware of the Out of Office Assistant
in Microsoft Outlook, some are less familiar with
its advanced options. Read our tips below and get
your messages working harder for you. |
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Spending a few minutes
drafting an out-of-office message may help to reduce the backlog in
your inbox when you return. But understanding some of the advanced
features will also help reassign tasks to colleagues and better
manage your contacts’ expectations during your absence.
The following five tips will ensure your message works as hard as
possible whilst you enjoy a welcome break from the office.
Tip 1: Writing a good Out of Office message
Don’t forget to include these three basic elements in your Out
of Office message.
1) Dates of your absence. This will help the sender decide what
their next step should be, whether to await your return or to direct
their request elsewhere.
2) Reason for your absence. Tell your contacts whether you are away
on a business trip, possibly with occasional connection to the
office, or else completely incommunicado on a warm beach sipping
cool cocktails.
3) Who to contact in your absence. Try to include the details of an
alternative contact while you are away.
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Tip 2: Create a rule to automatically forward all or some
of your messages
You can create
rules within the Out of Office Assistant by clicking on the
“Add Rule” button.
See Fig 1 (right)
For example, Outlook can check each incoming message against
certain criteria and then automatically forward or redirect
any email that matches those details to another e-mail
account. |
Fig. 1 - The Out of Office Assistant
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Fig. 2 - Creating a rule to forward to a colleague
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Fig 2 (left)
shows how you could create a rule that forwards emails from
your most important customer to one of your colleagues,
thereby ensuring a prompt response whilst you are away. |
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Tip 3: Create a rule to move or copy emails to different
folders
You could use
Out of Office to create a rule that sorts emails in
different folders, enabling you to address them by category
upon your return.
For example,
Fig 3 (right)
shows
how all messages sent directly to you could be moved to a
folder called ‘Management’. This folder would be a subfolder
of your Inbox. You might also create a second rule which
moves all messages that are CC’d to your address into a
different folder called ‘Low Priority’. These rules would
help you prioritise your response to outstanding messages on
your first day back in the office.
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Fig. 3 - Creating a rule to sort messages in different
folders |
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Tip 4: Create a rule to automatically delete certain emails.
Do you receive daily updates which will have expired or will
no longer be relevant by the time you return to the office?
If so, why not set Out of Office Assistant to automatically
delete these in your absence and reduce at least a portion
of your inbox.
Your criteria for these rules could be the subject line of
the email or the details of the send of these messages.
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Fig. 4 - Some new features available
to users of Exchange 2007
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Tip 5: New Users of Exchange 2007
If you use Exchange 2007, you can further tailor your
messages to senders inside and outside your organisation.
You will also have the option to specify an end date for the
Out of Office reply, which removes the need for a sarcastic
customer to remind you on your third day back at the office
that you have still not deactivated it.
See Fig 4 (left). |
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Visit our website |
Back to main e-zine |
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Delta Comtech Ltd
Artillery House, Heapy Street
Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK11 7JB |
Tel:
0844 412 8102
info@delta-comtech.co.uk |
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