How to set up an out-of-office responder on Gmail? Step-by-step guide on setting up a Vacation responder

Responding to emails is an elementary task every office bearer needs to carry out to keep businesses going. At the same time, maintaining some work-life balance, even if imperfect, will support productivity and efficiency. But what if there is a client’s mail when you enjoy your favorite continental dish with your family or are on vacation?

Every email provider, including Google Mail, popularly Gmail, can be configured for out-of-office replies to acknowledge the client’s requests. You can work on the same once you are back. But you need to set up an out-of-office responder with a customized email that will be sent to every mailer when you are not at the office. I will talk about how you can do that on Gmail. 

Let’s start with setting up an out-of-office responder in Gmail. 

Setting up Vacation Auto Responder on Gmail

Open Gmail, log in with your credentials, and click the settings cog, as shown in the screenshot below. Hence, click on ‘See all settings.’

You will automatically land on the ‘General’ page of Gmail settings. You are at the right place. Scroll down to the extreme bottom of the page, and you will find ‘Vacation responder,’ which will be disabled by default.

Step 1: Turn on the ‘Vacation responder’ feature by selecting ‘Vacation responder on’.

Step 2: Select a start date. It should be the date you can’t respond to emails. 

Step 3: You must select an end date, which should be the date you will return to work. This is optional. 

However, if you don’t enter an end date, you have to manually turn the Vacation responder off, or it will keep replying to every incoming email.

Step 4: Enter the subject and message. This message will be sent when you are out. You can also format the text based on your likeness.

Step 5: You can configure the Vacation responder to send emails only to addresses in your contact. To enable that, enable ‘Only send a response to people in my Contacts.’ 

Decide whether or not to enable this feature based on the people you interact with or in what department you are in.

Step 6: Click ‘Save Changes.’ The Vacation responder is ready to send automated emails when you enjoy your summer holidays.

Selecting the subject line and message

What message you will write will depend upon what type of emails you usually get. In an ideal setup, your office colleagues will know about your leave. So, it must be the clients or individuals not associated with your organization who will send you emails.

Hence, you must set up the responder to send the message accordingly. There’s no way to identify the tone of messages or the sender and deliver the message accordingly. If you are in a hurry or confused about what to write, use generative AI to generate replies or write your own.

So, that’s all about how to set up a Vacation responder or Out-of-office reply on Gmail. Do you have any questions? Feel free to comment below.