With automatic messages and forwarding, your contacts will know that you are not available and if they have an emergency they will be taken care of. So you only have to worry about … disconnecting!
The moment of disconnection arrives, the much-deserved vacation, but the emails never rest. Not everyone has the ability to disconnect from the workplace, which ends up having an impact on our health and that of our closest environment. More than half of Spaniards remain “connected” on vacation by checking email or messages related to their job.
Although due to the current situation, some people continue to work from home, it is still necessary to establish routines and, in the same way that in the office or in the business we are governed by schedules, establish how and when we should close our virtual office to improve the productivity and keeping the mind healthy, especially in such a difficult and atypical year where the current health and economic crisis monopolizes much of our attention.
You must disconnect, so it is important to know how to manage your mail on vacation. If you receive an “urgent” notification, it is understandable to be aware of what is happening, however, the other emails can wait for you to return to telework once the holidays are over.
Set up an automatic reply , a warning message that notifies senders who have contacted you that you are absent for vacation.
This way you won’t have to worry about not replying to these messages. You’ll deal with them when you get back.
Steps to configure automatic reply
You can configure the automatic reply from the Microsoft 365 online platform or directly from the desktop email application, Outlook.
1. From the Microsoft 365 online environment
Log in to your environment, go to the settings menu and click on the “Mail” option. Once you have clicked, it redirects you to a page with an extensive menu on the left, choose the ” Automatic responses ” option .
Once inside this option, you can configure the automatic responses according to your needs. Next, we explain all the configuration options that you have available:
– You can configure the sending of automatic responses to be activated and deactivated according to a certain period of time.
You can also access each time you need to activate / deactivate the service and do it manually.
– You can add a series of configuration options related to the calendar: block the calendar during that period and automatically reject new meetings or events that take place during the period of time you are away.
– You can write an automatic reply for co-workers and members of your company and an automatic reply for senders external to your organization (you can choose to reply only to the contacts you have saved or all those who send an email). So you can customize the message according to the type of contact .
2. From the desktop app
Access your desktop application and go to the “File” tab in the top bar menu. Once you have accessed, click the option “Automatic responses (Out of Office)”. The options offered are the same as from the online platform.
Steps to configure automatic forwarding
You can also configure the automatic forwarding of your emails so that they reach the colleague of your choice. Thus, if a client contacts you, the message will be forwarded to the person who will take care of their request.
The forwarding option can only be configured from the Microsoft 365 platform . In the desktop version there is no option as such, but it can be configured through the rules. In Settings, once you have accessed the mail option (at the bottom), you have to click on “Forwarding”.
Once inside, you have to check the “Start forwarding” option, to activate it and specify the email address to which you want to forward the emails that reach you.
Finally, you can specify whether you want to keep a copy of forwarded messages or not. If you want to keep a copy, you must activate the option ” Keep a copy with forwarded messages “.
If you combine both tools you can completely forget about work email. When you receive an e-mail, the sender will receive a notice that you are on vacation and that another colleague will be in charge of attending him / her. In addition, said e-mail will be forwarded to your partner so you will not have to worry about anything.