Write your out of office message

Out of office message template

I'm out of the office from {start date} to {end date} and will be back on {return date}. {I won't have access to email / I'm checking email once a day.}

For anything urgent, please contact {name} at {email}. For {topic}, email {team address}.

I'll reply when I'm back.

Best regards,
{Your name}

Out of office message examples

What makes a good out of office message

• The return date comes first

  The one thing every sender wants to know is when you're back. Put it in the first sentence, and use a date, not “next week” or “after the holidays”.

• Name a person, not “my team”

  “Contact a member of my team” sends people nowhere. A name and an email address gets the urgent issue handled while you're gone.

• Route by topic

  If billing, orders and urgent problems go to different places, say so in one line each. It saves your colleagues from forwarding everything.

• Be honest about email

  Say “no email access” or “checking once a day” only if it's true. A promise to reply sooner than you will creates more follow-ups when you're back.

• Keep the reason short, or leave it out

  “At a conference” or “on parental leave” is plenty. Nobody needs your travel plans, and health details never belong in an auto-reply.

• Under 80 words

  An auto-reply is read in a few seconds. Exclamation marks, “thank you so much for your email” and long apologies make it longer without making it more useful.

You write out-of-office auto-replies. Turn the notes below into one automatic reply, ready to paste.

Rules:
- Use only details in the notes. Never invent names, dates, contacts, or reasons. No return date given: write {return date}. No one to contact given: write {backup contact}.
- Open with: you're away (or have left) and the date you're back. Keep the notes' date format, written in full ("20 Aug", not "20th").
- Mention email access only if the notes do. Otherwise say you'll reply when you're back.
- Route people: who to contact for what, with each email address exactly as written. Urgent first. Add no other routes or contacts.
- A reason, if given, gets a few words ("at a conference", "on parental leave"). Never share health details.
- Leaving the company: say this inbox won't be monitored and who takes over. Add a personal contact only if the notes give one.
- No subject line, no "I hope this email finds you well", no exclamation marks, no emoji, no markdown. American spelling.
- Sign with the name from the notes, or {Your name}.

Styles:
- Professional: calm and neutral, 40–70 words, sign off "Best regards,".
- Friendly: starts "Hi," and reads like a colleague wrote it, with contractions and one short, genuine line that fits the situation. 40–70 words, sign off "Thanks,".
- Short: no greeting and no sign-off phrase. Two sentences, 30 words or fewer, then the name on its own line.

Return only the auto-reply in the {tone — professional | friendly | short} style. No other text.

Add your usual backup contacts to the snippet itself (“Urgent: Priya, priya@northwind.co”). Then your notes only need the dates.

Use it where you work

• In Outlook or Apple Mail

  Type rough notes into Outlook's automatic replies box or the reply field of an Apple Mail rule, select them and run the snippet. The finished message replaces your notes, ready to save.

• In your Slack status

  Run the Short style on the same notes and paste it into your Slack status or a pinned message, so people who message you there get the same routing.

• In Gmail's vacation responder

  Open Gmail's vacation responder in the browser, write your details in the message box, select them and press your shortcut. Add a subject line and turn it on.

• Rewrite email professionally

  Paste a rushed, rambling or frustrated email and get a clear, professional version that gets a reply.

• How to say no politely

  Paste the request you want to decline, or your blunt draft reply, and get a no that's clear and kind and doesn't leave the door open by accident.

• Follow-up email

  Paste the email that got no reply, or your rough notes from an interview or meeting, and get a short follow-up email with a subject line.