How to set up automatic out-of-office calendar replies for holidays in Outlook and Microsoft 365

Summary

This guide helps you troubleshoot and resolve: How to set up automatic out-of-office calendar replies for holidays in Outlook and Microsoft 365. Follow the steps below to fix the issue.

Common Causes

Setting up automatic out-of-office replies and blocking out recurring public holidays on your Microsoft 365 calendar ensures that colleagues, clients, and external invitees are promptly notified when you are unavailable. This guide walks you through configuring automatic replies in both the Outlook desktop application and Outlook on the web, along with a method for scheduling recurring Australian public holidays so your availability is always accurate.

Quick Fix Steps

1. Open Outlook and select File > Info > Automatic Replies.
2. Tick Send automatic replies and set your desired time range.
3. Type your internal and external out-of-office messages.
4. Switch to the Calendar view and create a new recurring appointment for each public holiday.

Detailed Instructions

Setting Up Automatic Replies in Outlook Desktop (Windows)

1. Open the Outlook desktop application.
2. Click on the File tab in the top-left corner.
3. Select Info from the left-hand menu, then click the Automatic Replies button.
4. In the dialog box, select Send automatic replies.
5. Tick the box for Only send during this time range and set your Start time and End time to align with your holiday dates.
6. Under the Inside My Organization tab, type the message you want colleagues to receive.
7. Click the Outside My Organization tab, tick Auto-reply to people outside my organization, and compose your external message.
8. Click OK to save and activate your automatic replies.

Setting Up Automatic Replies in Outlook on the Web

1. Navigate to outlook.office.com and sign in with your 220 Internet Services credentials.
2. Click the gear icon (Settings) in the top-right corner of the window.
3. Select Mail > Automatic replies.
4. Toggle the switch to Turn on automatic replies.
5. Tick Send replies only during a time period and enter your holiday start and end dates.
6. Compose your message in the text box provided. You can use the formatting toolbar to adjust the font, colour, and alignment.
7. Tick the box for Send replies outside your organization if you want external clients to receive the notification. Choose whether to send to all external senders or only those in your contacts list.
8. Click Save at the bottom of the settings pane.

Blocking Out Recurring Australian Public Holidays

To prevent colleagues from scheduling meetings on public holidays, create recurring all-day appointments on your calendar.

1. Open Outlook and switch to the Calendar view using the navigation panel on the left.
2. Click New Appointment on the ribbon (or press Ctrl+N).
3. Enter the holiday name in the Subject field (for example, "Brisbane Day - Labour Day").
4. Set the Start and End dates to the date of the public holiday.
5. Tick the All day event box.
6. Set the Show as dropdown to Busy or Out of Office so scheduling assistants recognise you are unavailable.
7. Click the Recurrence button on the ribbon.
8. Under Appointment recurrence, set the pattern to Yearly on the specific date of the holiday.
9. Set the range of recurrence to No end date so the holiday blocks your calendar indefinitely.
10. Click OK, then click Save & Close.

Troubleshooting

Automatic Replies Not Sending to External Senders

If external clients report not receiving your out-of-office messages, verify that you have enabled external replies. In the Outlook desktop client, check the Outside My Organization tab. In Outlook on the web, ensure the Send replies outside your organization toggle is active. Your organisation's 365 administrator may also have a policy restricting external automatic replies. If this is the case, the option will be greyed out.

Recurring Holidays Appearing on the Wrong Date

If a recurring public holiday falls on the wrong day in subsequent years, you likely set the recurrence pattern incorrectly. When setting up holidays that fall on a specific day of the week rather than a fixed date (such as the first Monday of October), ensure you select The first Monday of October in the Appointment recurrence dialog rather than a fixed calendar date.

Calendar Still Showing as Free During Holidays

If your recurring holiday appointment does not block out your availability, open the event and check the Show as field. If it is set to Free, change it to Busy or Out of Office and save the event. Also, ensure the event is marked as an All day event.

If you encounter issues configuring your out-of-office settings or calendar recurrence and require further assistance, please Open a Ticket and our support team will assist you.

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