How to Add an Autoresponder to Your Email

People tend to expect immediate responses in e-mail these days and when they don't get them they feel like they are being ignored. That's not a big deal for personal e-mails, but at work, you don't want customers to feel slighted. So setting up an auto-responder is a good way of keeping both people tuned to your movements.

However, there are some limitations. If you set up an auto-responder in Outlook Express (if you have Outlook 2000, click here, if you have Outlook 2002 click here), you have to leave the computer on, the e-mail program running and the system connected to the Internet. This will work if you have an always-on Net connection, but you don't want to do that if you use a modem to dial-up the Internet on a phone line.

Setting up an auto-responder in Outlook Express is not too difficult.

Here are some instructions and tips that should help you set it up. There are three parts to this process. 1. Create the response message. 2. Create an Outlook Express rule. 3. Link the message to the rule.

Let's create the message first.

The easiest way to do this is to use Notepad in your Accessories folder (START>Programs>Accessories>Notepad). Open the program, click "File" menu and then click "New".

The type in the response that you want to be emailed while you are away. Write something like:

"Hi and thanks for your e-mail. I am out of the office between (type in the dates you will be away). I won't be checking e-mail during that time. Rest assured that I have received your e-mail and it is safely in my inbox. I'll get back to you as soon as possible after my return."

Next you'll want to save the auto-response file to your hard drive. Let's call it "outofoffice" and place it in a folder called "email-files" on your main hard drive.

At the top of the window where you created the response e-mail, click the "File" menu and choose "Save As". A dialog box will pop open.

Create a folder called "email-files" to keep the auto-responder e-mail file in. Click on the pulldown box at the top of the dialog box and choose the "C:" drive. Then click on the "create new folder" icon (which looks like a file folder with a star exploding on its edge) at the top of the dialog box. A highlighted folder named "New Folder" will appear. Rename it to "email-files" and hit your "Enter" key. Then double click on the newly created folder to go into it. Make sure it says "outofoffice" in the "File name" field. Click the Save button. Your auto-responder file is now ready to go.

Save your response message in this new folder. It will be created as a TXT file. So you'll end up with a file called outofoffice.txt in the "c:\email-files" folder.

A note to advanced users, you could also create the message in HyperText MarkUp Language as you would a Web page.

Part two of the process involves creating an e-mail rule. In Outlook Express, click the "Tools" menu, click "Message Rules" and choose "Mail". A four-part dialog box will pop up.

Under "1. Select Conditions for your rule" scroll to the bottom of the list and add a check mark to "For all messages".

Under "2. Select Actions for your rule", check off "Reply with message".

Under "3. Rule description" the follow items will now be listed:

Apply this rule after the message arrives
For all messages
Reply with message

You'll notice that the word "message" in the last line is underscored. Click on it and a dialog box will open. In the "files of type box", choose "Text (*.txt)".

If all goes well your "outofoffice.txt" file will be there. If not click the pulldown menu and choose the "C:" drive, then go into the "email-files" folder. Select the "outofoffice.txt" file and click the "Open" button.

You'll go back to the "New Mail Rule" dialog box that you created the rules in. Under the item "4. Name of the rule" enter a description of what the rule does. You can simply call it "Out of the Office".

The rule is now set up. So click OK. You'll see the rule with a check mark next to it now listed in the "Message Rules" dialog box. When you're in the office uncheck that box. When you're heading out of the office put a check mark next to it to activate it.

To find the rule again and change it, from the "Tools" menu, choose "Message Rules" then "Mail". Select the rule by clicking on it and click the "Modify" button.

Just like you'd update an answering machine message, you also need to keep you auto-responder up to date.

Also, don't be afraid to be a little creative. The example above is pretty boring, but you could create something more informative. Let's say you were buying more birds for your emu farm. You could tell people this in your auto-responder:

"Hi friends and colleagues. I'm headed to Australia in February to find sixty emus to add to the forty we already have. While I'm away urgent business emails can be sent to lotsofemus@hotmail.com. All other issues can be directed to Jose, my chief emu tender at jose@emufarmer.com or call us at 1-800-EMU4YOU."

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