Vacation conundrum

May 12, 2010 9:22 AM

Hotmail vacation filter problem

I have had a Hotmail account for years. Addtionally I have added a few others, which I use from time to time. Last summer, when I went out of the country, I was able to set a Hotmail vacation response: the vacation notice would bounce back to the sender till I had returned and closed down the vacation notice.

Now, planning to go away again this summer, I notice that Hotmail no longer has the vacation response and does not give a reason for its absence. I checked around and discovered that they removed it because of its use in spamming, and was also told they would fix the problem and restore it, though Hotmail itself has not notified its users about this issue, and it still is not fixed.

Problem: I have over the years many people who write me, or who send me updates, newsletters etc..

I can use my other accounts to notify about my vacation, but most of my mail comes to Hotmail. If I have Hotmail forwarded, will my non-Hotmail vacation notice get sent to senders, or will it simply pile up the mail for my return?

Is there any solution to this issue that I might use?
for which, in advance, thanks!

posted by Postroad to Computers & Internet (2 answers total)

It depends on what you see as the "from" address when you forward email from Hotmail to another account. If the "from" on the incoming emails is the original senders address, then it should work. If the "from" is your hotmail address, it won't work.
posted by COD at 9:27 AM on May 12, 2010

You could set it up to run through Outlook or Thunderbird, I believe, and set that up to send out an away message - I've never done this for Hotmail but it's my understanding you can.

I don't know if you could still check it from the web if you did so - I think you could.
posted by mrs. taters at 11:01 AM on May 12, 2010