Gmail out of office reply - is it made obvious it is automatic?

April 13, 2018 10:33 AM

I would like to set up an automatic out of office reply in Gmail. Is it made obvious to the recipient that the reply is automatic? I know in Outlook it is because you get an immediate reply saying something like 'automatic out of office reply'. Just wondering so I can tweak the content of the message accordingly so that people don't get confused and think it is me replying manually.
posted by iamsuper to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

You can change the subject line of the auto-reply within Gmail's settings for vacation responses, in addition to making it clear within the text that this is an auto-reply.

So if you set the subject line to something like "Out of office auto-response," and I sent you an email with the subject "Report update," I would immediately get an auto-reply with the subject "Out of office auto response Re: Report update."
posted by andrewesque at 10:43 AM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]

I don't actually know, but this is super easy to check by emailing yourself from another email address. Gmail will let you set up a filter (under Settings) to generate an auto-reply only to messages that contain certain keywords. Pick a nonsense one, mail it to yourself, and you can see exactly what the auto-reply looks like to a recipient.
posted by jessicapierce at 10:46 AM on April 13, 2018

The email comes back pretty immediately so I doubt people think it’s actually you responding. Also the subject lines generally as mentioned above Out of Office Reply Re: SUBJECT
posted by raccoon409 at 11:34 AM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]

I have literally never assumed that an email that says "I am out of the office and will reply to you when I get back" or some variation thereof was sent manually. Which is to say I think it might not be a problem to begin with?
posted by rabbitrabbit at 11:59 AM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]

Andrewesque is correct, the subject line for the vacation responder is "Out of Office" by default. You could change it to "Automatic Out of Office" or similar if you want to be more clear.

I also usually add something to the effect of "I am out of the office with no access to email until XX" and some other point of contact for immediate assistance. Some people will assume you will check email periodically even if out of office, a presumptuous assumption but one I've come across more than once.
posted by assenav at 12:32 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]

I always include a statement to the effect that ' if the matter is urgent please contact Bloggs (Bloggs' contact details)' As well as being helpful, it reinforces the message that yes I am away. I also use that formulation to ignore messages I want to ignore when I return (which is usuall all of them lol).
posted by GeeEmm at 2:38 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]

The email comes back instantly, so it is obvious, unless the person sends the email and then immediately closes their inbox. But you can definitely edit to message to say whatever you want, including "Automatic replay:"
posted by AppleTurnover at 1:03 AM on April 14, 2018

I write mine in the third person: "Brian Ogilvie is away from the office until DATE," followed by details of whom to contact for urgent matters, and signed off, "Sincerely, Brian Ogilvie's computer." That last bit is somewhat cutesy, but I'm in academe where I can get away with it.
posted by brianogilvie at 7:09 AM on April 14, 2018