The long-awaited vacation has arrived—or your holiday break/long holiday—and you need to put a vacation notice in Gmail. The good news is that it’s super simple and you can set vacation or out-of-office auto-reply using the Gmail app on Android and iOS (iPhone) or browser.
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Place auto-response by computer
If you won’t be accessing your Gmail for a while, you can set up a vacation auto-reply to automatically warn you that you won’t be able to respond right away. This means that when they message you, people will receive an email reply with the information you entered in the vacation autoresponder. Be careful, however, not to give too much detail in your text.
- Go to “Settings”: Open Gmail in your browser ( login with username and password if you have not already done so), click on “Settings” — at the top right of the screen and then on “View all settings”;
- Go to “Vacation Auto Responder”: In the “General” tab, scroll down to the “Vacation Auto-Reply” section;
- Configure your message: Fill in the dates, subject and message; if you want only your contacts to see it or people in your organization, check the boxes below the message field;
- Save your answer: Check that everything is correct and click on “Save changes”.
Place auto-response by phone
We did the step-by-step on an Android, but the process on iPhones (iOS) is very similar.
- Access the Gmail options menu: Click on the three-line icon in the upper left corner;
- Go to “Settings”: Scroll down and tap on “Settings ”;
- Select the account you want to include the notice: The app will show a list of accounts that are connected on your device; tap the one that will add the warning to continue;
- Click on “Vacation Auto Responder”: Scroll down to the “General” tab and then select “Vacation Auto Responder”;
- Configure your message: Click the right button, in the upper corner of the screen, to activate your reply; then set the dates, subject and message; if you want only your contacts or people in your company to see the notice, check the boxes below the message field;
- Save your answer: Tap “Done” in the upper right corner of the screen.
When is a vacation notice sent?
The vacation autoresponder starts at midnight on the start date and ends at 11:59 pm on the end date unless you end it before then. That is if you want it to start immediately, choose the current date or even the day before.
The vacation autoresponder is only sent to people the first time they message you. But, there are cases where it can be resent.
- If the same person contacts you again after four days and the vacation autoresponder is still on, they will see the reply again;
- If you edited the text. Your vacation autoresponder will start over whenever you edit it. If someone receives your initial vacation autoresponder and sends you an email after you edit it, that person will see your new reply (again).
Note: Messages that go to the “Spam” folder and those addressed to a mailing list you have subscribed to do not receive the vacation autoresponder.
How to disable vacation notice
During the period when vacation auto-reply is turned on, you’ll see a banner at the top of your Gmail Inbox. To disable your vacation autoresponder, click on “ Finish Now ”, it’s a link in this same yellow banner. You can also disable the “Vacation Auto-Reply” option using the app.
