This article gives you a more in depth description of how to setup an Outlook autoresponder that was suggested in our past article, 7 Amazing Ways to Manage Your Email Inbox.

Setting up the autoresponder is great when the office is busy, or if you’re lucky enough to be going on vacation. It’ll give you more time to reply by letting people know you won’t be able to get to their emails right away but you’ve received them. I’ll also explain how to send out the automatic response to all emails or only specific ones.

Note: if your email is not run by a Microsoft exchange server, the you must leave your computer turned on and Outlook running for the automated replies to be sent. If you’re not sure if your email is setup in this way, ask your IT department. If you don’t have an IT department, then your email isn’t likely setup on an MS Exchange server and you should leave your computer on.

Step 1: Create a message template

1. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Mail Message.
2. On the Options tab, in the Format group, click Plain Text.
3. In the message body, type the message that you want to send as your automated reply.
4. In the message window, click the Microsoft Office Button and then click Save As.
5. In the Save As dialog box, in the Save as type list, click Outlook Template (*.oft).
6. In the File name box, type a name for your message template, and then click Save.

Step 2: Create a rule to automatically reply to new e-mail messages

Do the following:

1. On the Tools menu, click Rules and Alerts.
2. In the Rules and Alerts dialog box, click New Rule.
3. Under Start from a blank rule, click Check messages when they arrive, and then click Next.
4. Under Which condition(s) do you want to check?, select the sent only to me check box and any other criteria that you want, and then click Next.
5. When you see a dialog box informing you that this rule will be applied to every message that you receive, click Yes.
6. Under What do you want to do with the message?, select the reply using a specific template check box.
7. Under Step 2: Edit the rule description (click an underlined value), click a specific template.
8. In the Select a Reply Template dialog box, in the Look In box, click User Templates in File System.
9. Select the template that you created in the previous section, and then click Open.
10. Click Next.
11. Optionally, select the check boxes for any exceptions to the auto-reply rule.
12. Click Next.
13. Under Step 1: Specify a name for this rule, type a name for the auto-reply rule, and then click Finish.

The reply using a specific template rule in the Rules Wizard sends your automated reply only once to each sender during a single session. This rule prevents Outlook from sending repetitive replies to a single sender from whom you receive multiple messages. During a session, Outlook keeps track of the list of users to whom it has responded. If you exit Outlook and then restart it, however, the list of the senders who have received automated replies is reset.

How to turn off automatic replies

1. On the Tools menu, click Rules and Alerts.
2. On the E-mail Rules tab, under Name, clear the check box for the rule you want to turn off.

This article gives you a more in depth description of how to create labels and folders from our past article, 7 Amazing Ways to Manage Your Email Inbox.

Folders will let you group emails for easier sorting. More specifically you want to create two folders to improve inbox efficiency, one for reference emails and one for actionable emails, described in more detail in the original blog post. This can be done in four simple steps, shown below:

To Create a Folder:

On the File menu, point to New, and then click Folder.
In the Name box, enter a name for the folder (this is where you can create your two folders, reference and actionable).
In the Folder contains box, click the type of folder you want to create.
In the Select where to place the folder list, click the location for the folder.

The Microsoft Office site helped me put this together for you.

Let me know if you have any questions in the comments.

During busy season it can be so hard to manage to constant stream of emails.

These simple tips will ease the burden.

Note: As a bonus, we’ll be doing follow-up posts with screen shots outlining how to do each one.

1. Create labels and folders to keep you organized

All email can be broken into two categories:

1. Referenceable: This category of emails can easily be dealt with by reading and filing them.
2. Actionable: This category encompasses most emails and requires an action step.

By separating the actionable emails, it will remove the less common referenceable emails, and make your inbox less full.

Scan your inbox for the obvious referenceable emails, read them and get them out of there! Now that you’re only looking at the actionable emails, you can read through them from top to bottom and respond. You can also easily create sub-folders so they will be easier to find in the future (ex. leads, to do, Inter-office, etc.).

If you don’t know how to setup folders in Outlook, check out our article on how to create folders and labels in Microsoft Outlook.

See below for steps on how to better manage your actionable emails.

2. Set specific times to check your email (and don’t violate them!)

Set aside 1-2 uninterrupted periods a day to process email in batches, ideally they would be fixed times throughout the week.

Trying to do it as soon as they come in is extremely disruptive to your work flow.

Since you’re going to feel annoyed at the interruption, you’re not going to be able to fully focus on the response, compared to if you were writing that response in ‘email mode’. You can still scan your email occasionally for urgent messages but don’t go into any of them unless absolutely necessary until the designated time.
To implement this, try these two steps:

1. Turn off any notification settings in your email providers settings
2. Set an alarm on your computer for the designated email processing time

3. Only read the emails you’re prepared to answer

If you’ve received emails from certain clients you know you’re not ready to tackle then just leave it alone for now. You’re wasting time reading an email and leaving it for awhile, only to have it in the back of your mind AND wasting more time, since you’ll have to re-read that email again before you respond. You also run the embarrassing risk of forgetting about the email or wasting more time constantly scanning your inbox to make sure you didn’t forget about an email. Either respond or leave it!

4. Keep content short and sweet

This has two benefits, one, it will prevent follow-up clarification emails and two, it will encourage your correspondent(s) to do the same. Use the following guidelines for reference:

1. Subject lines should indicate exactly what the content of your email is
2. If it’s a reply, briefly reference the context of your response so your recipient doesn’t have to scroll through all the previous emails to figure out what you’re talking about
3. Only address what’s necessary, not every point may need to a response
4. Answer in point form if possible, it will be much easier for your reader to digest
5. Make any action steps or requests very clear
6. If there are multiple individuals on the email (CC’d), break down the thoughts or requests for specific individuals by writing after their initials. (ex. LB- please reserve the conference room for 2pm, DC- please order the sandwiches, etc.)

5. Quickly re-read emails before sending

With the constant stream of emails you get, it can be tempting to churn out responses as quickly as possible. I strongly encourage you to fight the urge. Professional communication should clear without typos and grammatical errors. There’s no second chance once you hit the send button.

6. Use your autoresponder during a busy season

When you’re working 10+ hours a day, it’s can be really frustrating trying to stay on top of all your inbox messages. During this season you need a little more time so set up an autoresponder message letting people know that you’re very busy and it will be X time (hours or days) before you will have a chance to respond.

This will serve a few purposes, to:

1. Give you a longer grace period for a response
2. Prevent negative feelings because your clients feel like they’re being ignored
3. Prevent people from re-sending messages because they think it didn’t go through, adding to your inbox insanity.

If you’re not sure how to setup autoresponders in Microsoft Outlook, you can learn how to do it here: How to create Out of Office Autoresponders in Microsoft Outlook.

7. Do not respond to messages that don’t require one

Our email obsessed culture is reaching a breaking point with email communication… it’s going to consume our days if we don’t learn how to manage it better. Part of that is cutting off conversations that aren’t relevant or important. Emails that don’t REQUIRE a response can be filed away in your reference folder. It’s not rude and it will encourage others to do the same.

Let us know how you if you have any additional tips for managing your email.