An out of office message is one of those small pieces of writing that most people treat as an afterthought. They dash off two lines, set the dates, and move on. But a poorly written out of office reply sends a signal about how you handle professional communication, and that signal follows you back to the inbox when you return.
What a good out of office message needs to do
The core job is simple: tell the sender you're unavailable, give them a return date, and point them toward help if they need it urgently. Everything else is optional. A message that does those three things clearly is a good one. A message that does those three things AND sounds like a person wrote it is a great one.
Senders don't want poetry. They want to know how long they're waiting and who else they can reach. Give them that in the first two sentences and you've done most of the work.
The basic structure
Every out of office message worth sending covers four elements, in roughly this order:
- Absence window. The specific dates you're away, not just "this week."
- Return date. When you'll be back and, if relevant, whether you'll have limited access before then.
- Urgent contact. A named colleague (with email or phone) who can help in your absence.
- Brief close. One sentence acknowledging you'll follow up on your return.
That structure works for 90% of situations. The tricky part is filling it in without sounding robotic or, worse, leaving out something the sender genuinely needed.
Tone: how formal should it be?
Match your usual register. If your everyday emails open with "Hi Sarah" and close with "Thanks," your out of office shouldn't suddenly read like a legal notice. Conversely, if you work in a formal environment, a breezy "I'm off soaking up the sun!" won't land well.
The mistake most people make is swinging too far in either direction. The formal writer produces a cold block of text that gives the sender no sense of when to actually expect a reply. The casual writer tells their entire itinerary and forgets to include the urgent contact's name. Pick your register and stay consistent.
Thinking about your closing phrase is worth a moment's effort, too. If you typically sign emails with something like "with best regards," your out of office can use the same sign-off. Consistency across your professional communications is a small thing that attentive readers notice.
Common mistakes to avoid
The most frequent problems are also the most fixable.
Vague dates. "I'm away until next week" is useless to someone who reads your auto-reply on a Thursday afternoon. Write the actual calendar date: "I'll be back on Monday 24 August."
No urgent contact. Some messages say "for urgent matters, please contact my team." Which team member? On what channel? Give a specific name and a direct email address. Otherwise "urgent" means "wait anyway."
Overpromising on response time. Don't write "I'll respond to all emails within 24 hours of my return" unless you genuinely plan to triage your inbox the moment you land. A vague promise is better than a specific one you won't keep. "I'll be in touch as soon as possible" is fine.
Too much personal detail. Senders don't need to know you're hiking in Patagonia. A brief note that you're "out of the office" or "on leave" is enough. Oversharing can also raise security concerns, since auto-replies go to anyone who sends you an email, including people you don't know.
A template you can actually use
Here's a clean version that works across most professional contexts:
Thank you for your email. I'm out of the office from [start date] and will return on [return date]. I won't have access to email during this time.
If your matter is urgent, please contact [Name] at [email address] or [phone number].
I'll reply to your email as soon as I'm back.
[Your name]
Short. Clear. It answers every question the sender has before they can ask it.
Internal vs external auto-replies
Most email platforms let you set separate auto-replies for people inside your organisation and people outside it. Use that feature. Your internal colleagues can probably handle a shorter, more direct message: "I'm on leave until [date]. Speak to [Name] for anything urgent." External contacts typically need a slightly warmer, more complete version.
If your platform only supports one out of office message, write for the external audience. Your internal colleagues will forgive the extra sentence. An external client who gets a reply that feels too casual or missing key information won't.
When to add a little warmth
Some roles and industries welcome a touch of personality in an out of office reply. A short, friendly line at the end is fine: "Looking forward to connecting when I'm back." What doesn't work is a long preamble about your holiday, a joke that lands differently than intended, or anything that makes the sender scroll to find the actual return date.
If you want to include something personal, put it after the practical information. Lead with the date and the urgent contact, then add the personality. Never the other way around.
One word about the subject line
You don't control the subject line of an auto-reply. Most email clients populate it automatically as "Out of Office: [original subject]" or similar. What you do control is whether your message starts with a clear first sentence, because many people read the preview text before they open the reply at all. Don't bury your return date three sentences in.
Professional emails demand the same attention to greetings and salutations as any other correspondence, and your out of office is no exception. Start with something neutral and professional ("Thank you for your email" works well) rather than nothing at all.
Setting up your out of office in major email clients
In Microsoft Outlook, go to File, then Automatic Replies. You can set a date range and write separate replies for internal and external senders. In Gmail, go to Settings, then the General tab, and scroll to Vacation responder. Gmail doesn't natively separate internal and external replies, but Google Workspace accounts often have that option through admin settings.
Set your out of office before you leave, not the morning you depart. Replies sent while you're still technically in the office look inconsistent and can cause confusion about whether you're actually available.
The out of office message is a small piece of writing. But small pieces of writing, done carefully, are what professional communication is built from.