Out-of-office notifications: templates for Microsoft Outlook

ZEISS employees are requested to use Templates for out-of-office notifications (out of office) notifications in Microsoft Outlook made available Group-wide. These can be downloaded in the Brand Portal. 

Templates are available for internal and external use in DE, EN and CN. Please note that for information security and data protection reasons, personal data (e.g. e-mail addresses, telephone numbers and names of delegates) must not be included in automatic replies to external parties for the time being.  

This is because a bug known to Microsoft is causing "only my contacts" not to work when automatically replying to external users so it means that all external recipients will receive the same out-of-office message.  

Set an out of office from Outlook

1. Open Outlook
   
    
2. Click on the File tab in the upper left-hand corner, then select Automatic Replies (Out of Office) on the next screen.
   
3. Select “Send automatic replies”
4. Use the appropriate out-of-office text from the templates in the Brand Portal. Enter in your desired automatic reply message. You can also select “Only send during this time range:” and set your start and end times if you’d like to set a specific time frame.
   
5. Optionally, if you’d like your automatic replies to be sent to people outside your organization, select the Outside My Organization (On) tab. Use the appropriate out-of-office text for "outside my organization" from the templates in the Brand Portal. Personal Data like name, phonenumber or mail are not allowed to be shared outside the organization.
   
   Set an out of office from Teams

Whether you're going on an adventure for a week or offline for the afternoon, you can now set your out of office status and Automatic Replies from the Teams desktop or web app.

There are two ways to schedule your out of office status and message in Teams.

Option 1: Schedule an out of office from your profile picture

1. Go to your profile picture at the top of Teams and select Set status message
   
   
2. Select Schedule out of office at the bottom of the options.
   
   
3. From the screen that appears, turn on the toggle next to Turn on automatic replies.
4. Type an out of office message in the text box. This message will appear when people contact you in Teams or open your profile. It'll also be sent as an automatic reply in Outlook.
   Note: An out of office message is required in order to set your status and sync with your Outlook calendar.
5. If you'd like to send an automatic message to people outside of your organization, select the check box next to Send replies outside my organization and choose between your contacts or all external senders. Use the appropriate out-of-office text for "outside my organization" from the templates in the Brand Portal. Personal Data like name, phonenumber or mail are not allowed to be shared outside the organization.
6. Based on when you'll be out of the office, pick the dates and times that your out of office message and status will start and stop displaying by selecting the check box next to Send replies only during a time period.
   
7. Select the Save button.

Option 2: Schedule an out of office in settings

1. Go to your profile picture in the top right of Teams. Next, select Settings > General and locate the Out of Office section.
2. Select the Schedule button to open the out of office screen. Then follow steps 3 through 7 above to set your preferences.
   
   
3. To clear your out of office status and turn off your automatic reply in Teams, select your profile picture and go back to the Out of Office screen either from  Settings button  Settings > General > Out of Office or by selecting Set status message > Schedule out of office from your profile picture. Turn off the toggle next to Turn on automatic replies and select the Save button.
4. Once you've scheduled an out of office status and message in Teams, you'll see automatic replies turned on in Outlook with the time range and message you set in Teams. If you choose to update your out of office details in Outlook, your changes will be reflected in Teams. To learn how to turn on or off an Outlook out of office reply, see Send automatic out of office replies from Outlook.
   
   Set an out of office for a Shared/Functional mailbox

Important! Full Access permissions to the specific mailbox are needed
If you do not have those permissions, please approach your IT Service Requester

1. Login to Outlook Web app via TEAM ZEISS or navigate to https://outlook.office365. com using your own Microsoft 365 credentials.
2. Click on your profile image on the top right and choose Open another mailbox
   
3. Type in the name or email address of the Shared Mailbox/Functional account and select it.
   
4. Click on Settings on the top right and then select Automatic replies and configure your automatic reply.