How to configure mailbox auto-reply in Microsoft 365

Automatic replies are essential for helping employees manage expectations when they are out of office. But without proper oversight, they can lead to inconsistent corporate messaging or security vulnerabilities due to malicious messages sent to external contacts.

Managing mailbox auto-reply configurations allows you to standardize messages, schedule them for holidays, and ensure professionalism across your organization. You can also ensure any miscommunications do not take place internally or with external contacts when employees are out of office.

Method 1: How to set out of office emails in the Exchange Admin Center

Prerequisites

You must have the Exchange Administrator role assigned.

Steps

1. Sign in to the Exchange Admin Center (EAC) and navigate to Recipients > Mailboxes.
2. Click the user mailbox that you want to configure.
3. In the flyout pane that opens, navigate to the Others tab and under Automatic replies, click Manage automatic replies.

4. Toggle Automatic replies on.
5. If you wish to have automatic replies enabled only for a certain period, select the Send replies only during this time period check box and configure a start and end date.
6. Type in your internal auto-reply content in the Reply to all senders inside the organizations from this mailbox field.
7. To enable external auto-reply for Exchange Online mailboxes, select the Send automatic replies to senders outside this organization check box.
8. Type in your external auto-reply content in the Reply to all senders outside the organizations from this mailbox field.
9. You can choose to either limit external automatic replies to just the receiver’s contacts or configure it for all external members by choosing one of the two radio buttons above the external auto-reply field.

Limitations to consider

The EAC is suitable for managing individual mailboxes, but it does not provide a way to configure auto-reply messages in bulk or view the status of all out of office messages across the organization at once. If you wish to configure out of office messages for multiple Exchange Online mailboxes simultaneously, you must use Exchange Online PowerShell or a dedicated tool like M365 Manager Plus.

Method 2: How to configure Microsoft 365 auto-reply settings using Exchange Online PowerShell (Set-MailboxAutoReplyConfiguration)

Prerequisites

Before using Exchange Online PowerShell, please verify that:

1. The Exchange Administrator or Global Administrator role is applied to the account you use to sign in to Exchange Online PowerShell.
2. You are connected to the Exchange Online module.
   1. To check if the ExchangeOnlineManagement PowerShell module is installed, use this script:
   Copy

   Install-Module ExchangeOnlineManagement -Scope CurrentUser 
   
   Update-Module ExchangeOnlineManagement

   2. Connect to Exchange Online PowerShell with this script:
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   Connect-ExchangeOnline

Set an automatic reply for a specific mailbox using Set-MailboxAutoReplyConfiguration

The Set-MailboxAutoReplyConfiguration cmdlet can be used to configure auto-reply settings for a single mailbox. This is the primary command for scripting and automating out of office messages for one mailbox in Exchange Online.

  Set-MailboxAutoReplyConfiguration -Identity "<identity>" -AutoReplyState Enabled -InternalMessage "I am currently out of the office and will respond upon
my return." -ExternalMessage "Thank you for your message. I am currently out of office with limited access to email."

To view the current settings for a user, use the Get-MailboxAutoReplyConfiguration cmdlet.

Supported parameters

The following table contains key parameters that can be used with the Set-MailboxAutoReplyConfiguration cmdlet to manage automatic replies.

Use case: Set a scheduled auto-reply for all members of a department

For a planned office closure or team event, you may need to set a standard out of office message for an entire department that is active for a specific period. The following Exchange Online PowerShell script fetches all members of the marketing department and configures a scheduled auto-reply message for them.

PowerShell

              $members = Get-Mailbox -Filter "Department -eq 'Marketing'" -ResultSize Unlimited
              

              $members | foreach {
                

                Set-MailboxAutoReplyConfiguration -Identity $_.Identity `
                

                -AutoReplyState Scheduled `
                

                -StartTime "9/20/2025 09:00" `
                

                  -EndTime "9/22/2025 17:00" `
                

                -InternalMessage "The Marketing team is out of the office for a team event until September 22nd. We will respond to your message upon our return." `
                

                -ExternalMessage "Thank you for contacting the Marketing Department. Our team is currently at an off-site event and will reply after September 22."
                

              }
            

Method 3: How to configure Microsoft 365 auto-replies using M365 Manager Plus

1. Log in to M365 Manager Plus and click the Management tab.
2. Navigate to Mailbox Management > Mailbox Auto-Reply Configuration.
3. Select the desired Microsoft 365 tenant, configure the auto-reply message and schedule, and select the mailboxes to apply the configuration to from the report.
4. Click Apply to configure the settings in bulk.

Monitor your Exchange Online auto-replies and more

M365 Manager Plus simplifies the management of mailbox settings, allowing you to view, monitor, and control auto-replies across your Microsoft 365 environment from a single console. It streamlines bulk configurations, provides detailed reports, and offers proactive alerts.

Important tips

Frequently asked questions