Vacation responder
The vacation responder sends an automatic reply to everyone who emails you while you're away — typically on vacation, in a long meeting, or out of the office. You can also use it to let people know you've changed addresses.
You'll find it under Settings → Vacation responder.
How to turn on the vacation responder
- Go to Settings → Vacation responder
- Flip the switch at the top — the status changes from Vacation responder is off to Vacation responder is on
- Enter a subject and message for the automatic reply
- Click Save
From that moment on, we send the automatic reply to everyone who emails you.
Start date and end date (optional)
You can control exactly when the vacation responder runs:
- Start date — optional. Leave blank to start immediately.
- End date — optional. Leave blank to run until you turn it off.
If you leave both blank, the vacation responder runs until you turn it off manually.
Write a good vacation responder
What's useful to mention:
- When you'll be back (an approximate date is better than nothing)
- What the recipient can do in the meantime (wait, contact a colleague, check your website)
- An alternative contact for urgent matters
Example:
Subject: Away until May 25
Hi,
Thanks for your email. I'm on vacation through May 24 and won't be checking email during this period.
If you need help before I'm back, contact colleague@company.com.
Best regards,
Doc
How often do we send the reply?
Once every 7 days
To avoid email loops — for example, if another auto-responder also replies automatically — we send the vacation responder to each individual sender only once every 7 days.
If the same person sends you two emails in one week, they only get the reply to the first one.
Character limit on the message
The message itself can be up to 4,000 characters. The counter below the text field shows how much you've used.
How to turn off the vacation responder
- Go to Settings → Vacation responder
- Flip the switch at the top off — the status changes to Vacation responder is off
Your message and date settings are kept, so you can quickly turn them back on for your next vacation.
Tips
- Test the reply before you leave. Send yourself an email from another address (e.g. a personal Gmail) and check that the auto-reply arrives the way you expect.
- Set date limits if you know your return date. That way you don't have to remember to turn it off when you get back.
- Don't mention that you're traveling if you publish your email address publicly. It's better to say "away from my inbox" than "in Hawaii."