How to write an out-of-office message (with 20+ examples and templates)

What is an out-of-office message and why does it matter?

An out-of-office message is the automatic reply your email account sends on your behalf while you are away from work. The moment someone emails you, they get an instant note back explaining that you are not reading messages right now, when you will be, and what they should do if they cannot wait. It is sometimes called an OOO message, a vacation responder, an auto-reply, or an away message, but the job is the same everywhere: set expectations so nobody is left wondering whether their email landed in a black hole.

It is a small piece of writing that carries a surprising amount of weight. A clear out-of-office message protects your time off, because people stop chasing you when they know you genuinely will not see their note until next Tuesday. It protects your reputation, because a colleague who gets a polished, helpful reply thinks "this person has their act together" rather than "why am I being ignored?" And it protects the work itself, because a good message routes urgent items to someone who can actually act on them instead of letting them rot until you get back.

The flip side is just as real. A missing or sloppy auto-reply creates a quiet pile of frustration. A client wonders why their proposal went unanswered for a week. A teammate stalls on a project because they did not know who to ask. A recruiter moves on to the next candidate. None of those people know you were on a beach or in a hospital bed or simply heads-down at a conference; from where they sit, you just went silent. The out-of-office message is the one thing standing between your absence and their confusion.

There is also a practical, often-overlooked reason this matters more than it used to. Average email volume keeps climbing, and the expectation of a fast reply has climbed with it. Plenty of people now expect an answer within a few hours during a workday. When you disappear for a week with no warning, you are not just leaving one email unanswered, you are quietly breaking an unspoken promise dozens of times over. The auto-reply renews that promise: not today, but soon, and here is exactly when.

This guide walks through the anatomy of a message that does its job, then gives you more than twenty copy-paste templates grouped by situation, including vacation, sick and medical leave, parental and maternity leave, holidays, conferences, and your last day before leaving a company. After the templates you will find tone and length guidance, the mistakes that quietly make you look unprofessional, a quick do and don't reference table, and a short note on letting your email client set all of this up for you so you never have to write one from a blank page again.

What does a great out-of-office message include?

Strip away the personality and every effective out-of-office message answers the same four questions in the reader's mind. Are you actually away, or did my email just get lost? When will I hear from you? What do I do if this cannot wait? And, optionally, why are you gone, if that context helps. You do not need to write a paragraph for each. The best messages handle all four in three or four sentences, because the person reading it wants the facts and then wants to move on.

Here is the anatomy, piece by piece, in the order it usually reads best.

1. 1

   A clear opening that confirms you are away

   Lead with the headline so a busy reader gets it in one glance: "Thank you for your email. I am currently out of the office." This single line does the heavy lifting; everything after it is detail.

2. 2

   The dates you are gone and the date you return

   Be specific. "I will be back on Monday, June 22" beats "I will be back next week," which is ambiguous the moment the week turns over. Include the year for long absences. State when you will return, not just when you left.

3. 3

   When you will respond to their message

   Returning and replying are not the same thing. If you will have a backlog, say so: "I will respond to your email when I return, and I appreciate your patience as I work through messages." This buys you a grace period instead of an inbox of follow-ups.

4. 4

   Who to contact for urgent matters

   Give a real escalation path with a name and a working email or phone number. "For anything urgent, please contact Priya Shah at priya@example.com." Confirm with that person first; nobody enjoys discovering they are a backup contact from a stranger's email.

5. 5

   A brief, optional reason

   A short reason adds warmth and context: "on vacation," "on parental leave," "attending a conference." Keep it general for outside senders. The reason is the one piece you can drop entirely without breaking the message.

6. 6

   A courteous close

   End with a small human touch: "Thank you for your patience," or "I look forward to connecting when I am back." It costs one line and softens the fact that you are, technically, ignoring them.

Notice what is not on that list: your full itinerary, your hotel, the names of everyone you are traveling with, or a detailed account of your medical situation. More on why in the mistakes section, but the short version is that an auto-reply goes to everyone who emails you, including people you do not know and would not choose to tell.

One structural decision sits above all of these: whether to write one message for everyone or two separate ones, internal and external. Most serious email systems let you set a different reply for people inside your organization versus people outside it. This is worth doing. Your coworkers can get the detailed version, with project context, your backup's name, and a casual tone, because they already know you. Outside senders, including clients, vendors, recruiters, and strangers, should get a leaner, more guarded version that confirms you are away and routes urgent matters without revealing exact dates of travel or who is minding the shop. We will give you both versions throughout the templates below.

What are the best out-of-office message templates for vacation?

Vacation is the most common reason to set an auto-reply and the easiest to get right, because expectations are low and goodwill is high. Nobody resents you for taking a holiday. The goal is simply to confirm you are gone, say when you are back, and give one escalation path. Here are several versions at different lengths and tones; copy the one that fits and swap in your details.

Start with the short, all-purpose version that works for almost anyone:

If you want a slightly warmer, more complete version, the one below adds a friendly opening and makes the response timing explicit so people do not expect an instant reply the day you walk back in.

For an external-facing message, where the recipient might be a client or someone you do not know, trim the personal detail and avoid exact travel dates. The security-conscious approach is to say the month rather than the day. This version still routes urgent work but gives away less.

If you are taking a longer break, a sabbatical or an extended trip, set expectations even more firmly. People will email you many times over a long absence, so make it crystal clear that you are not monitoring anything and that someone else owns your work for the duration.

How do you write an out-of-office message for sick or medical leave?

Sick leave is the situation where less is more. You are under no obligation to explain what is wrong with you, and you should not. The reader does not need a diagnosis; they need to know you are unavailable and who to contact instead. Keep the reason vague on purpose, lean on a backup contact, and resist the urge to promise you will check email "when you feel up to it," which only sets a trap you will not want to spring.

For a short, planned absence, such as a minor procedure or a known recovery window, a simple message does the job:

When the leave is longer or the return date is genuinely uncertain, do not invent a date you cannot keep. It is better to give a rough window and a reliable point of contact than to promise a Monday you might not make. This version handles an open-ended absence gracefully.

What is the right out-of-office message for parental or maternity leave?

Parental and maternity leave deserve their own approach because they are long, joyful, and almost always require someone to fully cover your responsibilities. Unlike a one-week vacation, you are not popping back in to triage. The single most important thing this message does is make it unmistakable that you are not reading email at all and that a named colleague now owns your work. Career advisers are blunt about one common mistake here: do not say you will check email "occasionally," because it quietly invites people to keep emailing you during the exact stretch you need to be unreachable. State clearly that you have no access, then route everything to your backup.

Here is a clean, professional version that works for any kind of parental leave:

If your workplace culture is warm and you are comfortable sharing the happy news, a slightly more personal version is perfectly professional. It still does the routing work; it just adds a human note that most people appreciate.

For a longer parental leave where different colleagues handle different parts of your role, spell out the split so people land in the right place on the first try. This saves everyone a round of "sorry, that is not me, try so-and-so" emails.

What should a holiday or end-of-year out-of-office message say?

Holiday messages, whether for a national holiday, a religious observance, or the end-of-year break when half the company is offline, get a little extra warmth. The recipient is usually in a holiday mood too, so a friendly tone lands well. The mechanics are the same as a vacation message, but it is worth noting the holiday by name so people understand why the whole office might be quiet, and worth being clear about when normal service resumes.

A simple single-day or long-weekend version:

The end-of-year break is its own thing, because people often log off for a week or two and inboxes go fully dark. Set the return date clearly and acknowledge the season. This version is friendly without being saccharine, and it still gives an escalation path for the rare urgent item.

How do you handle an out-of-office for a conference or business trip?

A conference or business trip is a special case, because you are technically working but not at your desk and not reachable the way you usually are. The trick is to signal that you are available in a limited, delayed way rather than fully offline. People understand "I am at a conference and will reply between sessions" far better than silence, and they will calibrate their patience accordingly. If you are speaking or running a booth, it is also a small, legitimate brand moment, so you can mention it.

A straightforward conference message:

If you are presenting or exhibiting and would welcome a connection, lean into it. A line inviting people to find you at the event can turn an auto-reply into a soft networking opportunity, especially if some of the senders are also attending.

What do you write for a last-day or departure out-of-office message?

The last-day, or permanent departure, message is different from every other one on this list, because you are not coming back. This is the auto-reply you set on your way out the door when you leave a company, and it stays on indefinitely. It has a heavier job: it has to redirect every future sender to the right person permanently, since there is no "when I return" to lean on. Done well, it leaves a good final impression and makes sure work does not fall through the cracks after you are gone.

Keep it gracious and forward-looking. Name your replacement or the right team, and if you are comfortable, offer a way to stay in touch. Here is a clean professional version:

If you want to keep the door open for personal contacts, recruiters, or industry friends, you can add a forwarding line with a personal email or a professional profile. Use judgment here: this goes to everyone, so only share a channel you are comfortable making public.

What is the difference between internal and external out-of-office messages?

This is the single biggest upgrade most people can make to their auto-replies, and almost nobody bothers. Email systems that support it (most do, through a tab or toggle labeled something like "inside my organization" versus "outside my organization") let you send one message to coworkers and a different one to everyone else. The reason to use both comes down to trust and security: your colleagues can be told everything, while outside senders, who include strangers, vendors, and the occasional bad actor, should be told only what they need.

The internal version can be detailed, casual, and specific, because the audience already knows you and your work. The external version should be leaner and more careful. A widely repeated piece of security advice is to avoid putting exact dates of travel, your destination, or the precise name and direct line of the colleague holding down the fort into a message that goes to people you do not know, because that information can be useful to anyone running a phishing or social-engineering scam against your company while you are away. Saying "returning in early July" to outsiders, while telling coworkers "back Monday the 7th, ping Sam for the Henderson deck," gives each audience exactly what it should have.

If your email client does not support separate internal and external replies, write a single message at the safer, external level of detail. It is far better for a coworker to get a slightly generic note and then ping you on chat than for a stranger to learn your house is empty for two weeks and exactly who has the keys to your accounts. When in doubt, default to the guarded version.

What is the best tone and length for an out-of-office message?

Length is the easier of the two to get right: shorter is almost always better. The most-cited guidance across email and productivity writing lands in the same place, an effective out-of-office message is brief and digestible, ideally under about a hundred words, with the return date and contact details easy to spot at a glance. Three to four short sentences is the sweet spot. The reader is not settling in for a read; they want the facts and an exit. Every extra sentence is one more thing standing between them and the answer they came for.

There is a real cost to going long. Bury the return date in the third paragraph and people miss it. Add two backup contacts and a list of caveats and nobody knows who to actually email. The discipline of keeping it short forces you to lead with what matters, which is precisely what a stranger skimming on their phone needs.

A useful way to picture the right length is to imagine the reader has exactly five seconds and one thumb. They are standing in line, glancing at a notification, deciding in a heartbeat whether they need to do anything. In those five seconds they should be able to register three things: you are away, you will be back around a certain time, and there is a name to contact if it cannot wait. Everything beyond those three things is, at best, a nice-to-have and, at worst, noise that hides the signal. When you find yourself adding a fourth sentence, ask whether it earns its place or whether it is just filling space out of a sense that an auto-reply should sound formal. It should not. It should sound clear.

Tone is more situational, and the right call depends on your role, your audience, and your workplace. Run through a quick mental checklist before you pick one.

• Match your audience. A message that mostly reaches clients, executives, or strangers should stay warm but professional. One that mostly reaches a tight-knit team can loosen up.
• Match the occasion. Vacation and holidays can be light. Sick leave, medical leave, and departures should stay measured and sincere, not jokey.
• Keep humor universal and short. If you go for a funny out-of-office message, one light line is plenty, and it should be the kind of joke that lands with everyone, never anything edgy, political, or that needs context to be funny.
• Stay on-brand. If you are customer-facing, your auto-reply is a brand touchpoint. The voice should sound like the company, not like a different person.
• Always keep the substance. No matter how playful the tone, the return date, the contact, and the timing have to survive. Humor is the garnish, not the meal.

On the question of humor specifically, it can work beautifully or backfire depending on context. A light, relatable line can make a customer smile and humanize a brand. The risk is that the joke crowds out the information, or that it reaches someone, a grieving client, an anxious job candidate, a regulator, for whom levity feels wrong. The safe pattern is to put one short, gentle line of personality at the very top and then immediately deliver the facts in plain language. Here is what that looks like done tastefully.

What are the most common out-of-office message mistakes?

Most out-of-office failures are not dramatic; they are small lapses that quietly erode the message's usefulness or, occasionally, create a real problem. Here are the ones that come up again and again, with what to do instead.

• Forgetting to set it at all. The most common mistake is the one you make by accident, leaving on Friday afternoon without turning the auto-reply on. Set it before you log off, and double-check that it is active.
• Forgetting to turn it off. The mirror image, and almost as bad. An auto-reply still firing a week after you are back makes you look careless and confuses people mid-conversation. Use a scheduled end date so the system shuts it off for you.
• No return date, or a vague one. "I am away for a bit" tells the reader nothing actionable. Give a specific return date, with the year for long absences.
• Promising to reply when you cannot. "I will check email occasionally" invites people to keep emailing and then resent you when you do not respond. If you are truly off, say so plainly.
• No escalation path. Leaving urgent senders with nowhere to go defeats half the purpose. Always name a backup contact with a working email or phone number, and tell that person first.
• Oversharing personal or travel details. Exact travel dates, your destination, your home being empty, or a detailed medical account are all things a stranger does not need and a scammer can use.
• Typos in the contact details. A misspelled backup email sends urgent matters into the void. Read the address character by character before you save.
• A wall of text. If the message runs several paragraphs, the key facts get lost. Trim to three or four sentences and lead with the essentials.
• Wrong dates. A copy-pasted message from your last trip with the old dates still in it is a classic. Update every date and name every single time.

Out-of-office do's and don'ts at a glance

Here is the whole guide compressed into a quick reference you can scan before you hit save. When a habit on the left is tempting, the column on the right is what to do instead.

How do you set up an out-of-office reply in Gmail and Outlook?

Writing the message is only half the job; you still have to switch it on in your email client, and the steps differ by provider. Here is the quick version for the two most common ones. The exact labels may shift slightly over time, but the flow is stable.

In Gmail, you are looking for the feature called the vacation responder.

1. 1

   Open Gmail settings

   On desktop, click the gear icon in the top right, then "See all settings." On the mobile app, tap the menu, then Settings, then your account.

2. 2

   Find the vacation responder

   In the General tab, scroll to the bottom to "Vacation responder" (called "Out of Office AutoReply" on iOS). Switch it on.

3. 3

   Set your dates and message

   Enter a start date and an end date, then fill in the subject and the body with your chosen template. The end date matters, it turns the reply off for you so you do not forget.

4. 4

   Choose your audience

   If you only want known contacts to get a reply, check "Only send a response to people in my Contacts," which cuts down on auto-replies to mailing lists and spam.

5. 5

   Save

   Click "Save Changes" at the bottom. Gmail handles a single message rather than separate internal and external versions, so write it at the external, guarded level of detail.

In Outlook, the feature is called Automatic Replies, and it has one important catch worth knowing before you start.

1. 1

   Open Automatic Replies

   Go to File, then "Automatic Replies (Out of Office)." In newer and web versions, look under Settings for "Automatic replies."

2. 2

   Turn replies on and set a time range

   Select "Send automatic replies," then check "Send replies only during a time period" and enter your start and end times so it switches off on its own.

3. 3

   Write the internal message

   On the "Inside My Organization" tab, type the detailed version for your coworkers, including project context and your backup's name.

4. 4

   Write the external message

   On the "Outside My Organization" tab, enable replies to outside senders and paste the leaner, guarded version. This is where Outlook's two-audience support pays off.

5. 5

   Save

   Confirm and close. One catch: built-in Automatic Replies require an Exchange or Microsoft 365 account. On a personal Gmail, Yahoo, or IMAP account inside Outlook, the option may not appear, in which case you set the auto-reply with the mail provider directly.

Can AI Emaily set up your out-of-office message for you?

If juggling separate internal and external versions, scheduling start and end dates, and remembering which menu hides the toggle in each provider sounds like more friction than it should be, this is the kind of small, repetitive task an AI email client is built to handle. AI Emaily is an AI-native email client that connects to Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, Fastmail, Proton, and any IMAP account, and it can write and set your out-of-office reply across every one of them from a single place, so you are not hunting through five different settings menus before a trip.

Because it learns how you actually write, the draft comes back in your voice rather than in generic auto-reply boilerplate. You tell it the dates and who is covering for you, and it produces a clean message, sets the right internal and external versions where the provider supports them, schedules it to turn on and off on your dates, and keeps the external version appropriately guarded so you are not oversharing travel details with strangers. It works the way the rest of the product does, with Manual, Copilot, and Autopilot modes, so you stay in control: review and approve every draft yourself, or let it handle routine away-replies on its own, always with undo and a full audit trail of what it did.

It is the same idea behind the rest of the app, which acts as an autonomous chief of staff for your inbox, drafting replies, triaging, and handling the busywork so you spend less time managing email and more time on the work that actually needs you. Setting an out-of-office message is one of those chores you should never have to do from a blank page again. You can try it free at app.aiemaily.com/signup, with a Free plan at no cost and Pro at $17.99 per month on the annual plan.

Putting it all together

A good out-of-office message is one of the highest-return pieces of writing in your professional life relative to how little time it takes. Three or four sentences, written once and reused, that protect your time off, keep your colleagues unblocked, and leave every sender, client, recruiter, stranger, with a clear answer instead of silence. Lead with the fact that you are away, give a specific return date and when you will actually reply, name a backup contact for anything urgent, and keep the whole thing short.

The patterns barely change from one situation to the next. Vacation keeps it light, sick and medical leave keep the reason vague, parental leave makes clear you are fully offline with someone covering, conferences signal delayed-not-absent, and departures redirect permanently and gracefully. Across all of them, write external messages with a lighter hand than internal ones, schedule the reply to switch off so it never lingers, and proofread the dates and the contact address before you save.

Grab whichever template above fits your situation, swap in your details, and you are done. And if you would rather skip the menus and the copy-pasting entirely, let your email client set it up for you in your own voice, the same way it can handle the rest of the inbox while you are away. Either way, the goal is simple: log off without leaving anyone wondering where you went.