Best Practices

Out of Office/Automatic Reply

• Best practice is to use Automatic Replies functionality when unavailable for a business day or more at a time, while setting status whenever possible.
• Ensure that the reply gives the following information (examples below):
  • The fact that the reply is automated.
  • Timeframe of unavailability/delay in response.
  • Who to contact in your absence, if appropriate.
• Notes: 
  • The automatic reply in Outlook will also show up for users who are attempting to interact with you via Teams.
  • The automatic reply message will appear when they hover over your avatar in Teams.
  • Teams also recognizes calendar holds set in Outlook, but a status can also be set manually.

Calendar

• Set a hold for the day/time you will be away (for a full day, 8am-5pm is preferable as availability is not set properly when using full day events)
• Make those colleagues affected by your absence aware of your time away via email.
• Decline meetings that occur within your time away.

Step-by-Step Procedure

Outlook

• Automatic Replies (DoIT KB): https://kb.wisc.edu/internal/32606
  
• Calendar Best Practices (DoIT KB): https://kb.wisc.edu/internal/31305 ← Does not include information about blocking availability.

Microsoft Teams

• Status updates (DoIT KB): https://kb.wisc.edu/internal/92180

Example Automatic Replies

• I am out of the office through [date] and will not be checking email. Note that this is an automated message. 
• This is an automated response. I am out of the office through [date] but will periodically be checking email. If you need immediate attention, please contact [alternate].