Notification

This feature is currently available in the integrated experience in Google Workspace. To get started with the experience, visit this article.

Send an automatic reply when you're out of office

To let others know when you’re out of office or on vacation, you can create a vacation responder in Gmail. When someone sends you a message, they receive an automatic reply.

Set up a vacation responder

An animation showing how to set up a Gmail vacation reply on iOS

  1. On your iPhone or iPad, open the Gmail app .
  2. At the top left, tap Menu and then Settings.
  3. Under “Compose and Reply,” tap Vacation responder.
  4. Turn on Vacation Responder On.
  5. Enter the date range, subject, and message.
  6. Optional: To send the reply to your contacts only, under the message, tap Send only to my Contacts.
  7. At the top right, tap Save.
Tip: To turn off your automatic reply, turn off Vacation Responder On.

Learn how an automatic reply works

Your automatic reply starts at 12:00 AM on the start date and ends at 11:59 PM on the end date, unless you end it earlier.

In most cases, your reply is only sent to people the first time they message you.

Someone can get your reply more than once if:

  • The same person contacts you again after four days and your automatic reply is still on.
  • You edit the automatic reply.
    • If someone gets your initial automatic reply, then emails you again after you edit the reply, they get the updated email.

Tips:

  • To prevent an automatic reply in a conversation thread, add a subject line to your reply. When you add a subject line, the recipient receives your reply in a separate email.
  • Emails sent to your spam folder or addressed to a mailing list you subscribe to don't get your reply.

Search
Clear search
Close search
Google apps
Main menu
9037123167957721939
true
Search Help Center
true
true
true