{"id":6290,"date":"2012-12-18T17:50:27","date_gmt":"2012-12-18T15:50:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpethzprd.ethz.ch\/id\/?p=6290"},"modified":"2013-01-28T12:01:40","modified_gmt":"2013-01-28T10:01:40","slug":"out-of-office-auto-reply-message-for-emails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/id\/2012\/12\/18\/out-of-office-auto-reply-message-for-emails\/","title":{"rendered":"Out of Office auto reply message for emails"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\n

Leaving on vacation or planning any other absence? Don’t forget to set up am Out of Office auto reply message for your incoming emails. <\/p>\n

While you benefit from not having to deal with incoming messages Outlook can reply to new emails in the meantime.
\nEmails, similar to non-electronic correspondence often createthe initial impression. It is therefore important to conform to the rules of email etiquette, guidelines that help avoid mistakes (like offending someone when you don’t mean to) and misunderstandings (like being offended when you’re not meant to). These core rules of email etiquette help us communicate better via email.
\nMany Out of Office auto replies give the impression that they were set up almost as an afterthought. To the recipient, they seem unprofessional and rude and furthermore are often incorrect.<\/p>\n

The obvious question: „Does ETH Zurich have uniform templates for Out of Office email replies, or does Corporate Communications perhaps provide any guidelines regarding email etiquette?“
\nETH Corporate Communication confirms that there are actually no official guidelines for Out of Office auto replies. However they do recommend bilingual Out of office e-mail replies and providing an alternate e-mail address and telephone number. Additionally,an individualmessageis certainly much more personal than a standard template.
\nWhat to consider?
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Address Format<\/h2>\n

ETH Zurich uses a uniform address format which also applies to Out of Office auto replies.
\nwww.hk.\/ethz.ch\/ docs\/corporate_design\/address\/index_EN<\/a><\/p>\n

For a complete documentation of design guidelines, check the Corporate-Design-Manual der ETH Z\u00fcrich<\/a> (available in German only). More information on „email“ on page 21.<\/p>\n

Common Out of Office reply blunders<\/h2>\n
    \n
  • Subject line missing or unclear<\/li>\n
  • No salutation<\/li>\n
  • No signature<\/li>\n
  • Sender name missing<\/li>\n
  • Spelling mistakes in the text<\/li>\n
  • Missing commas or punctuation, too many exclamation marks<\/li>\n
  • Text in lowercase<\/li>\n
  • Text too informal, unprofessional<\/li>\n
  • Outdated terms and phrases<\/li>\n
  • Rude telegraphic style<\/li>\n
  • Insufficient information regarding how incoming emails are handled or whom to contact during absence<\/li>\n
  • Incorrect spelling for „email“ at ETH: German\/E-Mail, Eng\/email<\/li>\n
  • „Sincerely“ or „Best regards<\/strong>“ can be used to sign off; the latter is less formal<\/li>\n
  • Date when sender will be back missing, should include weekday<\/li>\n
  • Previous date entries not updated and show old date or year<\/li>\n
  • Incorrect translations for multilingual or English Out of Office messages<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Outlook<\/h2>\n

    To set up an Outlook Out of Office auto reply:<\/p>\n

    1. Click on Tools <\/strong>in the upper left hand corner of the main Mail <\/strong>list view.<\/p>\n

    2. Select Out of Office Assistant<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    3. Select the Send Out of Office <\/strong>option.<\/p>\n

    4. Next enter the message you want sent out.<\/p>\n

    5. Select the check box Only send during this time range <\/strong>option and fill out Start time<\/strong> and End time<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    \n

    Make sure that both tabs „Inside\/Outside My Organization<\/strong>“ are completed and updated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

    <\/form>\n

     <\/p>\n<\/form>\n

     <\/p>\n<\/form>\n

     <\/p>\n<\/form>\n

     <\/p>\n<\/form>\n<\/form>\n<\/form>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Don’t forget to set up am Out of Office auto reply message for your incoming emails when leaving on vacation or during any other absence. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":292,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1285],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6290\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}