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Vacation Mode Mastery: Preparing Your Inbox for a Smooth Getaway

Josie Sumner

Created on February 17, 2025

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Preparing Your Inbox for a Smooth Getaway

Vacation Mode Mastery

Set an auto-reply for the entire week
Categorize & flag important emails before leaving
Organize all unread emails into appropriate folders
Schedule a reminder for your return to follow up on pending emails
Send a calendar invite for a debrief meeting upon your return

In this training exercise, you will...

You are about to leave for a well-deserved beach vacation next week! It's time to set up your Microsoft Outlook account so you don't miss a beat while you're out of the office.

Learning Objectives

Step 1

Click the gear for Settings.

Click Automatic replies.

Click the toggle to turn on automatic replies.

Check the box to send replies only during a time period.

Now you need to designate the time period you will be out of the office: 2/24 at 8 AM to 2/28 at 5 pm. Click anywhere in the time period section.

Use the text box to type out what your auto-reply will say. For replies inside your organization, it's good to include your return date, as well as a teammate/coworker who urgent messages can be sent to in your absence. Click anywhere in the text box for it to appear.

Use the second text box to type out what your auto-reply will say. For replies outside your organization, it's good to include your return date. Click anywhere in the text box for it to appear.

Don't forget to SAVE!

Schedule a reminder

Organize into folders

Categorize & flag

Set up auto-reply

Progress

Step 2

To create categories, first we must right-click any email. For this exercise, just click this email.

Select Categorize.

Select Manage categories.

We are going to create new categories for this exercise. Click + Create new.

The first caterory will be Urgent Tasks and the color red. Click in the text box to continue.

Don't forget to SAVE!

Click + Create new.

The next category will be Client Communications and the color blue. Click in the text box to continue.

Don't forget to SAVE!

Click + Create new.

The last category will be Internal Team Discussions and the color green. Click in the text box to continue.

Don't forget to SAVE!

Click X to exit this window.

Now we must assign the emails to their categories by right-clicking on the email. Left-click this email to continue.

Select Categorize.

Select Urgent Tasks.

Next we would right-click the next email we want to categorize. Left-click this email to continue.

Select Categorize.

Select Client Communications.

Then we would right-click the next email we want to categorize. Left-click this email to continue.

Select Categorize.

Select Internal Team Discussions.

Next, you need to flag this email to follow-up with next week when you return. Normally you right-click, but in this exercise you can left-click.

Select Flag.

Select Next Week.

You did it! Way to go! Click NEXT below to continue.

Schedule a reminder

Organize into folders

Categorize & flag

Set up auto-reply

Progress

Step 3

To create folders, first we must right-click Inbox. For this exercise, just left-click this folder.

Select Create new subfolder.

We are going to name this folder Clients. For this exercise, click anywhere in the text box.

Don't forget to save!

The Clients folder appears under Inbox! Click Inbox to make our next folder.

Select Create new subfolder.

We are going to name this folder Internal Projects and click Save. For this exercise, click anywhere in the text box.

The Internal Projects folder appears under Inbox! Click Inbox to make our next folder.

Select Create new subfolder.

We are going to name this folder Follow-Up and click Save. For this exercise, click anywhere in the text box.

Click the gear for Settings. Now we are going to make rules so our emails will automatically send to these folders while you're away.

The Follow-Up folder appears under Inbox! Click Inbox to make our next folder.

Select Mail.

Select Rules.

Select + Add new rule.

We will name this rule Clients. Click anywhere in the text box to continue.

Select the drop-down next to Select a condition.

We want any email with Clients in the Subject line to be moved to the Clients folder. Select Subject includes.

We also typed Clients into the text box. Now we must add an action and tell it what to do. Click the drop-down.

Select Move to. After that, we will select the Clients folder.

LINK

Almost ready to go! Uncheck the box next to Stop processing more rules. Learn more about this function by clicking the link below BEFORE checking the box.

Vacation Mode Mastery: Preparing Your Inbox for a Smooth Getaway

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Transcript

Preparing Your Inbox for a Smooth Getaway

Vacation Mode Mastery

In this training exercise, you will...

You are about to leave for a well-deserved beach vacation next week! It's time to set up your Microsoft Outlook account so you don't miss a beat while you're out of the office.

Learning Objectives

It's time to set up an auto-reply (out of office) message for when you are away!

Step 1

Click the gear for Settings.

Click Automatic replies.

Click the toggle to turn on automatic replies.

Check the box to send replies only during a time period.

Now you need to designate the time period you will be out of the office: 2/24 at 8 AM to 2/28 at 5 pm. Click anywhere in the time period section.

Use the text box to type out what your auto-reply will say. For replies inside your organization, it's good to include your return date, as well as a teammate/coworker who urgent messages can be sent to in your absence. Click anywhere in the text box for it to appear.

Use the second text box to type out what your auto-reply will say. For replies outside your organization, it's good to include your return date. Click anywhere in the text box for it to appear.

Don't forget to SAVE!

Send a calendar invite

Schedule a reminder

Organize into folders

Categorize & flag

Set up auto-reply

Progress

It's time to categorize and flag important emails before you leave!

Step 2

To create categories, first we must right-click any email. For this exercise, just click this email.

Select Categorize.

Select Manage categories.

We are going to create new categories for this exercise. Click + Create new.

The first caterory will be Urgent Tasks and the color red. Click in the text box to continue.

Don't forget to SAVE!

Click + Create new.

The next category will be Client Communications and the color blue. Click in the text box to continue.

Don't forget to SAVE!

Click + Create new.

The last category will be Internal Team Discussions and the color green. Click in the text box to continue.

Don't forget to SAVE!

Click X to exit this window.

Now we must assign the emails to their categories by right-clicking on the email. Left-click this email to continue.

Select Categorize.

Select Urgent Tasks.

Next we would right-click the next email we want to categorize. Left-click this email to continue.

Select Categorize.

Select Client Communications.

Then we would right-click the next email we want to categorize. Left-click this email to continue.

Select Categorize.

Select Internal Team Discussions.

Next, you need to flag this email to follow-up with next week when you return. Normally you right-click, but in this exercise you can left-click.

Select Flag.

Select Next Week.

You did it! Way to go! Click NEXT below to continue.

Send a calendar invite

Schedule a reminder

Organize into folders

Categorize & flag

Set up auto-reply

Progress

It's time to organize all of your unread emails into the appropriate folders!

Step 3

To create folders, first we must right-click Inbox. For this exercise, just left-click this folder.

Select Create new subfolder.

We are going to name this folder Clients. For this exercise, click anywhere in the text box.

Don't forget to save!

The Clients folder appears under Inbox! Click Inbox to make our next folder.

Select Create new subfolder.