Out-of-Office Messages Tips: What to Include and What to Leave Out

The out-of-office reply is one of the most overlooked pieces of professional writing. It runs without you for days at a time, it lands in inboxes you may never see again, and most people compose it in thirty seconds with one foot already out the door. The result is usually too long, too revealing, and missing the one thing the sender actually needed.

This guide covers what a good out-of-office message actually needs, what to leave out for privacy and security reasons, and gives you templates you can copy.

What an Out-of-Office Reply Is For

It has exactly three jobs:

• Tell the sender you will not respond quickly.
• Tell them when to expect a response.
• Tell them who to contact in the meantime if it cannot wait.

Everything else is decoration, and most decoration makes the message worse.

The Minimum That Works

Four lines is enough:

Thanks for your email. I am out of the office until 15 January
with limited access to email.

For urgent matters, please contact my colleague Anna Müller
at anna@example.com.

I will respond to your message after I return.

Best regards,
Stefan

Twenty-six words plus the signature. It answers all three questions. It commits to nothing it cannot deliver. It tells the sender exactly who to reach if it matters.

If your absence is short (one or two days), drop the colleague line entirely:

Thanks for your message. I am out of the office today
and will reply tomorrow.

Best regards,
Stefan

Even shorter. Still works.

What to Leave Out

This is the half most articles skip. The default instinct is to fill the message with details, and most of those details work against you.

Your exact location

“I’m in Bali for two weeks” or “I’m at the conference in Lisbon” tells anyone who emails you that your home is empty and that you are out of your usual time zone. Burglary risk aside, this is reconnaissance gold for business email compromise attacks, which spike during executive vacations. Attackers send “urgent wire transfer” requests pretending to be the absent executive, knowing the real person cannot respond in time.

A vague “out of the office” is the right level of specificity. Where you are is no one’s business.

The reason you are away

Vacation, sick leave, parental leave, sabbatical, family emergency, conference, training: none of this needs to appear in your auto-reply. The sender does not need to know. The information is private. Revealing it (especially health-related reasons) crosses a line that you cannot uncross once it has been sent to hundreds of unknown recipients.

The single exception is extended parental leave, where senders genuinely benefit from knowing not to expect a quick response for the next several months. Even then, “I am on extended leave” is enough.

Phone numbers

Tempting, but a bad idea. Spam-call lists buy email addresses and harvest auto-replies for any phone number that appears in them. Within a month of including your mobile in an OOO, you will see a noticeable increase in unsolicited calls.

If a phone contact is genuinely necessary, list a main office number, not a personal one.

Names of family members

“I am taking my daughter Emma to her first day of school” feels human and warm. It also names a child and confirms her age. Skip it.

Detailed project information

“I am currently working on the merger with X Corp” leaks competitive intelligence to anyone who pings you. Auto-replies go to everyone, including people who emailed you by mistake, salespeople you have never met, and the occasional impersonator.

Apologies

“Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause” is the wrong tone. You are taking a normal break from work, not personally inconveniencing anyone. The apology sounds servile and signals that you treat your own time as inferior to the sender’s. Skip it.

Quotes, jokes, or anything performative

Inspirational quotes age badly. Jokes that landed on Tuesday read strangely on Friday. The auto-reply is workwear, not a personality showcase.

Common Mistakes

Setting it too early or too late. Most email clients let you schedule the start and end times. Use them. An OOO that activates on Saturday for a vacation starting Monday confuses senders. One that stays on for three days after you return makes you look like you have not noticed your own inbox.

Forgetting to turn it off. The most common embarrassment in office life. If your client supports scheduled end times, always set one.

Auto-replying to everyone. If your mail server is misconfigured, your OOO can fire back to mailing lists, automated notifications, and other auto-replies, creating loops or sending hundreds of unnecessary responses. Most modern mail systems handle this correctly, but verify in settings that auto-replies only fire once per sender and skip list mail.

Using different messages internally and externally without reviewing both. Most platforms let you set two versions. The internal one can be more specific (“at the team offsite, ping me on Slack if urgent”), the external one stays minimal. Verify both messages before you leave.

Setting an OOO when you do not need one. A two-hour delay does not require an auto-reply. Neither does a slow week. Reserve the OOO for actual absences of one full day or more.

Templates You Can Copy

Short absence (1 to 2 days)

Thanks for your email. I am out of the office today
and tomorrow, and will respond to your message on [date].

Best regards,
[Name]

Standard vacation (one to two weeks)

Thanks for your email. I am out of the office until [return date].

For urgent matters during my absence, please contact [colleague]
at [email].

I will respond to your message after I return.

Best regards,
[Name]

Extended leave (one month or more)

Thanks for your email. I am on extended leave and will not be
checking email until [return date].

In my absence, [colleague] is handling [type of matters]
and can be reached at [email].

Best regards,
[Name]

Conference or business travel with partial availability

Thanks for your email. I am traveling this week with limited
email access and will respond to your message by [date].

For time-sensitive matters, please contact [colleague] at [email].

Best regards,
[Name]

Internal version (within your organization)

I'm out [date range]. Slack me for anything urgent, otherwise
I'll get back to you when I return.

[Name]

Notice that none of these mention where you are going, why you are away, or how to reach you outside work. Notice that none of them apologize.

Internal vs External Replies

If your mail platform supports it (Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and most modern clients all do), set two different OOO messages.

Internal can be informal, more specific, and reference internal tools like Slack or Teams. Colleagues know where you are anyway, and a casual tone reduces friction.

External should be minimal, polite, and reveal nothing. This is the version that goes to strangers, vendors, salespeople, and (occasionally) attackers running reconnaissance.

If your platform only supports one message, default to the external version. The less your auto-reply gives away, the better.

The Security Angle Most People Miss

Out-of-office messages have become a small but reliable input to social engineering attacks. The pattern looks like this:

1. Attacker emails an executive’s address.
2. The OOO confirms the executive is unreachable for two weeks and names a colleague in finance as the backup contact.
3. The attacker spoofs the executive’s email and writes to that named colleague requesting an urgent wire transfer, knowing the real executive cannot intervene before the money moves.

Business email compromise losses run into billions of dollars annually, and OOO replies are part of the reconnaissance chain. The countermeasure is straightforward: keep your auto-reply vague about duration and short on details. “Out of the office, returning soon” is more secure than a specific date range plus a named handover contact.

For most people, this is overkill. For senior staff at companies that handle money or sensitive data, it is worth thinking about.

FAQ

How long should an out of office message be?

Short. Three to four lines covers everything a sender needs: that you are away, when you return, and who to contact in the meantime. Anything longer is usually decoration that works against you.

Should I mention the reason I am away?

No. Vacation, sick leave, parental leave, family matters, conferences: none of this is the sender’s business. The single exception is extended parental leave, where “I am on extended leave” without specifics helps senders calibrate expectations.

Is it safe to include my phone number in my OOO?

Generally no. Spam-call lists harvest phone numbers from auto-replies, and you will see an uptick in unsolicited calls within weeks. If a phone contact is genuinely necessary, use a main office number rather than a personal mobile.

Do I need to set an OOO for just one day?

Usually not. A single day of slow response does not require an auto-reply, especially in roles where same-day response is not the norm. Set one if you will be completely unreachable and senders would expect otherwise.

Should I include an apology in my out of office message?

No. “Sorry for any inconvenience” sounds servile and signals that you treat your time as inferior to the sender’s. Taking time off is not an inconvenience that needs apologizing for.

What if I forget to turn off my out of office reply?

Turn it off as soon as you notice, then send a one-line follow-up to anyone important who messaged you while it was still active. Most mail clients now let you schedule an end time, which removes the problem entirely. Always set one.

Can I use the same out of office message internally and externally?

You can, but you probably should not. Most platforms let you set two versions. Internal colleagues benefit from a more specific, casual message (“Slack me if urgent”); external senders should see a minimal version that reveals nothing about where you are or why.