Chapman Technology Partners
Technology advisers for growing UK businesses

How to set an out of office on a shared mailbox

Set it in the Outlook app on your PC and you'll change your own out of office, not the shared mailbox's. Here's how to do it properly.

Download the guide as a PDF

Before you start

  • Use a web browser. The Outlook app on your PC only changes your own out of office.
  • You need Full Access to the shared mailbox.
  • Have the shared mailbox's full email address to hand.

Turning it on

  1. Go to outlook.office.com and sign in with your own email address and password.

  2. Click your initials or photo, top right.

    The Outlook on the web account panel, showing the Open another mailbox link

  3. Click Open another mailbox, type the full address, then click Open.

    The Open another mailbox box with a shared mailbox address typed in

  4. The mailbox opens in a new tab. Check the top right shows the shared mailbox name, not yours. If it shows yours, close the tab and go back to step 2.

  5. Click the gear icon, then Account, then Automatic replies.

    Outlook web settings open on Account, with Automatic replies selected

  6. Turn on Automatic replies and type your message.

    The automatic replies panel with the toggle switched on and a message typed in

  7. To set dates, tick Send replies only during a time period and fill in the start and end. Outlook then turns it off for you.

    The Send replies only during a time period tick box with start and end dates

  8. To reply to customers and suppliers as well as colleagues, tick Send replies outside your organisation and type a second message.

  9. Click Save. Nothing takes effect until you do.

Bookmark the shared mailbox tab and you can skip steps 2 and 3 next time.

Turning it off

Same route: open the shared mailbox, gear icon, Account, Automatic replies, switch the toggle off, Save. If you set an end date, it turns itself off.

Common questions

Why can't I do this in the Outlook app on my PC?

The Automatic Replies button in the desktop app only applies to the mailbox you signed in with. A shared mailbox showing in your folder list isn't the same as being signed in to it. Some versions of the app also return a server unavailable error when you try, which is a known fault rather than anything you need to fix.

Do people outside the company get the reply?

Only if you tick Send replies outside your organisation. It's off by default, which is usually wrong for a shared mailbox that customers write to.

Someone emailed three times and only got one reply. Why?

That's how it's meant to work. Each sender gets one reply per out of office period, so nobody gets a bounce-back every time they write in.

Can I set it up in advance?

Yes. Tick Send replies only during a time period and set a start date in the future. Outlook switches it on and off for you.

Can colleagues change what I've set?

Anyone with Full Access to the mailbox can change or switch off the reply. That's usually helpful when cover changes while you're away, and occasionally a surprise.

Why can't I find the mailbox in Open another mailbox?

Type the full email address rather than part of the name. If it still doesn't appear, you don't have Full Access to it and your IT support will need to add you.