Set Up an Out of Office Reply in Yahoo Mail

 

To begin, open your favorite browser and log in to your Yahoo Mail account. There are two versions of Yahoo Mail: the full featured, newer version and the basic version. If you’re using the newer version, hover your mouse over the gear icon in the upper-right corner of the browser window and click “Settings” on the pop-up menu.

In the basic version of Yahoo Mail, select “Options” from the dropdown in the upper-right corner of the browser window and click the “Go” button.

The list of options on the left side of the Settings screen (newer version) or Options tab (basic version) screen are slightly different, but both versions have a “Vacation Response” option. Click on that option.

The Vacation Response screen is the same for both versions of Yahoo Mail. To turn on the vacation response, check the “Enable automatic response during these dates (inclusive)” box.

Now you need to tell Yahoo Mail the date range during which the vacation response should be sent in response to incoming emails. Select the month in the first dropdown to the right of “From” and then select the date from the second dropdown. By default, the current year is chosen. That’s usually what you want, unless you’re planning way in advance or it’s getting close to the end of the year and your vacation will be after the new year.

Select the month, date, and year from the “Until” dropdowns for the last day you will be gone.

Now for the message that will automatically sent out while you’re gone. Enter your message in the box below the dates and use the toolbar at the top of the box to change the font, add formatting, or attach a file.

If you want to see a sample of the message that will be sent, click the “Send Sample Copy To Me” button below the message box.

If you want to use a different message to reply to emails from one or two specific domains, you can set that up separately. Maybe you want to send a funny or clever message to everyone except for people you work with. To specify a different message for them, check the “Different response to emails from a specific domain” box. Then, enter the domain name for those email addresses in the first box below that check box. For example, to send a different response to all people with email using addresses such as person@mycompany.com, enter mycompany.com in the first box. To add a second domain for this different response, enter that domain in the second box below the check box. If you don’t want to add a second domain, enter 0 (zero) in the second box.

Enter your alternate message in the box below the two domain boxes. Again, you can use the toolbar to change the font, apply formatting, or attach a file. You must send the same alternate response to both domains.

Once you’ve set up your main vacation response(s), click the “Save” button in the lower-left corner of the browser window (for the newer version of Yahoo Mail). The Options screen closes and you are returned to the main Yahoo Mail screen.

If you’re using the basic version of Yahoo Mail, click “Save” at the top of the Options tab to save your changes.

 

Now, when someone sends you an email, they will receive the appropriate automatic response for their email address.

You will still receive emails sent to you during the date range you specified, but now you don’t have to feel guilty about not replying to them yet.

Because you set a date range for the vacation response, if you forget to uncheck the boxes on the Vacation Response screen, your automatic response will still stop being sent after the Until date you selected.