Everyone leaves the office for a period of time (if you don't, you should try it!). Our absence doesn't stop the constant stream of email, but we can slow it down by using the Out of Office functionality in Notes. The basic concept is to enable an automated reply to emails sent to us when we're absent. This alerts people to the fact that they can expect to wait for our response. This functionality isn't entirely new in Notes 8, but enhancements have been made that people should be aware of.
When people learn of our absence
The most significant difference in the Out of Office functionality in Notes 8 is the immediacy in which people learn of our absence. In prior versions, notices were sent to people on a schedule. By default, it could take someone up to six hours to get an email telling them that we were not going to be able to respond right away. With Notes 8, notices go out to senders the instant the email is received. This helps to avoid instances where the sender is looking for an immediate response and doesn't realize that the message needs to be redirected to an available resource.
The duration of our absence
People are used to being connected at all times. This is the reason for alerting senders of our absence immediately, and it is the reason for our second change; the duration of our absence. In prior versions, the shortest time that you could enable the Out of Office functionality for was one day. In Notes 8, the shortest duration is one hour. Now, we can enable the Out of Office functionality for doctor's appointments and offsite meetings.
Automatic disabling
Remembering to turn the Out of Office functionality on when we're going to be gone is the second hardest part of the feature. The hardest part is remembering to turn it off when we come back. Notes 8 automatically disables the Out of Office functionality when we return to the office, giving us one less thing to think about upon our return.
Setting up Out of Office
We can configure and enable Out of Office from our Inbox by clicking on More in the toolbar and choosing Out of Office..
From that dialog box, you can configure the elements of your Out of Office notification including:
- The duration that you will be out of the office
- The fact that you will be unavailable for meetings during that time
- The text included in your Out of Office message
- Alternate notification messages for specific individuals (e.g., you may want some people to be aware of a phone number where they can reach you)
- Sender groups to exclude from notifications (e.g., mailing lists that don't need to be notified)
The next time you plan to be out of the office, take advantage of these new features and relax, knowing that Notes 8 will respond for you while you're gone.
Dwight Morse | 29 January 2008 09:13:53 AM ET | | (0)
