Mac out of office - Terry....

[Rosie]

How do i properly set an out of office auto reply message on mac?

co-worker is away for two weeks in guatemala and I set an out of office for her. the rules i set were apparently too broad and it auto replied a thousand times over-filled the quota and crashed the server.

gets messages like this:
FW: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: hable

with the out of office message posted over and over and over again.

Here's what I followed.

To automatically reply to messages:


Choose Mail > Preferences, and then click Rules.


Click Add Rule and type a descriptive name for the rule.


Set the conditions necessary for the rule to apply to a message.


Choose “Reply to Message” from the “Perform the following actions” pop-up menu.


Click “Reply message text” and enter the text for your reply message. Mail will include the text you enter, along with the full text of the original message, in the message that it sends.

Mail must be running to automatically reply to messages, because rules aren’t processed while your computer is shut down or you’re logged out. To set up automatic replies while you’re on vacation, ask your Mail server’s administrator how to set up an out-of-office reply.

***Carefully consider the rules you create for sending automated replies. If they’re too broad, you can send messages inadvertently or create message loops (replies to replies you sent). If possible, test the rule.

**and that's where i got fucked.

what are the correct rules if I want all emails to one address- through a certain date to get the "gone fishing email"

i hope you get to read this terry- if anything for your entertainment.

-Rosie

 

[TerryJ]

i hope you get to read this terry- if anything for your entertainment.

-Rosie

Ridiculous.

What rule(s) did you setup?

This sounds similar to what happened:
http://blog.smalldog.com/article/849/learning-the-mail-rules-lesson-the-hard-way

-Terry

 

[Shannon Manning]

Is there any way to set up the responder on the mail server instead of in your email viewer (Mail). That is, you'd go to the personal or company web mail interface or gmail or whatever.

They usually have the autoreply or vacation option (without a feedback loop) and you don't have to leave Mail open.

 

[benzado]

You weren't specific, but it sounds like you are using Apple's Mail program (as opposed to, say, Microsoft Entourage).

Here's what I bet happened:
1. You set a rule to reply to every message that comes in.
2. A message arrived from a mailing list.
3. The automated reply was sent to the mailing list.
4. The mailing list, treating it like any other message, forwards it along to the entire list, including the sender.
5. The forwarded automated reply arrives from the mailing list.
6. Mail replies to the forwarded automated reply from the mailing list.
7. The mailing list, treating it like any other message, forwards the reply to the forwarded automated reply to the entire list, including the sender.

Do you see where this is going?

The only way to do an Out of Office message is with a program that offers that feature specifically --- in those cases, it remembers who it sent an Out of Office message to and then only sends it once per person, so stuff like the above doesn't happen.

You still might be able to do it depending on what email service you are using, but you can't do it using Apple Mail rules.

 

[MichelleD]

Does that explain the fact that my emails to you got bounced back to me last night? : )

 

[Rosie]

You weren't specific, but it sounds like you are using Apple's Mail program (as opposed to, say, Microsoft Entourage).

You still might be able to do it depending on what email service you are using, but you can't do it using Apple Mail rules.

You're right. You can't do an out of office with Apple Mail rules- even though it says you can, and gives you the VAGUEST directions on how to do so... Because all apple programs are supposed to be so easy a monkey can run them.

I wasn't specific enough and like it states in the article Terry posted- I Applied an auto-response to all emails. It's a jacked little quirk where Apple Mail asks you what seems like a trick question- it's already highlighted, and then you re-send all your nasty emails to your exes over and over and over again.

Thanks MAC!

 

[benzado]

You're right. You can't do an out of office with Apple Mail rules- even though it says you can, and gives you the VAGUEST directions on how to do so...

I just searched Mail help for "out of office" and it gave me an article titled "Sending automatic replies." Near the bottom it says:

Mail must be running to automatically reply to messages, because rules aren’t processed while your computer is shut down or you’re logged out. To set up automatic replies while you’re on vacation, ask your Mail server’s administrator how to set up an out-of-office reply.

Carefully consider the rules you create for sending automated replies. If they’re too broad, you can send messages inadvertently or create message loops (replies to replies you sent). If possible, test the rule.
​

Because all apple programs are supposed to be so easy a monkey can run them.

I'm pretty sure nobody has ever made that claim, except sarcastically.