What Is an Autoresponder?
An autoresponder is an automatic reply sent to the sender when someone writes to your mailbox. Typical use - vacation notice: “I’m unavailable until April 25, for urgent matters please write to [email protected]”.
The autoresponder can be enabled permanently or set for a specific period (e.g., from Monday to Friday, from July 1 to July 14). You can also limit it to specific hours - useful when you want to inform clients that outside working hours nobody will respond right away.
Configuration
- Go to Mail -> Mailboxes
- Click on the mailbox you want to configure
- Expand More options
- Find the Autoresponder section
Fields to Fill In
Enable autoresponder - the main toggle. After enabling, the remaining fields will appear.
Active period:
- Start date and End date - the date range during which the autoresponder is active. If left empty, the autoresponder works indefinitely
- Hours - optional time range (e.g., 5:00 PM - 8:00 AM, to inform about responses only in the morning). If left empty, the autoresponder works around the clock
- Timezone - defaults to your account’s timezone
Reply content:
- Subject - the subject of the automatic reply email (required)
- Content - the message body, with a formatting editor and the ability to add images (required)
Usage Examples
Vacation
Date from July 1 to July 14, hours empty (all day):
Subject: I’m on vacation
Hi, thank you for your message. I’m on vacation until July 14. I’ll respond after my return. For urgent matters, please contact Anna Kowalska: [email protected]
Outside Working Hours
Dates empty (always), hours 5:00 PM - 8:00 AM:
Subject: We’ll respond in the morning
Thank you for your message. Our team works from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. We’ll respond on the next business day.
Permanent (e.g., archival mailbox)
Dates empty, hours empty:
Subject: This address is no longer active
This email address is no longer active. Please contact us at the new address: [email protected]
Quick Enable/Disable
If you have the autoresponder content already configured, you don’t need to go into the mailbox edit every time. On the mailbox list (Mail -> Mailboxes), there are buttons for quickly enabling/disabling the autoresponder on all your mailboxes at once.
Useful when you’re going away - one click enables the autoresponder on all mailboxes. On return - one click disables it.
Who Can Configure the Autoresponder?
- Administrator (mailboxes permission) - full configuration of all mailboxes
- Mailbox owner - autoresponder configuration on their own mailbox (all fields)
- Marketing (mailboxes_marketing permission) - only editing the subject and content, without time settings
Autoresponder vs. Substitutes
An autoresponder informs the sender that nobody is available - but it doesn’t solve the problem. The client knows about the absence but has to decide what to do next on their own.
If you want the client to get a response right away (without passing the work of finding a substitute onto them), it’s worth combining the autoresponder with the absence and substitute system. The autoresponder informs, while the substitute mechanism redirects the ticket to someone who will actually respond.