Hi whtrabbit63,
How to Set Up an Automatic Email Response in Outlook Express.
http://www.online-tutorials.com/folder1/190.htm
Scanario 1. Imagine, you're going to be out of the office for a week.
Your inbox for one week looks like the Post Office Sorting Depot and
you just know it's going to take you a fortnight to catch up when you
get back.
It's nice and polite to let people know that you haven't forgotten them.
Scanario 2. Your customers write in with a query which needs time for
you to do some research before giving a considered response. What
nicer way to let them know you have received their email than to reply
with an acknowledgement of receipt, and the promise that you will be
contacting them shortly?
Step 1. To create your auto-reply, first choose the New Message button
on the menu bar and write the message. This can take a variety of
forms, perhaps something like this:
Dear Customer,
This e-mail confirms we have received your enquiry sent to the *****
and ***** Customer Support Centre. We will endeavour to respond to
this enquiry quickly and accurately but please note that during busy
periods it may take up to 3 working days to reply to you.
For future reference, please keep a note of the date and time of this
message. You should quote this date and time in any future
correspondance regarding this matter as it will ensure your enquiry is
handled with priority.
Kind regards,
***** and ***** Customer Support Team
or,
Your enquiry regarding ***** has been sent to our offices at *****. We
will endeavour to respond as quickly as possible.
Step 2. Add a Subject Line if you wish (always best), but leave the
To: Address blank.
Step 3. I don't want to complicate things already, but there are
certain circumstances which may cause the reply email to fail. This
occurs if you collect, as I do, emails from 15 different accounts.
Only one will be your default Sending account. Now the email you may
want to respond to may not be your default Sending account. So without
coming offline and reconnecting to another accounts phone line, it may
be cumbersome to send these messages. If it doesn't matter which
account sends the email, make sure before you save the Auto-Reply
message that your normal default Sending account is in the From: box
of the email.
Step 4. Save the message by clicking on File, Save As. Usually the My
Documents dialog box will open. If you see yourself doing this a lot,
with a variety of email addresses, click the Create New Folder icon
and call it "Email Replies" or "Auto Responses". Double click your new
folder to open it and type a name for the email you have just created,
such as, "Auto-Response One" or something more descriptive. Click
Save. Discard the actual email by closing it.
Step 5. Now we're going to set up a Rule to automatically reply to all
incoming emails. You can also use this to only reply to specific email
addresses and this will become apparent as we proceed with the
tutorial.
Along the top menu bar, click Tools, Message Rules, Mail or New Mail Rule.
Step 6a. For All Messages: In the New Mail Rule dialog box [Item 1.
Select the Conditions for your rule], select For All Messages.
In the second box [Item 2. Select the Actions for your rule], select
Reply With Message.
In the [Item 3. Rule Description: Click on an underlined value to edit
it] box, click on the word Message.
A Browser window will open, usually My Documents which allows you to
navigate to your saved email. When you've found your email, click to
highlight it and then click Open. The line in the Rule Description box
will change to reflect the path to your email, and you will be able to
trace the accuracy of this path by looking at it.
Lastly, the Item 4. line asks you to change New Mail Rule #1 to
something more meaningful. Otherwise, just accept it and click OK.
Step 6b. To Specify Which Messages Get To Reply: In the New Mail Rule
Item 1 dialog box, select Where the To line contains people. A Select
People dialog box will open.
This is mainly useful where you have set up a Sales@ or Enquiries@ or
Info@ email address on your website. Type this email address into the
line provided, then click Add, then click OK. The email address will
appear in the Item 3. Rule Description dialog box and read: Where the
To line contains ******@*****.com, * being the email address
specified.
In the second box [Item 2. Select the Actions for your rule], select
Reply With Message.
A Browser window will open, usually My Documents which allows you to
navigate to your saved email. When you've found your email, click to
highlight it and then click Open. The line in the Rule Description box
will change to reflect the path to your email, and you will be able to
trace the accuracy of this path by looking at it.
Lastly, the Item 4. line asks you to change New Mail Rule #1 to
something more meaningful. Otherwise, just accept it and click OK.
Step 7. This can create a very professional look and feel for your
business and is also a novel way of keeping in touch with family and
friends.
Don't forget the email that you create to send as an Auto-Reply, can
have text, pictures, animations, audio clips or anything else that you
can normally send by email. Don't be afraid to experiment and have fun
with it. But I do advise one thing before you let your creation loose
on the world; Test it on yourself first, make sure it works.
Best regards,
tlspiegel |
