Hi Ruti,
From your question it seems you need an autoresponder.
For below things to work you need to put your PC and Email Client on all the time.
For Microsoft Outlook express
=============================
Setting up an auto-responder in Outlook Express is not too difficult.
Here are some instructions and tips that should help you set it up.
There are three parts to this process. 1. Create the response message.
2. Create an Outlook Express rule. 3. Link the message to the rule.
Let's create the message first.
The easiest way to do this is to use Notepad in your Accessories
folder (START>Programs>Accessories>Notepad). Open the program, click
"File" menu and then click "New".
The type in the response that you want to be emailed while you are
away. Write something like:
"Hi and thanks for your e-mail. I am out of the office between (type
in the dates you will be away). I won't be checking e-mail during that
time. Rest assured that I have received your e-mail and it is safely
in my inbox. I'll get back to you as soon as possible after my
return."
Next you'll want to save the auto-response file to your hard drive.
Let's call it "outofoffice" and place it in a folder called
"email-files" on your main hard drive.
At the top of the window where you created the response e-mail, click
the "File" menu and choose "Save As". A dialog box will pop open.
Create a folder called "email-files" to keep the auto-responder e-mail
file in. Click on the pulldown box at the top of the dialog box and
choose the "C:" drive. Then click on the "create new folder" icon
(which looks like a file folder with a star exploding on its edge) at
the top of the dialog box. A highlighted folder named "New Folder"
will appear. Rename it to "email-files" and hit your "Enter" key. Then
double click on the newly created folder to go into it. Make sure it
says "outofoffice" in the "File name" field. Click the Save button.
Your auto-responder file is now ready to go.
Save your response message in this new folder. It will be created as a
TXT file. So you'll end up with a file called outofoffice.txt in the
"c:\email-files" folder.
A note to advanced users, you could also create the message in
HyperText MarkUp Language as you would a Web page.
Part two of the process involves creating an e-mail rule. In Outlook
Express, click the "Tools" menu, click "Message Rules" and choose
"Mail". A four-part dialog box will pop up.
Under "1. Select Conditions for your rule" scroll to the bottom of the
list and add a check mark to "For all messages".
Under "2. Select Actions for your rule", check off "Reply with message".
Under "3. Rule description" the follow items will now be listed:
Apply this rule after the message arrives
For all messages
Reply with message
You'll notice that the word "message" in the last line is underscored.
Click on it and a dialog box will open. In the "files of type box",
choose "Text (*.txt)".
If all goes well your "outofoffice.txt" file will be there. If not
click the pulldown menu and choose the "C:" drive, then go into the
"email-files" folder. Select the "outofoffice.txt" file and click the
"Open" button.
You'll go back to the "New Mail Rule" dialog box that you created the
rules in. Under the item "4. Name of the rule" enter a description of
what the rule does. You can simply call it "Out of the Office".
The rule is now set up. So click OK. You'll see the rule with a check
mark next to it now listed in the "Message Rules" dialog box. When
you're in the office uncheck that box. When you're heading out of the
office put a check mark next to it to activate it.
To find the rule again and change it, from the "Tools" menu, choose
"Message Rules" then "Mail". Select the rule by clicking on it and
click the "Modify" button.
Just like you'd update an answering machine message, you also need to
keep you auto-responder up to date.
Also, don't be afraid to be a little creative. The example above is
pretty boring, but you could create something more informative. Let's
say you were buying more birds for your emu farm. You could tell
people this in your auto-responder.
For Microsoft Outlook 2000
==========================
First create the text of the e-mail that will be sent out
automatically. Create a new e-mail in Outlook 2000 by clicking on the
"File" menu and then selecting "New" and then "Mail Messages".
A new e-mail window will open. Type in the response that will go out
automatically to people who send you e-mail.
Don't fill in any of the "To" or "CC" fields, but do type in a
subject, like "Andy Walker is out of the office".
When finished, click the "File" menu at the top of that box and choose
"Save As". If it is not listed, click the double arrows at the bottom
of the menu to expose all menu options.
Next you'll want to save the autoresponse file to your hard drive.
Let's call it "outofoffice" and place it in a folder called
"email-files" on your main hard drive.
In the Save As dialog box, create a folder called "email-files" to
keep the auto-responder e-mail file in. Click on the pulldown box at
the top of the dialog box and choose the "C:" drive. Then click on the
"create new folder" icon (which looks like a file folder with a star
exploding on its edge) at the top of the dialog box. A highlighted
folder named "New Folder" will appear. Rename it to "email-files" and
hit your "Enter" key. Then double click on the newly created folder to
go into it.
Make sure it says "outofoffice" in the "File name" field. In the "Save
as file type" field click the pulldown box (down arrow to the right of
the field) and choose "Outlook Template (*.oft)". Click the Save
button. Your autoresponder file, named "outofoffice.oft" is now ready
to go.
In the main Outlook window, choose the "Tools" menu and then the
"Rules Wizard". Click the "New" button. A box will appear. Make sure
the "Check messages when they arrive" item is select in the "Which
type of rule do you want to create" box at the top. Click "Next".
In the next screen you need to select the e-mails that the
autoresponder will respond to. There are lots of choices (be sure to
use the slider on the right to explore all the options). To be safe,
choose "Where my name is in the To box". If you want to alert people
who carbon copy (i.e. CC) you on e-mail, then check the "where my name
is in the Cc box" as well. Click "Next".
In next dialog box you'll choose what to do when an e-mail arrives.
Scroll down using the slider at the right of the dialog box and find
the item that says "Reply using a specific template".
You'll notice that the each part of the rule you are creating appears
in the "Rule description" box.
When "Reply using a specific template" appears in the rule
description, note that "specific template" is underlined. That means
it's clickable, and therefore customizable. So click it. A dialog box
with the title "Select a Reply Template". This is where you link to
the autoresponder e-mail that you created earlier.
In the "Look In" pulldown menu at the top select the second item
called "User templates in file system". When you do this you'll notice
that the "Browse" button to the right that was previously greyed out
is now active. So click it. A "Go to Folder" box will pop up. Now
click the plus sign (+) next to "My Computer". A list of drives on
your computer will appear. Click the plus (+) sign next to the "C:"
drive. It'll look something like this "Andy's computer (C:)". A list
of folder on your "C:" drive will appear. Select the "email-files"
folder you created earlier and click OK.
The "outofoffice" template we created earlier will be listed in the
"email-files" folder. Select it and click open.
Now you'll be back to the "Rules Wizard" box. In the "Rules
Description" you'll notice that it says on the bottom line "reply
using C:\email-files\outofoffice.oft".
Click "Next". You'll have the option to create any exceptions. Unless
there's some e-mail that you don't want the autoresponder to go to
simply click "Next" again. If you do check off the exceptions as
appropriate.
On the next screen, name the rule in the top box. Call it "Out of the
Office", if you like. Also make sure there's a check mark in the box
that says: "Turn on this rule". This will activate the rule
immediately. You can leave the box next to "Run this rule now on
messages already in the Inbox" unchecked, unless you want all the
messages you have already received to be sent your "out of the office"
autoresponse.
Click "Finish". The autoresponder is now set up. It will be listed in
the "Apply rules in the following order" box. To modify it select the
rule so that it is highlighted and click "Modify" on the right. To
remove it click "Delete".
If the box next to the rule is checked it is active, so don't turn it
on unless you are ready to leave the office.
To get to the rule later, start up Outlook 2000, choose the "Tools"
menu and select "Rules Wizard".
Cheers
Sanjay |
