How to Set Up an Email Autoresponder (Out of Office Reply)

An autoresponder automatically sends a reply to anyone who emails one of your addresses, useful when you're on leave, closed for a public holiday, or want to confirm that a message reached you before your team replies in full. You can set one up in a few minutes from your hosting control panel, whether you're on cPanel or DirectAdmin.

What an Autoresponder Does

Once turned on, the autoresponder checks incoming mail to a chosen address and sends back a message you write, such as "I'm currently out of office and will respond when I return." It doesn't stop the original email from reaching your inbox. It just adds an automatic reply on top.

Setting Up an Autoresponder

In cPanel

1. Log in to your cPanel account.
2. Under the Email section, click Autoresponders.
3. Click Add Autoresponder.
4. Choose the email account or domain the autoresponder applies to.
5. Set the Interval, which controls how many hours must pass before the same sender gets another automatic reply.
6. Fill in the From Name, Subject, and the Body of your message.
7. Optionally set a Start and Stop date, useful if you know exactly when you'll be away.
8. Click Create to save it.

In DirectAdmin

1. Log in to your DirectAdmin account.
2. Go to E-Mail Accounts, then find the address you want to set up.
3. Click Autoresponders (sometimes listed under the email account's management options).
4. Click Create Autoresponder.
5. Enter a Subject and the message text you want sent back automatically.
6. Click Create to save it.

Things to Know Before You Turn One On

• Most systems only send one automatic reply per sender within your chosen interval, so you don't flood the same person with replies for every message they send.
• Keep the message short and avoid including sensitive details like phone numbers of colleagues or internal information.
• Remember to switch it off (or let a stop date pass) once you're back, otherwise every new email keeps triggering the same reply.

Tip: If your address is subscribed to a mailing list or newsletter, an active autoresponder can end up replying automatically to every message from that list. Turn the autoresponder off before subscribing to bulk senders, or use a separate address for newsletters where possible.

How to Turn It Off

Go back to the Autoresponders section in either panel, find the entry for your address, and click Delete (cPanel) or the equivalent remove option (DirectAdmin). If you set a stop date when creating it, it will already switch off on its own.

If you're also setting up other mail handling rules, see How to Set Up Email Forwarding.