Auto responder feature not working

Question

Auto responder feature not working

Rita Rita 115

Hello

Please i need your help on this issue.

Auto responder feature not working.

I regularly use the auto responder feature when Team members are away.

However, I have an activate today I cannot get it to work. I’ve sent several tests, and nobody is receiving the auto responder that Microsoft Admin says is currently active.

2 answers

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Answer 1

Hello @rita rita

I’m reaching out for assistance with the auto responder feature.

I regularly use it whenever team members are away, but today it suddenly stopped working. The automatic reply appears as active in the Microsoft Admin Center, yet no messages are being sent in response.

I’ve run several tests from different accounts, and none of them receive the auto reply. Could you please help me investigate and restore the functionality?

Thank you for your time and support.

Best regards,

Nicolas Bourdeau CEO & Microsoft 365 Architect

Wintive LLC

🌐 www.wintive.com

Answer 2

Gabriel-N 7,545 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Rita Rita

Based on your description, I understand that you’re using Out of Office Reply Automatic Setup and it does not sync with Microsoft Teams. If this is not the case, please let me know.

Before we proceed with troubleshooting, may I ask about the configuration in your Exchange Admin Center related to Automatic Replies?

Additionally, have you tried clearing the Teams cache or checking Teams on the web to see if the issue persists? I also found a thread mentioning that the user needs to be signed into Teams for the Out of Office status to sync properly. You might want to give that a try and see if the issue still occurs.

You might also take a look at this official document: Understand and troubleshoot Out of Office (OOF) replies

Please review these and try the suggested steps to see if they resolve the issue. Looking forward to your feedback!

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Gabriel-N 7,545 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-21T12:40:50.9666667+00:00

Hi Rita Rita

Just writing to see how things are going with this issue.

Have you had a chance to check the replies provided?

Any update would be appreciated.
Rita Rita 115 Reputation points

2025-10-21T23:42:38.76+00:00

Hello Gabriel-N

Thank you for your reply.

I do not use Teams.

My issue is that the email autoresponder or automatic replies feature is not working.

I have used this many times in the past, when off work due to illness or on holiday.

Yesterday, I had this feature turned on with a custom message being sent to both internal and external contacts.

However, my contacts were not receiving the auto-responder message.
Gabriel-N 7,545 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-22T14:56:10.0666667+00:00
Hi Rita Rita

Thank you for your feedback regarding the automatic replies feature. I’d like to clarify a few things and share what I’ve tested on my side.

First, could you confirm whether you’re using Classic Outlook or the New Outlook experience?

I tested this on my end, and the feature is working as expected. My current setup is:

Out of Office set in Teams

Previously had an old auto-reply rule, which I disabled

Created a new auto-reply rule with updated dates (using New Outlook)

When I tested by sending an email from another account within the company, the auto-reply was sent successfully.

Could you try the following steps?

Disable your current auto-reply rule and create a new one with the correct time range.

Let me know if the issue happens with all contacts or only external contacts.

Have you tried creating a new Outlook profile? Before doing that, please check if your mailbox is syncing properly in Outlook Web.

Please let me know how it goes.
Gabriel-N 7,545 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-24T14:27:21.0566667+00:00

Hi Rita Rita

Is there any update from you?

If yes, please feel free to let us know.
Rita Rita 115 Reputation points

2025-10-24T16:20:10.05+00:00
Hello Gabriel-N

Thank you for your reply.

To confirm, I am not using Outlook. The auto-responder was set up in Microsoft 365 Admin. I do not use Teams.

How do I set a time range for autoresponders within the 365 admin?

Was previously set to send to both internal and external contacts, but I will double-check

What is an Outlook profile? I have set up profiles in the Admin Centre for managing email accounts.

If you can clarify the above, that would be great.
Gabriel-N 7,545 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-27T15:41:00.0533333+00:00

Hello Rita Rita

I truly apologize for the delay in getting back to you. Things have been quite hectic on my end, and I appreciate your patience more than I can say. Please allow me a little extra time to review your questions carefully so I can provide accurate answer. I’ll make it a priority to get back to you tomorrow. Thank you so much for your understanding and for giving me the chance to ensure everything is addressed properly.

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Auto responder feature not working

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