Auto-reply when you are away

An auto-reply answers the mail you receive while you are away, with a message you write. Everybody who writes gets it once, however often they write, until you switch it off or the end date passes.

Setting it up#

1. 1

   Open Settings, Auto-reply

   Settings sits at the bottom of the sidebar.

2. 2

   Choose when

   Set Starts and Ends, in your own time zone. Leave Starts empty to begin straight away, and Ends empty to keep answering until you switch it off. It can be set up to a year ahead.

3. 3

   Write the message

   Leave Subject empty to answer with "Re:" and their own subject, or write your own. Then write what people get back.

4. 4

   Choose who gets it

   Turn on Only people in my contacts to answer only people you have saved in Contacts. With more than one address, Addresses lets you answer for all of them or only the ones you choose.

5. 5

   Press Save, then switch it on

   The Auto-reply switch at the top turns it on and off straight away, and saves what is on screen.

While it is on, a line at the top of your inbox says so, for example Auto-reply is on until Mon 10 Nov., with Turn off and Edit. Before the start date it says when it starts.

Who gets an answer#

• Each person gets one answer per time you are away. Switching it on again, or changing the dates, starts afresh, so people who wrote during an earlier trip are answered again. Changing only the message does not.
• The answer goes from the address the mail was sent to, in the same conversation, and you find it in Sent like anything else you send.
• It counts toward your daily sending limit, one recipient per answer. When the day's limit is reached, nobody else is answered that day, and the rest of your mail still arrives as normal.
• Only mail sent to your Nemi Mail addresses is answered, not mail that comes in through a linked Gmail, Outlook or other account.

Who never gets an answer#

So an auto-reply never starts a loop with another machine or answers a stranger who never wrote to you, these are never answered:

• Newsletters and mailing lists, and mail that says it was sent automatically, including other people's auto-replies.
• Bounces and delivery reports, and addresses nobody reads, such as noreply and mailer-daemon.
• Mail from your own addresses.
• Spam, mail the Screener is holding for you, blocked senders, and mail your rules move to the Trash.
• Mail whose sender cannot be confirmed by their own mail provider, because the address on it may be forged.