An Out-of-Office That Actually Helps

What you'll need

• Your dates away and who (if anyone) is covering
• Any AI chat assistant

The steps

1. Know your dates and who's covering, if anyone.
2. Paste the prompt and fill in the brackets.
3. Set it up before you leave, not the morning of.
4. Actually turn off notifications once it's on.

Write an out-of-office auto-reply that actually helps people, not just says "I'm away."

Dates away: [start] to [end]
Is anyone covering: [name + how to reach them, or "no one, I'll reply when back"]
What's genuinely urgent enough to interrupt me: [describe, or "nothing"]
When I'll respond to everything else: [date]

Keep it warm, brief, and give people a real next step — don't just say "I'll respond when I'm back," tell them exactly who to contact or when to expect a reply.

Write a short "I'm back" message I can send to anyone I said I'd follow up with, that doesn't sound overwhelmed.

What you'll get

An auto-reply that genuinely reassures people and gives them a real next step — so you can actually unplug.

If it's not quite right

• No one covering? Add "Make clear nothing urgent will be missed since I'll check occasionally."
• Multiple types of contacts (clients vs. vendors)? Add "Give me two versions."