Scheduling Out of Office in Microsoft Teams

Overview

Learn how to schedule out-of-office notifications in Microsoft Teams.

Note: If you are an Outlook user, out-of-office notifications are linked across Microsoft 365 applications and can be set from either Outlook or Teams. For more information on how to set up automatic replies, please consult this article on automatic replies (link yet to be made).

Option 1: Schedule from your profile picture

Select Teams classic or Microsoft Teams (work or school) depending on your Teams version.

  1. Go to your profile picture at the top of Teams and select Set status message.
    Profile picture with set status message link highlighted
  2. Select Schedule out of office at the bottom of the options.
    Schedule out of office link highlighted
  3. From the screen that appears, turn on the toggle next to Turn on automatic replies. 
  4. Type an out-of-office message in the text box. This message will appear when people contact you in Teams or open your profile. It'll also be sent as an automatic reply in Outlook. 
    Turn on automatic replies
    Note: An out-of-office message is required in order to set your status and sync with your Outlook calendar.
  5. If you'd like to send an automatic message to people outside of your organization, select the check box next to Send replies outside my organization and choose between your contacts or all external senders. You can tailor your out-of-office message to this audience, or use the same message you typed above by copying then pasting it into the text box. Based on when you'll be out of the office, pick the dates and times that your out-of-office message and status will start and stop displaying by selecting the check box next to Send replies only during a time period. 
    Additional settings highlighted
  6. Select Save. 
Please Note: To turn off out-of-office settings manually using this option, select the Turn on automatic replies toggle (as seen in step 4) to turn them off.
  1. Go to your profile picture at the top of Teams and select Set status message.
    Account settings in Teams
  2. Select Schedule out of office at the bottom of the options.
    Set status message options
  3. From the screen that appears, turn on the toggle next to Turn on automatic replies.
    Out of office settings in Teams
  4. Type an out-of-office message in the text box. This message will appear when people contact you in Teams or open your profile. It'll also be sent as an automatic reply in Outlook. 
    Note: An out-of-office message is required in order to set your status and sync with your Outlook calendar.
  5. If you'd like to send an automatic message to people outside of your organization, select the check box next to Send replies outside my organization and choose between your contacts or all external senders. You can tailor your out-of-office message to this audience, or use the same message you typed above by copying then pasting it into the text box. Based on when you'll be out of the office, pick the dates and times that your out-of-office message and status will start and stop displaying by selecting the check box next to Send replies only during a time period. 
    Automatic replies to outside of organization for a set time.
  6. Select Save. 
Please Note: To turn off out-of-office settings manually using this option, select the Turn on automatic replies toggle (as seen in step 4) to turn them off.

Option 2: Schedule through settings

Go to your profile picture in the top right of Teams.

Select Settings for the three-dots menu

Next, select Settings, then General, and locate the Out of Office section. Select the Schedule button to open the out-of-office screen. Then follow steps 3 through 6 in Option 1 above to set your preferences.

Select Teams classic or Microsoft Teams (work or school) depending on your Teams version.

Select Schedule from the Out of Office section

General > Out of Office settings

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Microsoft Teams is a communication and collaboration service that is part of Microsoft Office 365.