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With absentify, HR admins can centrally manage Outlook out-of-office message templates for individual users and specific leave types. This allows precise communication while offering optional user-level customization of the automatic reply sent during an absence.
This feature requires the Outlook out-of-office reply integration to be active under Settings > Microsoft, and is only available with the Plus plan.

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Admin control and user permissions

As an HR admin, you benefit from centralized control with these options: When using the Plus plan, you can:
  • Fully manage the out-of-office message template contents for each user and leave type.
  • Decide per leave type whether users may customize their automatic reply.
  • View the user’s personal message template as long as customization is not disabled for the selected leave type. For details on how users manage their own messages, see the employee guide on automatic replies.

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How to access and edit a user’s Outlook out-of-office message template

1

Navigate to user settings

Go to Settings > Users, then select the user you wish to manage. This opens the individual’s profile where you can configure various preferences, including Outlook out-of-office message templates.
2

Open the OOO message template section

In the user’s profile, open the OOO Templates tab. You will see a dropdown list of available leave types.
3

Select the leave type and configure the message

Choose a leave type from the dropdown (e.g., Vacation, Sick Leave). You can now edit the associated automatic message template using placeholders.
  • Basic placeholders:
    • {{startDate}}: Start date of the leave
    • {{startTime}}: Start time of the leave
    • {{dateOfReturn}}: Return date
    • {{timeOfReturn}}: Return time
    • {{name}}: Employee’s full name
    • {{firstName}}: Employee’s first name
    • {{lastName}}: Employee’s last name
  • Approver placeholders:
    • {{approverName}} and {{approverMail}}: Displays the name and email of the last approver in the configured sequence.
    • Specific approvers: Use placeholders like {{approverName[1]}}, {{approverMail[1]}}, {{approverName[2]}}, etc., to specify individual approvers. For instance:
      • {{approverName[1]}} and {{approverMail[1]}} display the first approver’s information.
      • {{approverName[2]}} and {{approverMail[2]}} display the second approver, and so forth.
Approvers are listed in the order configured by the administrator. If no approver data exists, the placeholder will default to an empty string.
  • Representative placeholders:
    These placeholders are only available when the selected leave type requires an assigned representative. Learn more about this setting in the representative requirement guide.
    • {{representativeName}}: Name of the assigned representative
    • {{representativeEmail}}: Email address of the assigned representative
4

Allow or restrict employee customization

  • Decide if employees can customize their out-of-office messages:
    • Check the box if employees are allowed to make adjustments. Send them this guide for more information on the setup.
    • Restrict customization to enforce the admin-defined template.
Important: The “Allow customization” setting in absentify only controls whether the message can be edited within absentify — it does not restrict the user’s ability to change the message directly in Outlook.
5

Edit templates for internal and external senders

For each leave type, you can configure two versions of the automatic message:
  • Inside organization template: The message shown to internal contacts (colleagues within your organization).
  • Outside organization template: The message shown to external contacts.
When editing the outside organization template, you can also control delivery:
  • Enable or disable Send replies outside your organisation.
  • If enabled, choose whether to send replies only to contacts or to all external senders.
These settings ensure appropriate messaging and privacy when communicating with recipients outside your company.
6

Save your changes

After configuring the message templates and settings, click Save to apply your changes.
Want to update templates for multiple users at once?
Check out our guide on editing individual out-of-office messages.

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How out-of-office replies work

absentify allows you to automate out-of-office replies in Outlook based on the selected leave type and predefined templates. These replies are not sent by absentify directly — instead, absentify configures the settings in Outlook via Microsoft Graph API.
absentify does not send out-of-office messages itself.
All replies are triggered and handled by Microsoft Outlook and Azure after absentify applies the settings.

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Common issues and how to troubleshoot them

  • Manual changes in Outlook
    If a user manually disables or edits the out-of-office reply directly in Outlook, absentify cannot reapply the template until the next approved absence.
    Any manual changes override the configuration set by absentify.
  • Unable to apply automatic reply
    If absentify cannot apply the automatic reply, the affected user will receive an email with instructions to set it manually.
    Admins are also notified of the failed attempt via email.
  • Out-of-office message not being sent
    If no out-of-office replies are being sent from a user’s mailbox, but the sync log shows a successful configuration, the issue lies with Microsoft Outlook, not absentify.     Follow these steps to investigate:
    1. Go to Settings > Microsoft > View sync logs, or open the Microsoft sync logs directly.
    2. Locate the log for the user and the relevant date of the approved leave request.
    3. If the log shows “successful”, this confirms absentify has correctly applied the out-of-office configuration in Outlook.
    In this case, you can:
    • Check mail flow rules, mailbox permissions, or conditional settings in Outlook.
    • Escalate the issue internally to your Microsoft 365 administrator or to Microsoft/Azure support, as this is beyond absentify’s control.