Email:Vacation Messages

Everyone is starting to disappear for the Holidays... here's a remind on how you can setup a vacation message for while you're off enjoying yourselves.

1. Point your web browser to NCSU WebMail at: http://webmail.ncsu.edu
2. Log in using your Unity login ID and password.
3. In the main message window, click on the "Server-Side Filters" option on the top of the page
4. Click on the "Add a New Rule" button
5. Under "Condition", select the "Rule Type" of "All Messages"
6. Under "Action", select the "Vacation" option, then fill in the options below:

   Addresses -- Only reply if sent to these addresses

   This is used if you receive email from multiple email addresses (wolf_pack@ncsu.edu and wfpack@unity.ncsu.edu, for example). You can choose different filters based on which address the email was sent to. There must be at least one address in this field. If you use a "fname_lname@ncsu.edu" alias, be sure to list it here as well.

   Days -- Reply message will be resent after

   The sieve vacation message will only be sent to a correspondent once per time interval, no matter how many emails they send you. That time interval is, by default, 7 days, but can be extended or shortened with this option. By defining this period of time, no matter how many emails someone sends you, they will only receive one reply from the system. For example, if you'll be gone for 2 weeks, you can set the interval for 7 days. Should someone email you during the first and second week, they will only receive one "vacation message" each week. Any additional emails they send you after the first will not result in a reply to them. This will prevent you from "spamming" people who send you a lot of emails while you're away.

   Use the following message

   In this field, put the message you would like to send to correspondents. An example would be "I will be out of the office from Monday, May 9th, 2005 through Monday, May 16th. If you need immediate assistance, please contact my supervisor at 919-515-HELP or help@ncsu.edu."

7. Click on "Add New Rule"

Your new messages will now be replied to with your vacation message!

Important notes about Vacation messages:

1. You must remember to manually turn the vacation email *OFF* when you get back. There is no way to set a date to automatically start or end these messages.
2. Vacation emails will NOT be sent in reply to emails received from mailing lists.

Happy Holidays, Dan