How to enable, edit and delete the Out of Office agent in Lotus Notes

How to enable, edit and delete the Out of Office agent in Lotus Notes

Document number: 16169

When the Out of Office agent in Lotus Notes is configured properly and enabled, it responds with an automatic notification to inform the sender of a message that a recipient is out of the office. The Out of Office notification will be sent to all senders based on how the Out of Office agent document was set.

Enabling the Out of Office agent.

The Out of Office document may be edited if the dates have changed or other information needs to be modified.

Editing the Out of Office document.

The Out of Office agent does not need to be disabled by the user upon their return as the document is automatically purged on that date. If the user returns prior to the date specified when it was enabled, the user will need to delete the document. Otherwise, senders will continue to receive the notification until the date specified for return.

Deleting the Out of Office document.

When the user returns to the office, a message stating who has received the notification is no longer received. The user should assume that the notification was sent to all senders based on how the Out of Office document was set.

Note: If a user's mail file is over the 150 MB corporate quota and the Out of Office agent is set, people sending messages to that user while they are out of town will receive continual Out of Office notices from that user. To avoid this from happening, users should be sure to maintain their mail file below the 150 MB quota. If it does occur and is reported, the user's Out of Office agent will be disabled by the Notes Administrators. For additional information, see Eureka! document 15002 — Managing the Lotus Notes mail file.

When the Out of Office agent is enabled, automatic notifications are sent throughout the day the senders messages. The notification will contain the message that the user added when the agent was configured.

To enable the Out of Office agent:

Open the Lotus Notes mail file.
Click the Tools button and select Out of Office... from the drop down list.
Dates tab: Indicate the first day out of the office in the Leaving: window and indicate the first day back in the office in the Returning: window. Click the calendar icon for ease in selecting the date.
Out of Office Message tab:
- To: The default is that the notification will be sent in response to all messages. Do not modify "All messages sent to you" that appears in the window. Click the down arrow to change the default option.
  - Messages with your name in the 'To' field: The notification will only be sent if the user's name appears in the To: field.
- From: The default is that all senders will receive the notification. Do not modify " all senders" that appears in the window. Click the down arrow to change the default option.
  - Internal senders: The notification will only be sent to senders within PeopleSoft. Anyone who has sent external mail will not receive the notification.
- Message: The blank window near the bottom of the page is for the Out of Office message. Enter the message desired.
Exceptions tab: Click the down arrow to select the names of those people who should not receive the notification from the PeopleSoft Directory. Names should not be manually entered. Separate multiple names with a comma (",").
Click the OK button once all information has been added to the form.

The Cancel button may be pressed at any time to close the form without saving it. No prompt to save the form is received.

The Out of Office confirmation window will appear that states the users mail server and dates the notification will be sent. Click OK to close the window.

An Out of Office Agent reminder notification will be sent to the user when it is enabled.

The Out of Office notification will be sent to all senders based on how the Out of Office agent document was set. All senders will receive an Out of Office notification each time a message is sent during the user's absence.

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When a user enables the Out of Office agent, a reminder notification is sent to the user as an e-mail message. The Subject: is "Out of Office Agent Reminder" and contains the following message:

Remember you have the Out of Office Agent processing your mail while you are gone (XX/XX/XXXX - YY/YY/YYYY) [where XX and YY represent the 'Leaving' and 'Returning' dates].

The Out of Office Agent will delete your Out of Office document on the specified return date. However, if you return early, select 'Tools - Out of Office...' and delete the Out of Office document to stop the automatic response to your mail.

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The Out of Office document may be edited if information needs modification.

To edit the Out of Office document:

Open the Lotus Notes mail file.
Click the Tools button and select Out of Office... from the drop down list. The Out of Office database will open.
Double click on the user name to open the current Out of Office document.
Make any modifications to the current document and click the Enable button.

The Cancel button may be pressed at any time without saving any changes made. No prompt to save the form is received.

The Out of Office confirmation window will appear that states the users mail server and dates the notification will be sent. Click OK to close the window.
Press the {Esc} key to exit the Out of Office database.

The Out of Office document has been updated and the notification will be sent based on the changes saved. An updated Out of Office Agent reminder document will not be received by the user when the Out of Office document is edited.

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If a user returns to work prior to the date specified as the 'Returning' date, the Out of Office document needs to be deleted by the user. Otherwise, the notification will continue to be sent until the 'Return' date.

The Out of Office document can be deleted two ways:

Open the Lotus Notes mail file.
Click the Tools button and select Out of Office... from the drop down list. The Out of Office database will open.
Single click on the user name and press the {Delete} key. A delete (trash) icon will appear to the left of the user name.
Press the {F9} key to refresh the view.
A pop up window will appear that says, "Do you want to delete 1 document from database Out of Office?" Click Yes to delete the document.
Press the {Esc} key to exit the Out of Office database.

Repeat Steps 1 and 2 above.
Single click on the user name and press the Remove button.
A pop up window will appear that says, "Your 'Out of Office' agent is currently enabled. Do you want to delete it now? The Out of Office document will be deleted automatically on the return date." Click Yes to delete the document.
Press the {Esc} key to exit the Out of Office database.

Once the document is deleted, the notification message will no longer be sent.

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