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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. The user must also have a linked Microsoft account and the required mailbox permission must be available for their Microsoft tenant. If these conditions are not met, an overlay will explain why the feature is unavailable for the selected user.

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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 by the user is not disabled for the selected leave type. For details on how users manage their own messages, see the employee guide on automatic replies.
  • Edit out-of-office messages for multiple users in bulk. For more information, see the bulk edit out-of-office messages guide.

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Edit a user’s Outlook out-of-office template

1

Navigate to user settings

Go to Settings > Users, then select the user you want to manage. This opens the user profile where you can configure Outlook out-of-office message templates.
2

Open the OOO message template section

In the user profile, open the OOO Templates tab. You will see a dropdown to select one or more leave types and the message editor for the templates.
3

Select leave types

Choose one or multiple leave types from the dropdown (for example, Vacation or Sick Leave).If you select multiple leave types, the same template will be applied to all selected leave types.
If you want to use different templates per leave type, edit one leave type first, click Save, then remove it from the selection and choose the next leave type you want to edit.
4

Allow or restrict employee customization

Decide whether employees are allowed to customize their out-of-office message:
  • Enable the checkbox if customization should be allowed. Share this guide with them for more information on the setup.
  • Disable the option to strictly enforce the admin-defined template.
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 the message using the template editor

Use the rich text editor to format the message (font, size, bold, lists, and links).
You can insert dynamic values by clicking the variables below the editor.Available variables include:
  • User and leave information:
    • First name, Last name, Full name
    • Leave type name
    • Start date, Start time
    • End date, End time
    • Date of return, Time of return
  • Approver variables:
    • Approver name, Approver email
    • For specific approvers, use indexed variables like Approver name[1], Approver email[1], Approver name[2], and so on.
  • Representative variables: These placeholders are only available if selecting a representative is mandatory for the chosen leave type. You can find more information in the representative requirement guide.
    • Representative name, Representative email
    • For specific approvers, use indexed variables like Representative name[1], Representative email[1], Representative name[2], and so on.
6

Use conditional templates

Open Conditional Templates to control when certain parts of the message are shown. Conditional templates are especially useful when certain data may not always be available for a leave request. Common use cases for conditional templates include:Available conditional options:
  • If Representative: Show content only if a representative is assigned.
    Examples of scenarios where this is useful:
    • Optional representative requirement: If the representative requirement is set to optional in the leave type settings, not every leave request will have a representative assigned.
    • Admin override scenarios: Even if a leave type requires a representative, an admin may override this requirement for a specific leave request.
  • If Approver: Show content only if an approver exists.
    Examples of scenarios where this is useful:
    • Leave types without approval: Some leave types do not require approval. This ensures approver-related information is only displayed when an approval flow exists.
    • Skipped or auto-approved requests: If a request is automatically approved or an approval step is skipped, no approver may be assigned.
  • Multiple Representatives: Loop through all assigned representatives.
    Examples of scenarios where this is useful:
    • Users may be assigned multiple representatives and can change the order or remove them during the request process.
  • Multiple Approvers: Loop through all approvers in the approval flow.
    Examples of scenarios where this is useful:
    • Different approval flows per leave type: Approval chains can vary depending on the leave type.
7

Edit templates for internal and external senders

For each leave type, you can configure two versions of the message:
  • Inside organization template: Sent to colleagues within your organization.
  • Outside organization template: Sent to external senders.
    • Once enabled, an additional option appears that allows you to choose whether replies should be sent only to contacts of the sender.
8

Preview and test the message

Send a test email using Send test email to verify formatting and variable resolution before saving.
9

Save your changes

Click Save to apply the updated out-of-office message templates.
Want to update templates for multiple users at once?
Check out our guide on centrally managing out-of-office messages in bulk.

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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.