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How to Set Out of Office in Teams: 3 Easy Ways

There are three easy ways to set yourself out of office in Teams so that your colleagues know you’re not around. You can do this through Teams’ settings, your profile, or via Microsoft Outlook. We’ll show you all three methods of how to turn on an out-of-office message, as well as how to automate or manually turn them off.

Watch our video below to see exactly how to do this, or scroll down and follow the step by step images in the full guide.

Chat services can’t be turned off. Unlike social media accounts that you can deactivate for a short (or extended) period of time, a chat service will continue to work even if you’re signed out. Your friends will see that you’re offline but, even then, they’re able to send messages. This holds true for all types of chat services and apps, regardless if they’re used for work or for personal communication. 

If you want to stop receiving messages for a particular service, there isn’t much you can do. If you don’t plan on using the service, deleting the account is reasonable, but if you’re taking a break, an Out of Office message is the way to go.

Out of Office Messages

An Out of Office (OOO) message is an automatic message you can set up. This message is automatically sent to anyone who tries to contact you. It can be configured to send on certain dates. 

How to Set Out of Office Status on Teams

Microsoft Teams lets you set an Out of Office message a few different ways. Unlike the status that is set for your profile, an OOO message is displayed when someone tries to message you directly or through a group/team conversation.

How to Change Out of Office from Settings

One way to set up your Teams Out of Office message is through the app’s settings. Note that this isn’t available for all Teams accounts, specifically personal accounts.

1. Select the three dots (called Settings and more) at the top right of Teams and choose Settings.

The settings menu in Microsoft Teams

2. Go to General.

3. From the Out of Office section near the bottom, choose Schedule to open the Out of Office options.

4. Switch on Turn on automatic replies.

5. Type a message in the box provided. This is your OOO message.

6. Tick the box next to Send replies only during a time period.

7. Pick the start and end time for your Out of Office message.

The 'Turn on automatic replies' toggle switched on in Teams' out of office area

Set Microsoft Teams Out of Office status via Teams Profile

Another way to set your Out of Office status in Microsoft Teams is from your profile. This, again, looks different depending on the Teams plan you’re on. We’ve included both sets of directions here:

1. Open Microsoft Teams.

2. Select your profile image at the top right.

3. Select Set status message from the menu.

The Set Status Message link in Microsoft Teams

4. Write a message in the space provided. You can mention a team member people should contact in your place if you want, but the whole message can not exceed 280 characters.

Note: Depending on the kind of Teams account you have, there might be a button below the text box called Scheduled out of office (see the steps above). Press that and then toggle Turn on automatic replies on before you type your message. You can then fill out the start and end date/time as you see fit.

5. Select the drop-down menu under Clear status message after

6. Choose when your Out of Office message should expire. For example, 4 hours.

7. Select Done to save your Teams OOO message.

An Out of Office status message set up for four hours in Teams

 

How to Set Out of Office from Outlook App

If you’re using the same account for Microsoft Teams and for Outlook, setting an Out of Office message in Outlook will sync it to Microsoft Teams. Be warned, though, that the message will sync at its own discretion. It’s not immediate and it actually might never happen. Additionally, you can only set an Out of Office message in Outlook if you’re using an Outlook or Microsoft account email. 

1. Open Outlook on your desktop.

2. Go to File Automatic Replies (Out of Office).

'Automatic Replies' selected in Outlook

3. Select Send automatic replies.

'Send automatic replies' highlighted in Outlook

4. Write your Out of Office reply.

5. Select Only send during this time range.

6. Define the date range for when the automatic reply should be sent.

Dates selected in Outlook for an out of office message

7. Select OK.

8. Optionally, you can add exceptions by choosing Rules at the bottom.

Outlook automatic reply rules

Turn Off Microsoft Teams Out of Office Status

Turning the Out of Office status off in Microsoft Teams is easy, though you should know you only have to turn it off if you want to stop sending it before the preset date. If the end date for the message has passed, the message will automatically stop displaying.

To disable your OOO message in Microsoft Teams, simply select your profile image at the top right and then click the trash icon next to the status.

The trash button highlighted in the Teams status message area

Turn off Outlook Out of Office alert

If you’ve set up an Out of Office alert in Outlook, and it is syncing to Microsoft Teams, you will have to turn it off from Outlook.

  1. Open Outlook.
  2. Go to File.
  3. Under Automatic replies, click the Turn off button.

The Turn Off button highlighted in Outlook

Note: The status can take considerable time to sync to Microsoft Teams.

Conclusion

While there are three different ways to set an Out of Office status in Microsoft Teams, we strongly advise using the native option. Outlook doesn’t always sync the message, and you might be stuck with the message long after it has expired. More importantly, if you use a Gmail (or another account), Outlook’s built-in option simply won’t be available.

1 Comment

  1. While there are two different ways to set an Out of Office status in Microsoft Teams, we strongly advise using the native option in Microsoft Teams.

    Comment:- Outlook has the benefit of better customisation than Teams – e.g. different replies to internal and external email addresses.