Setting the Out of Office settings for another user

It doesn't happen often, but when people are away from the office for an extended period of time, they often forget to set their Out of Office settings. When this happens they usually contact us to set it up for them. I don't do it that often, but its handy to know how to do it. This can be done by using Outlook Web Access for Exchange 2007 or Outlook Web App for Exchange 2010.

For Exchange 2007:

1. In the Exchange Management Console give you admin account full access permission.
2. Browse to your Outlook Web Access site but append the user in questions email address to the URL. 
3. For example; https://mail.mycompany.co.uk/owa/firstname.surname@mycompany.co.uk
4. Enter your admin username and password.
5. From the Options menu, select the Out of Office Assistant, and enter the auto reply message and required settings.
6. Click Save.

For Exchange 2010:

1. In the Exchange Management Console give you admin account full access permission.
2. Log into Outlook Web App with your admin username and password.
3. You’ll see your username in the top right hand corner of the screen, click the down arrow next to it.
4. Enter the username who needs their Out of Office message changing and click Open.
5. Click Options – Set Automatic Replies.
6. Enter the auto reply message and required settings.
7. Click Save.

Finally, I make sure it is working. I send an email to the user and check that the reply gets sent. Last thing you want is irate customers or clients because they didn't get the response informing them that the user is Out of the Office and not just ignoring them!