What is an Autoresponder?
An autoresponder is a prewritten reply that the SmarterMail automatically sends out when receiving an email message. In other words, it is a tool you can use to ensure that any emails that your mailbox received are responded to when you might not be able to do it yourself. For example, the common use scenario is the “Out of office” notifications. When you’re away from your office you can set your autoresponder to state that you are away when you’ll be back and whether you have an alternate method of contact.
With an autoresponder in place, your emails will be responded to, but remain in your inbox. It allows you to pick them up at a later date.
To set up an autoresponder, log in to SmarterMail. After that, use the Menu icon to navigate to the Settings section. Then click on Autoresponder in the navigation pane. The following items will be available:
1) Compose Box
- Subject – The words or phrases that will appear in the subject of the autoresponder message (e.g. Out of Office).
- Message Body – The message that the SmarterMail will automatically send in reply to email messages. SmarterMail allows users to create HTML formatted autoresponders. These autoresponders include stylized text, links, images, and more.
2) Domain Policy
System Administrators can enforce a domain-wide autoresponder exclusion. This is to prevent SmarterMail from sending autoresponder replies to spam messages. It will display the autoresponder policy configured for your domain here.
3) Options
- Enable Autoresponder – Toggle the slider to the right to turn the autoresponder on.
- Disable responses to indirect mail – By enabling this setting, it only triggers the autoresponder by sending an email directly to you. Any email you receive through a mailing list, forward or alias will not trigger the autoresponder.
- Limit responses to once daily – Toggle the slider to the right to ensure an email address only receives the autoresponder message once per day, even if they send you multiple messages. If you disable this option, every email you receive will trigger your autoresponder message. It is best to keep this option turned on to avoid the potential of your email address, your domain, or even potentially your entire mail server from becoming blacklisted by an ISP.
- Only send between certain dates – Toggle the slider to the right to specify the date range that your autoresponder will be active. Then set the specified start and end dates and times. This option is particularly helpful for planned absences, like a vacation or holiday extension.