| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: Do you use an "Out of office" AutoReply for your business? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you use an "Out of office" AutoReply for your business?".
This poll was originally submitted by Anja Cohen. View the poll results »
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because I use my mobile to read and write emails.
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Someone is always "At the office".
| | | | Adnan Özdemir 
Türkiye
Local time: 21:14
Member (2007)
German to Turkish
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| Always on-line :) | Feb 26, 2011 |
I am always on_line. Cafe online, village online, trip online, restaurant online... Much smooth so...
Anadolu'dan selamlar
Saludos desde Anatolia
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Mary Worby
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:14
German to English
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Gianluca Marras wrote:
because I use my mobile to read and write emails.
Even when I'm on holiday, I'll write back. I find automatic 'out of office' replies a bit clinical and can't imagine they make a good impression on customers.
| | | | Anja Weggel
Local time: 20:14
Member (2007)
English to German
Usually, I let my customers know in advance that I am gone so they already know. If they forget and send me an e-mail while I am not online, they will receive a more personalized out of office message saying when I will be back in office. I find them a useful tool to be used scarcely but since I do not believe in being online all the time, I want to give my customers as much information as possible so they can plan around the times I am gone.
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I managed to figure out how to do it once with my particular software. The second time, it kept sending the message from several months earlier, so I had to give up.
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I wish my email software had the "Out of office" autoreply function, but unfortunately, it doesn't.
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Gianluca Marras wrote:
because I use my mobile to read and write emails.
Exactly.
| | | | Gwenydd Jones
Spain
Local time: 20:14
Member (2009)
Spanish to English
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Saying what date/time I'll be back in the office. I can't and don't want to be on-line 24-7 so even if I'm just popping out for a break at the gym or somewhere for a few hours I tend to put the autoreply on. I think that way I can ensure that whoever sent me the e-mail will know it has arrived and won't be sitting around wondering when I'm going to write back to them. Sometimes I think it is good for me to get a little bit of breathing space away from the Internet, which is why so far I have opt... See more Saying what date/time I'll be back in the office. I can't and don't want to be on-line 24-7 so even if I'm just popping out for a break at the gym or somewhere for a few hours I tend to put the autoreply on. I think that way I can ensure that whoever sent me the e-mail will know it has arrived and won't be sitting around wondering when I'm going to write back to them. Sometimes I think it is good for me to get a little bit of breathing space away from the Internet, which is why so far I have opted against a blackberry. ▲ Collapse
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 20:14
Spanish to English
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It can be useful. I only ever use free webmail like Yahoo and it has the function available. I don't understand why anyone would pay for email software. I don't even use Outlook.
| | | | lillkakan
Local time: 20:14
English to Swedish
If I'm going to be out of the office for more than an hour (and it's during a time when my clients normally can expect to get a quick reply from me), then I put the out-of-office responder on. It gives me peace of mind, because even if I can—and often do—check my email on my mobile phone while out of about, I often don't WANT to. But I also don't want to come back to a series of repeat emails: "Did you get my email?", "Where are you?", "Please respond ASAP", "URGENT: Please respond!!!!" whic... See more If I'm going to be out of the office for more than an hour (and it's during a time when my clients normally can expect to get a quick reply from me), then I put the out-of-office responder on. It gives me peace of mind, because even if I can—and often do—check my email on my mobile phone while out of about, I often don't WANT to. But I also don't want to come back to a series of repeat emails: "Did you get my email?", "Where are you?", "Please respond ASAP", "URGENT: Please respond!!!!" which has occasionally happened (and it always stresses me out and makes me feel miserable).
So, for my own peace of mind, when I am not able to respond to urgent requests, I let people know automatically.
neilmac wrote:
It can be useful. I only ever use free webmail like Yahoo and it has the function available. I don't understand why anyone would pay for email software. I don't even use Outlook.
You don't need to BUY email software. I use Gmail from within Mozilla Thunderbird which is free and easy to customize to my own needs, including special filters for incoming mail that separates personal mail from work mail, folders for each client, threaded messages for better project overview, customizable tags for individual messages (such as "Important", "Invoice", "To do" etc.). I use it with the calendar extension Lightning where I can import all my Google calendars (and of course I also use the web browser Firefox). Together they're the central hub of my business and it works great. =) Try it.
(Full disclosure: I'm not a developer or otherwise affiliated with Mozilla, I'm just part of the user community) ▲ Collapse
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Interlangue (X)
Angola
Local time: 20:14
English to French
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I send an e-mail beforehand but some customers are very forgetful and some new contacts sometimes have a strange behaviour when they do not get an immediate reply!
I agree with Neil: free Webmail offers functions my paying mail account does not include in its expensive package (autoreply, automatic forward, spam, for instance). And they are much more reliable (in terms of speed and downtime for instance).
| | | | inkweaver
Germany
Local time: 20:14
French to German
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When I go on holiday, I let my regular clients know well in advance but still use the "Out of Office" autoreply function, but only for existing contacts.
I don't use it when I just go for a swim or to the shops, I think it is not completely unreasonable to expect people to wait for a reply for an hour or so.
I definitely don't want to be online 24/7 so you will never catch me with a Blackberry or something similar. Sorry, but no way. I'm a human being, not a machine a... See more When I go on holiday, I let my regular clients know well in advance but still use the "Out of Office" autoreply function, but only for existing contacts.
I don't use it when I just go for a swim or to the shops, I think it is not completely unreasonable to expect people to wait for a reply for an hour or so.
I definitely don't want to be online 24/7 so you will never catch me with a Blackberry or something similar. Sorry, but no way. I'm a human being, not a machine and I like a bit of a breather away from all that technical stuff now and then. ▲ Collapse
| | | | maryblack
United States
Local time: 13:14
Member (2013)
Spanish to English
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I do. It's not that I don't check my email anyhow; rather the idea is that I respond at my own discretion, when and where it suits me, and my clients don't necessarily expect an immediate response the way they do on a normal day.
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