Vacation Responder

Gmail's Vacation Responder can be used to let people know that you are away from your desk and won't be able to get back to them right away. While your Vacation Responder is turned on, Gmail will send an automatic reply to people who email you.

Turn On Vacation Responder

• Computer Browser
• Android Device
• Apple iOS Device

From Your Computer Browser

1. Open Gmail.
2. In the top-right, click the gear icon.
3. Select Settings.
4. Scroll down to the Vacation Responder section (stay in the "General" tab).
5. Select Vacation Responder on.
6. Fill in the date range, subject, and message.
7. You can limit who can see your vacation response:
   1. Check the box next to Only send a response to people in my Contacts if you don't want everyone who emails you to know that you're away from your mail.
   2. You'll also see an option to only send a response to people in your domain (Pepperdine). If you check both of these boxes, only people who are in your contacts or your domain will receive the automatic response.
8. Click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.

If you've enabled a personalized signature in your settings, Gmail will automatically add it to the bottom of your vacation response. 

From an Android Device

1. Open the Gmail app.
2. Touch the menu Menu.
3. Touch Settings.
4. Choose your account.
5. Touch Vacation responder.
6. Fill in the date range, subject, and message.
7. Switch OFF to ON at the top.
8. Touch Done.

Your vacation responder settings are synced with the desktop browser version of Gmail.

From an Apple iOS Device

1. Open the Gmail app.
2. Touch the menu Menu.
3. Touch the gear Settings.
4. Switch Vacation Responder from OFF to ON.
5. Choose start and end dates.
6. Fill in the subject and message.
7. Touch Save.

If you have multiple accounts, make sure you're in the right account before you touch the gear Settings.

Your vacation responder settings are synced with the desktop browser version of Gmail.

Turn off or edit your Vacation Responder

While the Vacation Responder is on, you'll see a banner across the top of Gmail in a browser that shows the subject of your vacation response. Click the End now link in the banner to turn off the vacation responder, or click Vacation Settings to edit your response. For a mobile device, go to your settings and turn off or edit your Vacation Responder the same way you created it.

When is my reply sent?

Your vacation responder starts at 12:00 AM on the start date and ends at 11:59 PM on the end date, unless you end it earlier.

In general, your reply is only sent once to people who email you. However, if the same person contacts you again after four days and your vacation responder is still on, Gmail will send another vacation response to remind the person that you're away from your email. Your vacation response will start over each time you edit it, so if someone receives your initial vacation response, and then emails you again after you've edited the subject or body of the message, he or she will receive the edited response.

Messages classified as spam and messages addressed to a mailing list you subscribe to will not receive a vacation response.