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Funny out of office messages, ready to paste

Auto-replies for vacation, sick days, conferences, parental leave and the days you're just done, in a tone from client-safe to unhinged.

Tone

Thanks for your email. I'm on vacation and back on [date]. I won't be checking email, so for anything urgent, please contact [colleague]. Everything else gets a proper reply when I'm back.

Messages

Funny out of office messages for vacation

  • Professional

    Thanks for your email. I'm on vacation and back on [date]. I won't be checking email, so for anything urgent, please contact [colleague]. Everything else gets a proper reply when I'm back.

  • Professional

    I'm on vacation with no access to email. [colleague] is covering for me and has a list of everything I left behind. I'll answer the rest when I return on [date].

  • Honest

    I'm on vacation until [date]. I said I wouldn't check email and I will, from a sun lounger, but I won't reply, because then you'd know. [colleague] is covering and has my sympathy.

  • Honest

    I'm on vacation. By the time you read this, I've opened your email on my phone and decided it can wait until [date]. If it can't, [colleague] can help.

  • Unhinged

    I'm on a beach and you're not. I'll be back on [date] with a tan and no memory of my password. Until then, [colleague] is me. Treat them accordingly.

  • Unhinged

    Your email has been moved to a folder called After Vacation, which I'll open on [date] with the joy of someone opening a tax bill. [colleague] is covering. Good luck to you both.

Out of office messages for a sick day

An out of office for a sick day needs no reason. The reason goes to your manager, and our excuses to call in sick are rated for how well each one holds up.

  • Professional

    I'm out sick and not checking email. I expect to be back on [date]. If your message is urgent, please contact [colleague], who can help or find someone who can.

  • Professional

    I'm off sick and away from my inbox. [colleague] is handling anything urgent, and I'll catch up on the rest when I'm back on [date].

  • Honest

    I'm sick. Not working-from-bed sick, just sick. I'll be back on [date]. [colleague] has agreed to cover, or will once they read this.

  • Honest

    I'm off sick. Please don't ask what with; you don't want to know, and neither did my doctor. Back on [date]. Until then, [colleague] is healthier and can help.

  • Unhinged

    I'm horizontal. My body filed a formal complaint and HR sided with it. Back on [date]. [colleague] is covering and is not to be sneezed on.

  • Unhinged

    Out sick. I've seen more of my ceiling this week than of my calendar. Back on [date], or when the soup runs out. [colleague] has the keys.

Out of office messages for a conference

  • Professional

    I'm at a conference with limited access to email, and back in the office on [date]. Anything urgent can go to [colleague].

  • Professional

    I'm away at a conference until [date] and checking email between sessions, so replies may be short. [colleague] can help with anything that won't wait.

  • Honest

    I'm at a conference until [date], mostly standing near the free coffee. I'll reply between sessions if the Wi-Fi lets me. [colleague] is doing my job this week.

  • Honest

    I'm at a conference and back on [date]. I'll come home with a lanyard, a tote bag and the same opinions I left with. [colleague] can help until then.

  • Unhinged

    I've been sent to a conference to learn about the future of work, which turns out to be more conferences. Back on [date]. Send anything urgent to [colleague] and anything visionary to the keynote speaker.

  • Unhinged

    I'm at a conference, three sessions deep into a talk about synergy. If I'm not back on [date], tell my family I was networking. [colleague] knows where I keep the snacks.

Out of office messages for parental leave

  • Professional

    I'm on parental leave and back on [date]. I'm not reading email while I'm off, so please send anything urgent to [colleague], who has everything I handed over.

  • Professional

    I'm on parental leave and away from email. [colleague] is looking after my work while I look after someone smaller. I'll catch up when I'm back on [date].

  • Honest

    I'm on parental leave until [date], in charge of a very small person who doesn't read email either. [colleague] is covering, and gets more sleep than I do.

  • Honest

    I'm on parental leave. My inbox and I are on a break, and the baby agreed. Back on [date]. [colleague] is covering anything urgent.

  • Unhinged

    I'm on parental leave, a job with one very loud stakeholder and no hard stop. Back on [date], probably. [colleague] is covering.

  • Unhinged

    I'm on parental leave and haven't slept in a while. I'll be back on [date], and nothing you send before then will be remembered. [colleague] is in charge.

Out of office messages for when you're just done

  • Professional

    I'm out of the office with no access to email, back on [date]. For anything urgent, please contact [colleague].

  • Professional

    I'm taking some time away and not checking email. I'll be back on [date]. [colleague] can help with anything time-sensitive.

  • Honest

    I'm not sick and I'm not on vacation. I'm done for the week. I'll be back on [date], ready to pretend I missed this. [colleague] is covering.

  • Honest

    I'm out of town until [date]. I'm out of town on all my days off, which is what keeps them days off. [colleague] is covering.

  • Unhinged

    I've left the building. Not for good. Probably. Back on [date]. [colleague] has the shared drive password and my blessing.

  • Unhinged

    This inbox is closed for maintenance. The maintenance is me, lying down. Reopening on [date]. [colleague] is taking questions.

Short and funny out of office messages

  • Back on [date]. Your email is safe with me, unread.

  • Back on [date]. If it's urgent now, it'll be urgent then.

  • My inbox is on vacation too. We're both back on [date].

  • I've been told to disconnect, so I'm trying it. Back on [date].

  • Your email has joined the pile. I'll dig it out on [date].

  • Out of the office, and out of office clothes. Back on [date].

  • Out of office, and for once out of reach. Back on [date].

  • I'm away until [date], and so is my sense of urgency.

Vacation

Who checks email on vacation

The auto-reply says you’re away, and the boss’s email gets opened anyway. 86% of employed Americans say they’d check one on PTO, and 56% have taken work calls on time off. For work email in general, 49% of full-time workers check it on PTO and 42% answer it, which tells the sender the auto-reply was bluffing.

How many people switch off depends on who’s asking. Ask one group and 58% say they fully disconnected on their last vacation. Ask workers in the US and Europe and only 29% say so. 38% have checked work email in bed next to a partner, 30% while driving and 24% at a wedding.

Out of office on days off

The auto-reply isn’t only for vacations. In jobs where days off get called in, “out of town” turns into the reason for every one of them. It’s the least effort of all the excuses to get out of work, and nobody asks which town.

Public holidays need one too. The request to volunteer for the holiday tends to arrive the week before, sometimes from the same office that calls paid holidays a chance to relax. An auto-reply saying you’re relaxing, as advised, answers both.

News

The out of office with a video attached

Joshua Kessel, a Gen Z marketer, made the news in July 2024 with an auto-reply telling colleagues to “refer to attached video”. The clip opened with him “probably on a plane to Europe right now” and went on to give snarky answers to frequently asked questions. His TikTok of it passed 3.2 million views.

The CEO soaking up the rain

In July 2026 a CEO’s auto-reply from Ireland did the rounds. It promised a few weeks “soaking up the rain”, time with family, and email once a day, usually over his first pint. An employee posted it on Threads. One commenter’s colleague had gone further, with an out of office about becoming “a semi-professional fence builder”.

The auto-replies someone else wrote

During the October 2025 government shutdown, furloughed staff at the US Education Department found that someone had edited their out of office. It now blamed Senate Democrats for the lapse in funding. “Those were not my words,” one employee said, and the department’s spokesperson answered “Where’s the lie?”. At an HHS office, leaders told furloughed staff an out of office was “required”, and supplied the wording. The Hatch Act bars federal employees from political statements in their official capacity.

Setup

Set an out of office in Outlook

In the new Outlook for Windows, go to View, View settings, Accounts, then Automatic replies. Turn replies on, set a start and end time if you want them to stop on their own, choose whether only your contacts get them, and Save. In classic Outlook it’s File, then Automatic Replies, with one message for people inside your organization and one for everyone else.

Outside your organization, reply to your contacts only, or newsletters and ads get your message too. Each sender gets it once. It doesn’t work for Gmail, Yahoo or other POP and IMAP accounts added to Outlook. While automatic replies are on, Teams shows you as Out of Office, so you can stop trying to keep Teams active from the beach.

Set a vacation responder in Gmail

Gmail calls it a vacation responder. Open Settings, then See all settings, and on the General tab turn on Vacation responder. Set the first and last day, a subject and the message, tick the box if only your contacts should get it, and click Save Changes.

It runs from 12:00 am on the first day to 11:59 pm on the last. Most people get it only for their first email, but the same person gets it again after four days, or after you edit the message. Spam and mailing lists get nothing.

Questions

What is a good short out of office message?

One that fits in two lines: when you're back and who can help now. "I'm out until Monday, October 5. For anything urgent, email Sam." is complete, and everything after it is optional.

How do I professionally say I will be out of the office?

Give the dates and the cover, and leave out the reason: "I'll be out of the office from October 1 to 5 and not reading email. Sam can help with anything that won't wait." A reason invites follow-up questions, and dates and a name don't.

What is the best auto reply message?

For a shared inbox or a busy week, the best auto-reply says when a person will answer: "We reply within one working day." A time in the promise heads off the second email asking whether you got the first.

What is the best line for out of office?

"I'll be back on" and the date, because it answers the one question every sender has. Put any joke after that line, never in place of it.

Sources

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