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| Create custom rules for the Out Of Office Assistant |
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In both Outlook 2000 and Outlook 2002, the Out Of Office Assistant lets users with Exchange Server mailboxes automatically generate replies to messages when they're away from their office.
In order to limit the number of messages that senders receive, the Office Assistant maintains a list of people to whom it has already sent an out-of-office reply so that subsequent messages from those people don't trigger another automatic reply. Exchange Server maintains the send-to list, which is deleted when you turn off the Office Assistant from within Outlook.
If you only specify to Outlook that you're out of the office and set the default message, all senders receive the out-of-office reply. However, you can add custom rules to further define the actions that Office Assistant takes when messages arrive.
Open the Office Assistant from the Tools menu and click Add Rule. Outlook presents an Edit Rule dialog box you can use to create additional rules for the Office Assistant to use when processing messages. When you specify rule conditions, be aware that Office Assistant uses logic that is slightly different from the Rules Wizard to determine if messages fit the search conditions.
For example, you can use semicolons in the Subject and Message Body fields to specify multiple conditions. Exchange Server treats these with OR logic, firing the rule if any of the specified words or phrases appear in the subject or body text. What's more, you can use partial- or full-word searches for the condition. Enclose the string in quotes if you want a full-word match, or omit the quotes for a partial-word match. For example, type the text cat; car; amble; to match cat, catapult, car, carpet, amble, and bramble.
Setting up custom Office Assistant rules can help you and your users handle messages more efficiently when the Office Assistant is in charge of message processing. |
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