Power Automate Automatic Reply - Set your outlook out of office with Recurrence flow

[@timjoseph887]

Wow 20 minutes to learn how to set a recurring out of Office. Good Job Microsoft!

[@ShanesCows]

Sorry, I guess it could have been quicker but I try to help explain the details along the way.

[@timjoseph887]

@@ShanesCows sorry no slight on you! I was saying MS should have an easier way to set recurring OOO in Outlook! Especially with remote working what it is now.

[@igg5589]

Power Automate also is 15$/month itself

[@StenNijssen]

I am using a flow that looks at my calendar appointments to set out of office automatically. It checks if I have appointments that are setup to show as out of office and have a title starting with "Free -". If it finds one, it will schedule an out of office for a period based on the start and end date/time from the appointment. It uses the body text from the appointment as text to send in out of office message.

[@timjoseph887]

Can you explain to us how that was done?

You did it again Shane! great tip to make the workflow simpler, wow the avoid one loop one:) I really like viva insights guiding me through setting up automated replies and all the rest with it like cancelling meeting and stuff but always love a good button flow, your use case makes absolutely sense , thanks!

[@ShanesCows]

Glad it was helpful! 🐶

[@gerardbromberg014]

@@ShanesCows 👋 How are you doing today if i may ask? I pray this day brings more happiness,joy,prosperity love and peace 💞❤️🕊️🕊️ all over the world today 🙏🌍 I'm originally from Canada currently living in Key West Florida☀️☀️☀️☀️and you where are you from if i may ask?

[@bonnyboy23]

you can also use the first() function to get the first item in an array/table, if you prefer having nested functions and then have a ?[attribute] after the closing bracket for the first function

[@ShanesCows]

You are correct Benjy! I don't ever do it that way, I should. 😊

[@vicarion]

The exact formula for anyone curious is: first(outputs('Get_mail_tips_for_a_mailbox_(V2)')?['body/value'])?['automaticReplies/message']

[@chrislewispam]

Thanks for this tutorial. I like the way it checks your current automatic reply before setting a new one. I do have some feedback though. You've built your flow with a manual trigger which could create a little confusion. Your time logic with the "set up automatic replies" starts at utcnow() so viewers could be left wondering where you tell the flow when it shoud run and thereby apply the automatic reply. I'd suggest instead that you set it up with a recurrence trigger which is probably what viewers are looking to replicate. I appreciate you are showing people how to use the function builder and that you are looking to avoid the foreach, but if you wanted to just paste it all in: outputs('Get_mail_tips_for_a_mailbox_(V2)')?['body/value']?[0]?['automaticReplies/message'] Your compose isn't really necessary but will help with learning and troubleshooting. Its great to show us how to click onto the action after running a test to check inputs and outputs. Your condition doesn't check for a zero-length autoreply which is probably what happend at 16:12. I turned my condition to OR and added this new line: length(outputs('Get_mail_tips_for_a_mailbox_(V2)')?['body/value']?[0]?['automaticReplies/message']) = 0 To find the timezone "phrase" you can send this command line: tzutil /g I use www.timeanddate.com/date/timeduration.html to calculate the number of hours between your start and stop for the autoreply. You can use the html-style or in the message if you want newlines in the autoreply. It's better to leave the "false" condition blank or you will turn off an automatic reply you set through the outlook client. I know you are only demonstrating but this isn't what viewers are trying to replicate. The plan for this flow is to respect a user's manually-created autoreply in case they are on a 3 week vacation. What you've written will take down their autoreply while they are still away. Here's what mine looks like: Recurrence Trigger Interval: 1 Frequency: Week Timezone: On these days: at these hours: Get mail tips for a mailbox v2 email address: condition OR value (expression): outputs('Get_mail_tips_for_a_mailbox_(V2)')?['body/value']?[0]?['automaticReplies/message'] is equal to value (expression): null new item > add row value (expression): length(outputs('Get_mail_tips_for_a_mailbox_(V2)')?['body/value']?[0]?['automaticReplies/message']) is equal to value: 0 true: set up automatic replies v2 start datetime (function): utcnow() start time timezone: the # in the below line is the number of hours you want the automatic reply displayed, calculated from www.timeanddate.com/date/timeduration.html end time (function): addhours(utcnow(),#) end time timezone: internal reply message: false: blank Hope this helps someone.

[@ecy1712]

Is possible to make a flow where you automatically send an reply when you receive an email when you are scheduled as "out of office" in outlook calendar? Also this mail should contain the date when you are back in office.

[@JasonAWaddell]

I have a flow that connects O365 (business) and when a new meeting request comes it will determine if I am already busy or working in the office or remote. If busy it accepts tentative and replies to let the organizer know. If I am working remote and the meeting isn't online (teams, zoom, google meet) then it accepts tentative and replies to the let the organizer know that you won't be able to attend in person. And if there are no conflicts then it just leaves it. Happy to sell the source flow.

[@ShanesCows]

Nice job. 😎

[@marcusbolton4184]

Shane, you put the Power into Power Automate! thanks man👍

[@ShanesCows]

Thank you 🐶

[@AhmedMahdyy]

How can I manage it to run on daily basis after working hours 18:00 PM and stop next day at 9:00 without need to manually trigger or change values of End DateTime? Also, to make weekend if Friday 18:00 set OOF then stop next Monday 9:00?

[@mahnoornadir8194]

Same question

[@chrislewispam]

I would use two flows for that. One that runs daily monday-thursday at 1800 and sets an autoreply for 15 hours. Second flow would run friday at 1800 and sets an autoreply for 63 hours.

[@laceysharpe6664]

Hi! Is there a similar way to automatically set your Teams Status Message? With hybrid work, it would be helpful to automatically set whether you are In Office or Teleworking on 'Available'. Thanks!

[@Jenn-nn3qc]

Thank you for this concise tutorial. Is there a way to set up a recurring out of office for an outlook group or for multiple inboxes? Our office closes early on Fridays and I need to set up *everyone's* email to start out of office replies at noon on Friday, ending 730am on Monday. Hoping there's a way to do this without having to set up on each account individually!

[@ShanesCows]

Not that I have done. Maybe but not that I know. I would look at the Graph API and hunt a bit. Good luck

[@bmagana70]

@@ShanesCows I have the same requirement... to change the autoresponse for all the people in the office that is on vacation and forgot to setup their auto-reply. It would be very helpfull if you found something about it.

[@philipanthonymangan]

Do you know how to set up an out of office to direct only at certain people in outlook?

[@ShanesCows]

Sorry, I don't

[@jakobballing]

Can Out-of-office be triggered by certain calendar events? Example - whenever I put in events in my calendar titled "HOLIDAY" PowerAutomate enables out-of-office with an already pre-defined text and includes the day after my holiday ends as the return date. Is that possible?

[@1092andrea]

Hi Shane! You make this really easy :) I have one question regarding this, Is it possible to get the status of the employees (Out of the office, Working elsewhere..)? I need to create a flow that cancel a booking if the employee marks that day in the calendar like "Working elsewhere". I hope you can help me. Thanks in advance! :)

[@blutkraehe_official]

hi, flow works great, but i test with my private email and send a email to my company adress and he doesnt reply ? must i change the triger to when a new email arrives and reply then if the auto reply is on ?

[@jimwalsh7376]

Do you have the auto reply turned on for external emails?

[@blutkraehe_official]

@@jimwalsh7376 Yes, i biold a srcond flow with the trigger when a Email arrives and the of Statement for a auto reply record, this isnt the eight solution or?

[@chrislewispam]

In the Set Up Automatic Replies (v2) you might need to click the button "show all" and populate the External Reply field with what you want.

[@ricardobunge5957]

Great stuff as always Shane! Question about the automatic reply message table - if you have internal and external replies, would there be two entries in that table? Internal [0] and external [1]?

[@ShanesCows]

Yes, but my thought is if there is one or more we know they are on.

[@roberthulse6176]

How can I do this for another user if I have the correct roles and permissions

[@ShanesCows]

I am not sure Robert, I haven't tried that before. Maybe add their connection to the flow and go that route? Or you might have to use the Graph API. Not sure.

[@vicarion]

I know it would be a permissions nightmare, but it would be cool if there was someway to tie this into a department PTO calendar to auto turn on everyone's auto-reply

[@ShanesCows]

That is an interesting place to ponder. Hmmm

[@TheMathizze]

Hi Shane, thanks for your insights. Is it anyway possible to format the OoO text in HTML? Or at least enter some line breaks so that it remains readable?

[@ShanesCows]

I am not sure. I haven’t tried. 🤔 try Char(13) to see if that creates a line break would be my first guess.

[@TheMathizze]

@@ShanesCows apparantly you can add line breaks by adding in your Power Automate message, it will be passed as a line break in your Outlook message. If you try the same directly in Outlook it's not working though, it will be changed to plain text and you will see in your email

[@littlesunshine2387]

Hi Shane. Can we get triggers / email notification when employee leave the company? From AZ AD?

[@ShanesCows]

I don't know if that is possible. Sorry

[@littlesunshine2387]

@@ShanesCows no problem.

💡Great tip, thanks Shane 👍

[@ShanesCows]

You bet!

[@monashilpa]

How to create a flow for sending an email notification and item details when an item is deleted from a SharePoint list?

[@ShanesCows]

Use the SharePoint Trigger "when an item is deleted" and then pull they dynamic content.

[@cvkealey]

What Shane said, but you won't be able to get the "item details" because the item is deleted. Trust me, I've tried. You need to remember that the data returned from the trigger action is basically just a signal that the trigger event has occurred and some very basic info on the relevant item (in the case of SharePoint, it'll be item ID and not too much else).

[@pramodprem2243]

Can you please give a solution How to transfer data from one environment to another environment in power automate. Thanks in advance

[@ShanesCows]

I haven't done that one but I thought the pieces are there. Sorry, I am no help.

[@oluwatobiyusuf]

Thank you for this video. New knowledge gained

[@ShanesCows]

Glad to hear it!

[@Luggruff]

It is INSANE that they do not have a WYSIWYG editor for the email body.

[@ShanesCows]

You can add a Rich Text Editor, make it all pretty, and then use a label to capture that html. Kind of a work around. 😎

[@Luggruff]

@@ShanesCows any concrete example of this? For now I just wrote it in html straight up, although it can be tedious sometimes considering email does not support full HTML.

[@gabrieltremblay414]

Hi , its working very well for the internal reply but when i tried to send an email by my external mail , nothing happen ; Can you help for that i did the same as you for the manipulation..

[@gabrieltremblay414]

seems like it was a bug , everything is working now , thank you

[@Shish29]

Can you run it on a 365 Group?

[@ShanesCows]

Not sure, I haven't tried.

[@jmstampe]

This is great stuff and I love your videos. I had SharePoint forms integrated with PowerApps question if you don’t mind me asking. Is there a way to limit form view of an item based on if the current user exists in a person field, a multiuser person field or they are part of a specific SharePoint user group?

[@ShanesCows]

Jonathan I would apply the concept from this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zn6lXq1vmN55ebM.

[@jerryhughes6084]

Tried to follow this.. No luck. Do one for dummies 🤣🤣