asked on

Out of Office Reply not sending outside of the LAN

Hi,
We are having an issue when turning ON the 'Out of Office Reply' in Outlook 2003. It unfortunately is only sending a response back to the sender(s) that reside within our organization on the local area network. I sent a test email from an external account (GMAIL) and I received the email in my domain account but did not recieve a response back to the external email account.

Is there a setting that is being missed that I am not aware of?

Please help ASAP as we need to get this resolved quickly as it is affecting users that are away from the office...

Thanks..

ElliTech

Derek Schauland

Do you have a spam filter that is preventing these from going out to the web?

I assume regular mail is working out to the web and that an SMTP connector has been established? You might check the SMTP connector in the Administrative Groups -> Domain -> Routing Groups section of System Manager to ensure there is nothing out of the ordinary there.

2PiFL

You need to enable it on the server:
MS Exchange System Manager > Global Settings > Internet Message Formats > Default (or whatever you have named your default if changed) > Properties > Advanced Tab - make sure "allow out of office responses" is checked.

ellitech

ASKER

Hi '2PiFL'

I looked on the exchange server and strangely enough that was NOT checked, I have since enabled it, however, I have sent another TEST which also failed.

Can I track the email coming in and the 'Out of Office Reply' response going back out so that I know it is atleast trying to send a response back?

ElliTech

2PiFL

If you have message tracking enabled. Here's the "how to":

http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/The_Exchange_Message_Tracking_Center_or_How_to_Save_Your_A_in_a_Pinch.html

ellitech

ASKER

Hi '2PiFL',

I looked in the message tracking center, I searched for the email and took a screenshot of the attempted reply...

I am going to look at the logs...

ElliTech
Out-of-Office-Reply.JPG

ellitech

ASKER

Any thoughts on this?

ElliTech

2PiFL

That means the message is not being forwarded. It may take a reboot to have the change take effect.

ellitech

ASKER

OK...I'll try a reboot of the exchange server to see if that will make a difference. I will update the case notes as soon as the reboot has completed and I have sent another test email from an external email account...

Thanks...

ElliTech

ellitech

ASKER

Hi '2PiFL',

I rebooted the exchange server, checked to see that the settings are there...looked OK...sent another test email, the 'Out of Office Reply' does NOT appear to be working, are there any other settings that I am missing that need to be set?

I am at a complete loss for this, could you please remain engaged so that I can get this resolved ASAP?

Thanks in advance, I really appreciate your time...

ElliTech

2PiFL

Did you quit then restart Outlook since making the server side change?

ellitech

ASKER

Yes I have, I also went onto the exchange server and searched in the 'Message Tracking Center', you can see the message come in from the external email account, but you cannot see a message go out for the 'Out of Office Reply' message....

Where can I look to see that the exchange server is doing what it is supposed to do?

ElliTech

2PiFL

Try enabling "allow automatic replies" on the server.

2PiFL

I don't know of any other built in tools.

Does the external email hit the inbox of the "test" pc?

ellitech

ASKER

In regards to:
2PiFL:I don't know of any other built in tools.

Does the external email hit the inbox of the "test" pc?

YES, I am able to send and receive from the external email account (GMAIL), however, it will not send back an 'Out of Office Reply' outside of the LAN....
I have enabled 'allow automatic replies' as well, still not working, didn't however reboot the exchange for a second time though, shouldn't the changes aplly right away?
ElliTech

2PiFL

According to this article, no reboot is needed.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/266166

I'll keep digging.

2PiFL

Did you try sending to a different client? This will tell us if it's outlook or exchange.

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2PiFL

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ellitech

ASKER

Hi '2PiFL',
Instead of trting to spread the points across all of your posts, I will just accept this one and give the points...OK?
After enabling both of the settings on the exchange server it appears that it is now working. We tested it from a TELUS account as well as a Hotmail account and it responded back to both...

Thank-you so much for your time and patience, it is greatly appreciated...

ElliTech

ellitech

ASKER

Thanks for taking the time to repsond...

2PiFL

You're welcome.