How to setup an auto-reply in Exchange 2003

I am not sure if this is possible natively in Exchange, however, i think it can be done if you use products like Sendmail or Ironmail as your Internet mail gateway server in front of your Exchange bridgeheads.

My problem then becomes what heppens with internal email to that account? Most of the mail going to this account will be internal. I use Outlook, but I would prefer not to be required to have Outlook open to make this work.

If you are using Sendmail or Ironmail you would not have to keep the outlook open. Message would be generated directly from Exchange server.

Out of office will send a reply only once.  (I am pretty sure it is once per person, not once per day).  
But you can create a rule in outlook that reply's to every email with a particular message.  As long as the rule is not dependent on a folder in a PST or something local to the workstation it should work even with outlook closed.
 Server-based vs. client-based rules: http://www.slipstick.com/rules/serverbased.htm
 

ow can you create a rule in Outlook that will take every single message it receives and send a reply? Would that be an example of a server sided rule?

A server side rule is a rule that will be executed by the server even if oulook is not running.   You don't specify it, out look just creates it that way for you if the rule you create fits the conditions for a server side rule.
As to how to create an auto-reply rule in outlook, that depends what version of outlook you use to create the rule.  What version do you use?
Some links that might help.
http://www.slipstick.com/rules/autoreply.htm
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/automatically-send-custom-reply-messages-HA001034786.aspx

Shreedhar,

I just turned auto replies on in Exchange, but still ma unclear as to how I create the template to automatically send the reply when any user sends a certain account an email. If I try to setup a rule, I don't see an option where it will do something on receiving any email message. Is there a server sided rule that will do this?

My problem is that I don't see an option to run the rule for "every message that arrives". Is it possible to do? If so, how would I do that?

What version of Outlook are you using?

Open Rules Wizard and then select the "start from a blank rule" option --> apply rule on messages I receive-->Next-->Next-->Yes to apply it to all messages
rule.jpg

So you should then have a rule that looks something like the below, your screens and wording might be a bit different if you are not using Outlook 2010 like me...
rule2.jpg

It would really help if you would say what version of outlook you are using.  The way you do it differs between versions of outlook.

Yes, that is the same screen I am looking at, but the next screen makes me check different aspects of the messages I receive, like if this from a certain person, or sent only to me or has certain words in the subject or body, etc. I don't see an option to flat out do this rule for every messages period.

The verison I am on is Outlook 2007 (12.0.6535.5005) SP2 MSO (12.0.6535.5002)

Not sure what the MSO is, but thought I would include it since the About screen shows it.

Just press next on the screen that asks for certain people etc. then it will ask if you are sure you want the rule to fire for all messages--> Yes

I don't see those options in my Rules Wizard. This is what I see:


RulesWizard.png

Outlook 2007:
Tools-->Rules and Alerts-->New Rule-->Start from a blank rule-->Check Messages when they arrive-->Next-->Next-->Yes-->Tick 'Have the server reply using a specific message'--> click on 'a specific message' in the bottom pane to edit the message-->Save & close when you have finished editing it-->Finish-->OK-->close Outlook-->Send the mailbox a message from another machine to test

Press Next on the screen you are on, without ticking any of the boxes

Thanks MegaNuk3. That was what I was missing. I just found out that this needs to be done for every message except from one specific email account. Apparently there is an account that is going to be sending a lot of messages to this account and they don't want so send out an auto reply to that account. Can that be done? If not, can I create another rule that if a message is sent to that account, to not allow it to go?

Thanks guys. Great information!

No problem, glad you got there in the end.