Creating & Editing Email Autoresponders in cPanel Print

If you need to add an out-of-office reply / autoresponder to your cPanel-based email account, the following instructions will step you through how to set this up.

Please note we strongly advise against having a permanent autoresponder on your email. One reason is that any spam that is sent to your email account will trigger the autoresponder, which may end up going to a spoofed email, and could result in your domain being blocklisted. Use autoresponders for short periods of time only.

Prerequisites

• Your email needs to be hosted on cPanel (as opposed to another provider such as Microsoft 365)
• You'll either need access to our Client Area or know your cPanel login details. If you're not sure how to access our Client Area, click here for instructions.

Edit or Add a New Autoresponder

1. First, access cPanel for your hosting account. You can do this through our Client Area by looking for the hosting account under "Your Active Products/Services" and clicking the Log in to cPanel button beside it. Or, if you know your cPanel login details, you can login directly.
2. Once inside cPanel, go to the Autoresponders section.
3. Check the table under "Current Autoresponders" to see if an autoresponder already exists for your email account.
4. If it already exists, click Edit to update its details. All previous fields will be filled in already so you can just update what needs to change.
5. If not, click Add Autoresponder. You'll need to enter all fields; please refer to the below list for an explanation.
6. The following fields can generally be left the same each time you update an autoresponder:
   1. Interval: How often to send replies to the same sender (in hours). 8 hours is a good default.
   2. Email: The "username" part of the email address (before the @ symbol) that should trigger the autoresponder (e.g. "mary")
   3. Domain: The "domain" part of the email address (after the @ symbol)
   4. From: The display name, e.g. your first and last name, as you want it to appear in the "From" address
   5. Subject: We recommend the subject be set to "RE: %subject% - Out of Office" so that the sender's subject appears like a normal reply, but also includes the out of office text so the sender knows it's an automatic response
   6. Leave This message contains HTML unchecked, unless you feel like writing HTML code!
7. The following fields should be adjusted each time you update an autoresponder:
   1. Body: Type out the message you want the sender to receive. Be aware this is entirely different to your email program so it will not include any formatting or email signatures you might have set up in Outlook, etc. Therefore, include a sign-off with your name. Also be aware this will be sent in plain text without any formatting. See below for a generic example of an out-of-office reply.
   2. Start: Choose "Immediately" if you want the autoresponder to kick in now. Otherwise, click "Custom", then use the calendar to choose a start date and time. Consider setting it to 5:00PM the day before you leave. Double-check you have set the correct AM/PM.
   3. Stop: Click "Custom", then use the calendar to choose a stop date and time. Consider setting it to 5:00PM the day before you return, or 6:00AM the morning of your return date. Double-check you have set the correct AM/PM.
8. Click Create/Modify. cPanel should give you a green success message and a "Go Back" link.
9. Tip: Test your autoresponder by sending an email to yourself after the Start Date & Time to make sure it works and reads the way you expect.

Disable an Autoresponder

We recommend that rather than deleting an autoresponder, you edit it and set the Stop date to yesterday's date. That way, all details are already in place the next time you need an autoresponder.

Sample Out-of-Office Message

Thanks for your email.

I am out of the office from _______________ and will return on _______________, so I won't see your message until then.

Cheers,
__________________