Setting Up a Vacation Message

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You can set up a vacation message (vacation.ima) that will be mailed once to each person that sends mail to you. Each time a vacation message is sent, the recipient's email address is saved in a list of recipients, so that IMail Server can track who has already received the vacation message. (If mail is received from an email address that already appears in the recipient list, the vacation message is not sent again.)

To set up a vacation message:

1. In the left panel, expand a host and the Users folder, and select a user. The user properties appear in the right panel.
2. Click the Vacation tab.

3. Select Enable Vacation.

When the user returns from vacation, clear Enable Vacation.

4. In the Message area, enter the message to send as a reply to mail while the user is away.
5. If a vacation message has already been in use, you have the following options:
   • Click View Recipients to see what email addresses have received the vacation message.
   • Click Delete old recipients to clear the recipients list. (You might do this if the user takes frequent vacations and has a standard vacation message that gets enabled each time: you would Delete old recipients each time you re-enable the vacation message for a new vacation.)
6. Click Apply.

When you enable the vacation feature, IMail Server stores the message in the vacation.ima file. The presence of this file in a user's directory activates the vacation processing feature. The contents of this file are mailed to those who send mail to the user. Once a vacation message has been set up for one user, the vacation.ima file can be copied to the home directories of other users. See "Applying User Settings to other Users".

Note: Users can also set up vacation messages in Web Messaging by selecting Change Vacation Message > Personal Account Options.

Viewing the List of Sender Email Addresses

IMail Server maintains a file (vacation.snt) that lists addresses to whom the vacation message has been sent. If you want to view the list, click View recipients on the Vacation tab.

Clearing the List of Sender Email Addresses

If you want to clear the list of sender email addresses in the vacation.snt file, click Delete old recipients on the Vacation tab and the vacation.snt file is deleted when you click OK.

Sending an Automated Response to Every E-Mail

Instead of sending just one response to each sender, you can also send a message in response to each and every email received, regardless of whether the sender has been previously notified of the vacation or not. To do this, use the Info Manager feature as described in "Using the Info Manager".

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