Funny Out of Office Messages That Still Do the Job
FunnyBACK ON ...
SubjectOut of office
My email is behaving like me and taking a break until . at is awake, available and helpful until then.
Skip this one the sender list includes clients or strangers who do not know your voice
Professional · short · 1 of 2
Also for your time off
Where does it go?
The joke goes between the facts, never in place of them, which is how this reply stays useful to someone with a real deadline: "I am out of the office until October 14. If this email is urgent, Priya Nair at priya.nair@yourcompany.com can help. If it is not urgent, congratulations, you have time to make tea."
The joke is never about why you are away, who covers for you or the sender's problem, it is safest when your inbox is mostly colleagues who know your voice, and if a client in a crisis would wince at it, choose the drier version.
All 12 replies on this page
Type your details in the writer and every reply below fills itself in.
Professional 4
My email is behaving like me and taking a break until [Back on]. [Who covers] at [Their email] is awake, available and helpful until then.
Short
Skip if: the sender list includes clients or strangers who do not know your voice
I will read your email on [Back on] and not one minute before, so thank you for sending it. Until then, [Who covers] ([Their email]) is handling my work with great competence.
Short
Skip if: the sender list includes clients or strangers who do not know your voice
In my absence from [Away from] to [Back on], this inbox is being managed by a very patient algorithm that cannot approve anything. For decisions, answers and other human tasks, please contact [Who covers] at [Their email], who is covering for me and has been fully briefed. I will reply to everything else when I return on [Back on].
Longer
Skip if: the sender list includes clients or strangers who do not know your voice
I have been reliably informed that the company will continue to function without me while I am out of the office between [Away from] and [Back on]. If your matter is urgent, [Who covers] is covering and can be reached at [Their email]; they are very good and only slightly busier than before. I look forward to replying to the rest on my return.
Longer
Skip if: the sender list includes clients or strangers who do not know your voice
Warm 4
Hello! I am away until [Back on], having a well-timed break from screens. If you need something before then, [Who covers] at [Their email] is your friendly stand-in. Back soon, with stories.
Short
Skip if: the sender list includes clients or strangers who do not know your voice
My inbox is on a digital detox from [Away from] to [Back on], so thanks for writing and bear with me. [Who covers] ([Their email]) is happily covering. See you on the other side.
Short
Skip if: the sender list includes clients or strangers who do not know your voice
Hi there, and thanks for your email. I am away from [Away from] to [Back on], which means I am currently somewhere with no deadlines and a questionable amount of ice cream. If you need help before I am back, [Who covers] is covering and would be delighted to hear from you at [Their email]. I will reply with enthusiasm and slightly sunburnt fingers on [Back on].
Longer
Skip if: the sender list includes clients or strangers who do not know your voice
Hello, lovely person who has emailed me. I'm out of the office until [Back on] and have left my laptop behind, which was hard, so please appreciate the sacrifice. [Who covers] is looking after everything while I am away ([Their email]); they are wonderful and will not leave you hanging. I will be back on [Back on] and will reply to you then.
Longer
Skip if: the sender list includes clients or strangers who do not know your voice
Funny 4
I am out of the office until [Back on]. If this email is urgent, [Who covers] at [Their email] can help. If it is not urgent, congratulations, you have time to make tea.
Short
Skip if: the sender list includes clients or strangers who do not know your voice
Out of office from [Away from] to [Back on]. Your email has been received, admired and filed under Later. For Now, there is [Who covers] at [Their email].
Short
Skip if: the sender list includes clients or strangers who do not know your voice
Not ignoring you, merely absent: I am out of the office from [Away from] to [Back on], and I have set up this reply so you know. In the unlikely event that something cannot wait, [Who covers] is covering and is reachable at [Their email]; they are real, present and considerably more useful than this message. Everything else will be answered on [Back on], in roughly the order it arrived.
Longer
Skip if: the sender list includes clients or strangers who do not know your voice
Hello. This is [Your name]'s inbox, which is currently unsupervised while I am away from [Away from] to [Back on]. I would tell you where I am, but then you would be jealous, and that helps neither of us. For anything that needs a real person, [Who covers] at [Their email] is covering and has promised to be nice about it. Normal service resumes on [Back on].
Longer
Skip if: the sender list includes clients or strangers who do not know your voice
What to leave out
Jokes about the reason for the absence. Leave, illness and loss are never the punchline.
Teasing the cover contact. They are doing you a favor and the sender needs to trust them.
A reply without dates or a contact. The joke replaces nothing; it sits on top of the facts.
Humor that depends on knowing you. Half your senders are strangers, recruiters and suppliers.
A long bit. One joke, three lines, then the information; nobody reads the second paragraph of an auto reply.
Filling it in
On this page the tone picker sets how far the joke goes: professional is dry enough for a client inbox, warm is playful, funny goes all in. Enter the dates and the cover contact as usual; every version keeps them. Read the result once imagining your most serious sender, then copy it.
Questions people ask
How do you write a funny out of office message that is still professional?
Keep the three facts and put the joke between them: dates, one line of humor, cover contact. The reason for your absence, the person covering and the sender's problem are all off limits as material. The tone picker here sets the strength of the joke, from a dry aside a client could read to a full routine for a team inbox. Before you copy, picture the most serious person who emails you reading it.
How do you end a funny auto reply?
With the information, not with another joke. The last line of a good funny reply is the cover contact or the return date, because that is what the sender scrolls for. If you want a light closer, make it one short clause after the facts, never a second paragraph, since an auto reply is skimmed to the contact line and no further. The funny items here all finish on a fact.
Is a funny out of office message a bad idea for clients?
It depends on the clients, and the risk is uneven: the one who is mid-crisis will not laugh, and that is the one who remembers. If your inbox mixes colleagues and clients, pick the dry version, which reads as personality to a friend and as politeness to a stranger. Outlook lets you set a different reply for external senders, which is the cleanest fix: funny for inside, professional for outside.
To
Everyone leaving soon
From
Department of Being Elsewhere
Re
Before you go
The auto reply is one of five things. The other four take about ten minutes and prevent most of the emails you will read when you get back.