How to put your leave on Outlook

Three ways to say you are away

First, automatic replies. Set a period and mail that arrives during it gets the message you wrote. Second, an all day out of office event on your own calendar, so anyone checking your availability sees the day as taken. Third, the same dates sent to your colleagues' calendars.

Automatic replies work on a work mail account. The support page says they are not supported on POP or IMAP accounts.

Set automatic replies

In new Outlook, open the View tab, select View settings, then Accounts and Automatic Replies. Turn them on and write your message. Turn on Send replies only during a time period, enter the start and end, and select Save. Send replies only to contacts limits them to people in your address book.

In classic Outlook, select File, then Automatic Replies. Choose Send automatic replies and set the date range. The Inside My Organization and Outside My Organization tabs take separate messages. Select OK.

In Outlook on the web, open Settings, then Account and Automatic replies. Turn on Send replies only during a time period, enter the start and end, and select Save.

The support page says the replies switch off at the date and time you enter as the end. You do not have to turn them off on your first day back. Without a period they keep going until you turn them off.

Mark out of office on your own calendar

In new Outlook, select New event and turn on All day. In the Options group, open Free/Busy, choose Out of office, and select Save.

In classic Outlook, create a New Appointment, turn on All day event, set Show As to Out of office, and select Save and Close.

Anyone with permission to see your calendar then sees that day as not free.

Put a notice on your colleagues' calendars

Sending the same dates to your colleagues means they see you are away without opening your calendar. The event must not block their day, so mark it Free and turn off response requests.

In new Outlook, right click the out of office event you just made and choose Duplicate event. Under Response Options, clear Request Responses. Change Free/Busy to Free. Invite your colleagues as attendees and select Send.

In classic Outlook, create a New Meeting and turn on All day event. Clear Request Responses, set Show As to Free, add your colleagues and select Send. Make the out of office event on your own calendar separately, as in the previous section.

Calendar sharing permissions

To let a colleague see your calendar all the time, open Calendar in Outlook on the web, select Share on the toolbar, and choose the calendar. Enter their name or email address, choose a permission level, and select Share.

There are five levels: Can view when I'm busy, Can view titles and locations, Can view all details, Can edit, and Delegate. If all they need is your leave dates, the first level is enough.

Is there a legal order when leave overlaps?

The statute does not say who gives way when two people want the same day. Article 60(5) of the Labor Standards Act says the employer shall grant leave at the time the worker requests, and may move it only where granting it then would seriously disrupt business.

So when two requests land on the same day, who goes first is decided by your company's work rules or your team's practice. Some teams go by who asked first. Some give priority to whoever gave way last year. Some approve only requests that already name a cover. This article does not say which is right.

Putting your dates on the calendar first does not give you priority. Sending them to your colleagues does make a clash visible early. If you do not know which rule your team uses, check the work rules or ask your manager.

What this article does not cover

If your screen differs from what is written here, open the support pages linked below. This article only transcribes menu labels. Your company's leave request procedure is separate, and a calendar entry is a notice, not a request.

How many days of leave you have and when they expire is what the calculator on this site works out. Enter your start date and it lists accrual and expiry dates.