Replies4 steps · 2 FAQ

Out-of-office replies and the return-date hold

An out-of-office is never treated as a reply, and when it gives a return date MailFleet waits for that day before sending the next step or making a task due.

Where: Automatic — Replies shows "Out of office" with a "Back <date>" chip; the line under the lead's name in Replies, the lead panel in a campaign's Leads tab and Tasks show "Out of office until <date>"

How to do it

  1. Nothing to set up. When an auto-reply arrives it is tagged OOO and labelled "Out of office" in the Replies list.
  2. Open the conversation: under the lead's name it reads either "Out of office — next step held until Sep 21" (a return date was found) or "Out of office — the sequence continues as scheduled" (no date).
  3. Check the person in the campaign's Leads tab: the panel shows "Out of office until <date> · their auto-reply gave this date, so the next step and any open task wait for it." Tasks for them show "out of office until <date>".
  4. When they are back and actually reply, the hold ends by itself and the thread shows as a normal reply.

Good to know

  • An automatic reply is recognised from wording such as out of office, on leave / annual leave / maternity leave / sick leave, on holiday / on vacation, away until, back in the office, limited access to email, upon my return, automatic reply / auto-response, no longer with the company / has left the company, office is closed, bank holiday. It is checked before anything else, so an out-of-office that happens to contain "remove" or "not interested" is never read as a no.
  • An out-of-office never counts as a reply: the lead is not marked Replied, the sequence is not stopped, campaign counts don't move, nothing is forwarded to your inbox, and the Reply received, Reply — interested and Lead unsubscribed webhooks don't fire (only a Reply tagged webhook carrying the OOO tag is sent, when that tag is switched on for the campaign). It does show in the queue (and counts in the unread badge) so you can see it.
  • The return date is read from phrasings like "until 21st September", "returning Mon 21 September 2026", "back in the office on Thursday", "until 21/09/2026", "September 14-18" / "9/14 through 9/18" (back the day after the range), "until Friday 25th inclusive", "until after the bank holiday", "returning tomorrow", "back next week", "in December" — and from a subject like "Out of office until 21 Sep". Wording the rules can't place but that mentions a day, month or weekday is read once by AI.
  • Nothing is held without a date: "I will respond upon my return" leaves the sequence exactly on schedule. A stale date already in the past, and a date more than 366 days ahead, are ignored.
  • When a date is found, every active step for that person in every campaign is moved to the start of the return day in the campaign's timezone (or the person's own timezone when the campaign respects lead timezones), so the first send lands in the campaign's sending window on that day. Every open task for them becomes due when the window opens that day. Queued LinkedIn actions are dropped and queued again on the return day.
  • A hold only ever moves things later. A date earlier than what is already scheduled changes nothing, and a later out-of-office extends the hold.
  • The lead's activity line becomes "Out of office until Sep 21 — next step held" when something was actually moved.
  • A person who is away and gets enrolled in a new campaign starts on their return day, not immediately.
  • A real reply from the person ends the hold at once. Another out-of-office in the same thread keeps the "Out of office" label and can extend the hold.
  • On the Leads page the Engagement filter "Out of office" lists everyone who has sent an automatic reply; the "Replied" engagement filter leaves them out unless they also sent a real reply.

Questions people ask

Someone's auto-reply said they're away but the next email still went out — why?
The auto-reply gave no return date ("back soon", "upon my return"), so nothing was held. Only a readable date holds the sequence.
Can I set the return date myself?
Not directly. From the conversation you can pause them (More → Pause Lead) and resume when they're back, or add a follow-up task for their return date; you can also remove them from the campaign in its Leads tab.

More in Replies

RepliesThe Replies queueEvery answer from every mailbox and LinkedIn account lands in one inbox — folders, search and filters — so you never open inboxes one by one.RepliesReply tags and auto-taggingEvery reply is read and given one of eight tags that says what it means, so you can filter the queue and trigger subsequences without reading each message first.RepliesWhat a reply does to the lead and their campaignsThe moment someone writes back, their sequence stops and their lead status updates — no clean-up needed, and a Not interested reply pulls them out of everything.RepliesReplying from the queueAnswer a reply without leaving MailFleet — it goes out from the same address the person wrote to, with your signature, and stays in the conversation. Forward a message to a colleague the same way.

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