How to Easily Create an Auto Reply Message in macOS Mail

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Do you find yourself typing the same ol’ replies when using Mail in macOS? Not necessary, my friend. You can set up macOS Mail to respond automatically to incoming messages with a text you have pre-composed. It works well for an Out-of-Office Vacation message, but with Mac Mail’s extensive set of rules, you can auto-reply to just about anything, with anything.

Here’s how to set up an auto-response message in Mail:

Click to add a new rule in Mail Preferences

Launch Mail on your Mac, then open Mail > Preferences.
In the Preferences pane, click Rules, then select Add Rule.
The following box will pop up:

Rules

Description:

Enter a Description for the new rule, such as “Gone to run” in the first line.

If [any/all] of the following conditions are met:

A series of drop-down options will appear. Select “any” of the following conditions that are to be met in the second line.

[From]

In the third line, select an option in the drop-down list. You can choose from a variety of options such as the person whom the message is “From” to “Every Message.”

[Contains]

In the fourth line, select from options:
- contains
- does not contain
- begins with
- ends with
- equal to
Next to this dropdown, enter the email address you wish the rule to apply to.

Perform the following actions:

Where you see Perform the following actions, select Reply to Message from the drop-down menu.
A new item, Reply Message Text, will show up. Tap this, then create your auto-respond message. Click OK when you’re done.

Whatever text you enter will be sent to the person who emailed you. — The text you enter will be sent to the person who emailed you.

Turn On Your Autoresponder

Open Mail > Preferences > Rules and check the box next to your newly-created autoresponder message to activate it.

Turn Off Your Autoresponse

Select Mail > Preferences.
Go to the Rules category.
Make sure the rule corresponding to the autoresponse you want to disable is NOT checked in the Active column.
Close the Rules preferences window.

Delete Your Autoreply

To delete any rules, go to Mail > Preferences > Rules
Select the autoreply or other rule you’d like to delete and click “Remove.”

These instructions apply, for the most part, to other versions of macOS besides Catalina. However, I’m using Catalina on a 16-inch MacBook Pro for this tutorial.

4 Comments

aaa says:

June 27, 2023 at 3:01 am

After I followed this instruction, my mail box also started sending out-of-offices as a mad printer.
Scott Susan says:

June 9, 2022 at 10:31 am

when I follow these instructions, the automatic reply sends over 10 responses, until I de- activate the box. any suggestions?
Matt says:

March 22, 2021 at 4:05 pm

Hi Dennis,

Thanks for your article. Is it possible to view the autoreplies running from a rule in sent items at all?
George B says:

September 5, 2020 at 10:45 am

Is it easty to have an “auto-forward” set up?

Reason for this would be — having an email address with lttle traffic that is best kept separate from main mailbox — but don’t wish to miss the occassional message. An “auto-forward” to one’s main mailbox would provide an easy alert, when a message does come in, while retaining all emaail for that one account separately.