Holiday out of office messages: examples, and how to set them in Gmail and Outlook

A holiday out of office message tells people three things: that you are away, when you are back, and who to contact in the meantime. Below are messages you can copy for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year, then the steps to switch on an automatic reply in Gmail and in Outlook.

Holiday dates for 2026

The US Office of Personnel Management publishes the federal holiday calendar. Federal offices close on these days; private companies set their own hours, so use your company's dates where they differ.

Holiday out of office message examples

Thanksgiving, short:

Thanks for your email. I'm out for Thanksgiving on November 26 and 27 and will reply when I'm back on Monday, November 30.

Thanksgiving, with a contact:

Happy Thanksgiving. Our office is closed Thursday, November 26 and Friday, November 27. For anything urgent, please email support@example.com and the on-call team will help.

Christmas closure:

Thank you for your message. Our office is closed from December 24 through January 1 for the holidays. I'll reply after we reopen on Monday, January 4. Happy holidays.

Christmas, for clients with open work:

I'm away from December 23 and back on January 4. Your project is in good hands: Sam Lee (sam@example.com) is covering for me until then.

New Year:

Happy New Year. I'm out until Monday, January 4, and will answer your email then.

For colleagues inside the company:

Out December 24 to January 1. Sam has the client handovers; the shared drive has this week's notes.

Each one gives the return date as a weekday and a date. A reader can act on "Monday, January 4" without checking a calendar.

How to set an automatic reply in Gmail

Google calls it the vacation responder. Per Gmail Help:

1. On your computer, open Gmail.
2. At the top right, click Settings, then See all settings.
3. Under the General tab, go to the Vacation responder section.
4. Select Vacation responder on.
5. Fill in the date range, subject and message.
6. Optional: to send the reply to your contacts only, check the box under the message.
7. At the bottom of the page, click Save Changes.

The reply starts at 12:00 AM on the start date and ends at 11:59 PM on the end date. In most cases a person gets it the first time they write to you; they get it again if they write after four days with the reply still on, or after you edit it. Gmail also shows your signature below the reply.

How to set an automatic reply in Outlook

Microsoft's steps for the new Outlook for Windows:

1. On the View tab, select View settings.
2. Select Accounts, then Automatic Replies.
3. Turn on automatic replies.
4. Select Send replies only during a time period, and enter the start and end times.
5. Write the message for people inside your organization.
6. To reply to people outside it, select Send replies outside your organization and add a separate message.
7. Select Save.

Outlook can send one message to colleagues and another to everyone else, which suits the internal example above. Microsoft notes that replies outside your organization go to every email you receive, newsletters and junk included, and suggests Send replies only to contacts. Automatic replies in Outlook work for Exchange and Microsoft 365 accounts, not for Gmail, Yahoo or other POP and IMAP accounts added to Outlook.

Put the same dates in your signature

An automatic reply only answers mail that comes in. The holiday dates also belong on the mail you send in the weeks before the break, and a line under your signature carries them on every email. The holiday email signature page shows a company-wide version: one seasonal line under everyone's signature, set once and taken off in January.

Sources

Checked October 2, 2026:

• OPM: Federal Holidays
• Gmail Help: Send an automatic reply when you're out of office
• Microsoft Support: Send automatic replies (Out of Office) from Outlook