Personal Computer Tutor
Personal Computer Tutor December 2009
How To Set Your Email Vacation Message
With the holidays coming up many of us will be out of town and not able to read our email regularly.  Some people like to set an email away message that is automatically sent back to someone who sends an email.  If you would like to set an away message here is how you do it for different email systems.

AOL 
Apple MobileMe (mac.com & me.com)
ATT
Comcast
Earthlink
Erols/Starpower/RCN
Gmail
Hotmail/MSN/Live
PeoplePC
Verizon
Yahoo
Your own domain name with 1and1 or GoDaddy or other email service.

How To Read Your Email When Away From Home
All the step-by-step instructions I have in this email give you the webmail address for your email service.  When you are away from your own computer simply go to this address to read and reply to your email.  Click on your service above to see the website address you go to so you won't miss any important emails while you are away.
 
Email Address Book
Most likely your email address book will not be the same on webmail as it is on your computer.  AOL users automatically have the same address book so they need not worry.  For others you will always be able to reply to anyone who sends you an email but if you will need to send a new email to someone then you might want to jot down their email address before you leave home. Depending on your email system there maybe a away to export the address book on your computer and import it into your webmail address book if you would like all of your contacts available in webmail, but this process is different for everyone's setup so we would need an appointment to accomplish that.
 
Safe travels!
AOLaol 
AOL Software (9.1, 9.5, etc)

If you use the AOL software 9.1 or 9.5 then:
  1. Go to your New Messages like you always do
  2. In the upper right-hand corner click on "Mail Options"
  3. Click on "Set Away Mail Message"
  4. Click the "On" circle
  5. Click the circle next to the message you want to send.  If you choose the message with "away until" then select the date from the drop down lists
  6. Click OK
When you return home follow steps 1-4 above and this time click on "Off" in step 4 and click OK.
AOL Mail Away Message

AOL email but not using AOL Software (Using Outlook, Outlook Express, Mac OSX Mail, etc.)
  1. Go to www.aol.com
  2. Click on "AOL Mail" on the right
  3. Sign in
  4. Click on "Settings" on the right-hand side
  5. Click on "General" on the left-hand side
  6. In the "Mail Away Message" area click the drop down list and select the message you would like to send
  7. Scroll down the page and click Save
When you return home follow steps 1-6 above and this time click "No mail away message" from the drop down list and scroll down and click Save.
Apple MobileMe (mac.com & me.com)apple
  1. Go to www.me.com 
  2. Log in
  3. Click on the "List of actions for Mail" button on the toolbar.  It looks like a gear.
  4. Click on "Preferences"
  5. Click on the "Other" button on the toolbar
  6. Check the box for "Automatically reply to email when it is received"
  7. Type your messages in the box
  8. Click "Save" bottom-right
When you return home follow steps 1-6 and uncheck the box and click Save.
ATTatt
  1. Go to http://webmail.att.net
  2. Type your user name and select att.net from the "Select domain" drop down list
  3. Type your password
  4. Click Go
  5. Click "Options" on the toolbar
  6. Under Account Management click "Vacation/Auto-Reply"
  7. Type a subject
  8. Type a message
  9. Select one of the "On" circles
  10. Click Save
When you return home follow steps 1-9 above and this time click the circle next to "Off" and click Save.
Comcastcomcast
  1. Go to www.comcast.net
  2. Click on "Email" on the right
  3. Sign in
  4. Click on "Preferences" on the toolbar
  5. Click on the Email tab
  6. Click "Auto Reply"
  7. Sign in again if necessary
  8. Click the circle next to "Enable email auto-reply"
  9. Type your message
  10. Click Save
When you return home follow steps 1-8 above and this time click the circle next to "Disable email auto-reply" and click Save.
Earthlinkearthlink
  1. Go to http://webmail.earthlink.net
  2. Sign In
  3. Click "Preferences" just above the Web Mail toolbar
  4. Click "Sending & Replying" tab
  5. Scroll down and click on "Vacation Message"
  6. Click the Enable box
  7. Select the "Start on" and "End after" dates using the drop down lists
  8. Type a subject and message
  9. Click Save bottom right
When you return home follow steps 1-7 above and this time uncheck the Enable box and click Save.
Erols/Starpower/RCNrcn
  1. Go to http://webmail.rcn.com
  2. Select your location
  3. On the right under "Webmail" (not under "My RCN Account") log in
  4. Click on "Options" top right
  5. On the left click on "Auto Reply"
  6. Click the circle next to "Yes"
  7. Type your subject
  8. Type your message
  9. Click "Apply" top left
When you return home follow steps 1-6 above and this time click "No" and click Apply.
Gmailgmail
  1. Go to www.gmail.com
  2. Sign in
  3. Click on "Settings" top right
  4. Scroll down to "Vacation Responder" area
  5. Click the circle next to 'Vacation Responder On"
  6. Type your subject
  7. Type your message
  8. Optional: If you want you can check the box next to "Only send a response to people in my Contacts"
  9. Click 'Save Changes" at the bottom
When you return home follow steps 1-5 above and this time click the circle next to "Vacation responder off" and click Save Changes.
Hotmail/MSN/Livehotmail
  1. Go to http://mail.live.com
  2. Sign in
  3. Click "Options" top right
  4. Click "More Options" on the drop down list
  5. Under "Manage your account" click "Send automated vacation replies"
  6. Click the circle next to "Send vacation replies to people who e-mail me"
  7. Type your message
  8. Scroll down and check or uncheck "Only reply to your contacts"
  9. Click Save bottom right
When you return home follow steps 1-6 above and this time click the circle next to "Don't send any vacation replies", scroll down and click Save.
PeoplePCpeoplepc
  1. Go to http://webmail.peoplepc.com
  2. Sign in
  3. Click "Preferences" just above the Web Mail toolbar
  4. Click "Sending & Replying" tab
  5. Scroll down and click on "Vacation Message"
  6. Click the "Enable" box
  7. Select the "Start on" and "End after" dates using the drop down lists
  8. Type a subject and message
  9. Click Save bottom right
When you return home follow steps 1-7 above and uncheck the "Enable" box and click Save.
Verizonverizon
  1. Go to http://webmail.verizon.net
  2. Sign in
  3. Click on "My Account" on the toolbar
  4. Sign in again if necessary
  5. Scroll down to "Vacation Reply"  and click "Edit"
  6. Click the circle next to "On"
  7. Type your message
  8. Click "Submit"
When you return home follow steps 1-6 above and this time click the circle next to "Off" and click Submit.
Yahooyahoo
  1. Go to http://mail.yahoo.com
  2. Sign in
  3. Click on "Options" top left
  4. Click on "Mail Options" from the drop down list
  5. On the left click on "Vacation Response"
  6. Click on "Enable auto-response during your vacation"
  7. Select the start and end dates from the drop down lists
  8. Type your message
  9. Optional: If you want to get fancy to can send a different message to certain domains (for example, to anyone who emails you from work) in the "Special Response" area.
  10. Scroll down and click "Turn Auto-Response On"
When you return home you do not have to do anything because you already specified an "End date" to your Vacation Response so no more auto reply messages will go out.
1and1oneandone
If you own your own domain name (like pctutor.com) and I set you up with 1and1 email, here are your steps:
  1. Go to http://email.1and1.com (this is the new address for 1and1 Webmail 2.0)
  2. Login
  3. Click the "Configuration" button top right.  It looks like a wrench.
  4. On the left-hand side click "Extras"
  5. Click "Auto-Responder"
  6. Click circle next to "On"
  7. Type a subject
  8. Type your name or email address in "From" box
  9. Type your message
  10. Scroll down and click OK
When you return home follow steps 1-6 above and this time click "Off" and scroll down and click OK.
GoDaddygodaddy
If you have your own domain name with GoDaddy, here are your steps:
  1. Go to https://email.secureserver.net
  2. Login
Since I don't have a GoDaddy account that is as far as I can take you with my step-by-step instructions.  Basically once you are in your email look for "Options" or "Preferences" where you can set your "Vacation Response" or "Auto Reply".
Other Email Servicesother
If your email is with another email service I have not listed then you will need to:
  1. Figure out what the "Webmail" address is for your service and go to it.  Call the Tech support for your email service to find out the webmail address.
  2. Sign in to your account
  3. Look for "Options" or "Preferences" where you can set your "Vacation Response" or "Auto Reply".
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Personal Computer Tutor
Claude Kerno
719.650.9916
ckerno@pctutor.com - www.pctutor.com