25 Out-of-Office Message Examples (Copy & Paste)

A good out-of-office message answers four questions in three sentences: when you left, when you'll reply, who to contact instead, and how urgent things should be handled. Below are 25 examples you can copy, paste, and adjust in under a minute — sorted by vacation, sick leave, parental leave, and holidays — plus the short formula that makes any of them work.

The formula behind every good OOO

Before the examples, here's the skeleton. Every message below is built from these parts, and you can mix and match them:

1. The dates. "I'm away from March 3 to March 10." Specific dates beat "for a week."
2. The return-to-email day. When you'll actually start replying, which is often a day after you're back.
3. The backup contact. A name and an email, ideally for something specific ("for billing questions, email...").
4. The urgency valve. What to do if it genuinely can't wait.

Leave out any of these and you create work for someone. The most common mistake is the missing backup contact — it turns your auto-reply into a dead end.

Vacation out-of-office messages

These are the workhorses. Use a warm-but-brief tone, name a backup, and give a hard return date.

1. Short and standard

Thanks for your email. I'm out of the office on vacation from June 9 through June 16 with limited access to email. I'll respond when I return on June 17. For anything urgent, please contact Dana Ruiz at dana@company.com.

2. Fully unplugged

I'm away from work and completely offline until July 1. I won't be checking email during this time. If you need help before then, reach out to our support team at help@company.com and someone will assist you. I'll reply to your message after I'm back.

3. With a specific backup per topic

Hi, thanks for reaching out. I'm on vacation until August 4. For client account questions, email Priya Nair at priya@company.com. For anything related to invoices or billing, email accounts@company.com. I'll get to all other messages when I return.

4. Friendly and human

Hello! I'm taking a much-needed break and will be out until September 2. I won't see your email until then, but I promise to reply once I'm back and caffeinated. For urgent matters, Marcus Bell (marcus@company.com) is covering for me.

5. Short trip, light coverage

I'm out of office Thursday and Friday and back Monday. I'll have occasional access to email and will respond to urgent items only. Everything else I'll handle Monday morning. Thanks for your patience.

6. Long trip, clear boundaries

Thank you for your message. I'm traveling and out of office from October 14 to November 3. I'm not monitoring this inbox. For immediate assistance, please contact my manager, Lena Ford, at lena@company.com. I appreciate your understanding and will reply on my return.

7. Internal-only (for teammates)

Heads up — I'm off this week and back next Monday. Slack me only if it's on fire. Otherwise drop it in my queue and I'll triage when I'm back. Aisha has the deploy keys if anything ships.

Sick-leave out-of-office messages

The rule for sick leave: you owe people a backup contact, not a diagnosis. Keep it factual and short. If you don't know when you'll be back, say so honestly.

8. Single sick day

I'm out of office today and not checking email. I'll respond to your message tomorrow. If it's urgent, please contact Sam Okafor at sam@company.com.

9. Open-ended (unsure of return)

Thank you for your email. I'm currently out on sick leave and not able to respond. I'm not sure of my exact return date yet. For anything that needs attention before I'm back, please contact help@company.com or my manager, Tom Reyes, at tom@company.com.

10. Few days, known return

I'm out sick and expect to be back on Wednesday, May 21. I'm offline until then. For urgent matters, please reach Nadia Khan at nadia@company.com. I'll reply to everything else when I return.

11. Minimal and private

I'm away from the office and will respond when I return. For immediate help, please contact our team at support@company.com. Thank you.

12. Recovery / medical leave

Thanks for reaching out. I'm on medical leave and away from email through the end of the month. My colleague Jordan Pierce is handling my projects in the meantime and can be reached at jordan@company.com. I'll follow up with you once I'm back.

Parental-leave out-of-office messages

Parental leave is long, so people genuinely need to know who's in charge while you're gone. A warmer tone is expected and welcome. Always name a primary backup and a return month.

13. Maternity / standard

Thank you for your email. I'm on parental leave and away from the office until approximately March 2027. I won't be reading this inbox during that time. For all matters related to my work, please contact Riley Chen at riley@company.com, who is covering for me. I look forward to reconnecting when I return.

14. Paternity / shorter leave

I'm out on parental leave from February 3 to March 31 and will not be checking email. For anything urgent, please reach out to Dev Patel at dev@company.com. I'll respond to your message after I return at the start of April. Thanks for understanding.

15. With a clear handoff

Hello, and thanks for getting in touch. I'm on parental leave through the summer and offline until September. While I'm away, Casey Morgan (casey@company.com) is the point of contact for my accounts and can help with anything you need. I'll review messages on my return and reply to anything still open.

16. Warm and brief

I'm away on parental leave welcoming a new addition to the family, and I'll be back in the office in late August. During this time, please direct any questions to Harper Lee at harper@company.com. I'll reconnect with you when I'm back.

17. Phased return

I'm returning from parental leave and working a reduced schedule through the end of October, so my replies may be slower than usual. For time-sensitive items, please contact Robin Yu at robin@company.com. Thank you for your patience as I get back up to speed.

Holiday and company-closure messages

These cover public holidays, year-end shutdowns, and the awkward week between Christmas and New Year. The key extra detail is the business reopening date.

18. Single public holiday

Our office is closed for the holiday on Monday, July 6, and will reopen Tuesday, July 7. I'll respond to your message then. Thank you, and enjoy the long weekend.

19. Year-end shutdown

Thank you for your email. Our office is closed for the winter holidays from December 24 and will reopen on January 2. We're not monitoring email during this period. We'll respond to all messages in the order received once we're back. Wishing you a restful break.

20. Holiday with emergency line

Happy holidays! Our team is out for the season and the office is closed until January 5. For genuine emergencies only, please call our on-call line at 555-0142. For everything else, we'll be back and replying in the new year.

21. Personal holiday observance

I'm out of office observing the holiday and will return on Friday. I'm not checking email until then. For urgent matters, please contact Quinn Adams at quinn@company.com. Thanks for understanding.

22. Half-day / early close

Our office is closing early today at 1:00 PM and will resume normal hours tomorrow morning. If you've reached this auto-reply, I'll respond to your message first thing tomorrow. Thank you.

23. Long weekend, light staffing

Thanks for your email. We're running with limited staff over the long weekend and will reopen fully on Tuesday. Urgent requests will be triaged; everything else we'll handle once we're back at full strength. We appreciate your patience.

24. Bank holiday, regional

Our office is closed for the bank holiday and reopens the following business day. I'll reply to your message then. For anything that can't wait, please email our support team at support@company.com.

25. New-team-member-friendly closure

Our office is closed for the holiday week. During this time there's no one monitoring inboxes, so please don't expect a reply until we reopen on the date noted on our website. We'll respond as quickly as we can once we're back. Thanks for your understanding.

Which template fits which absence

Use this as a quick lookup when you're not sure how much detail to share:

Three small things that make a big difference

• Proofread the backup's email address. A typo here sends urgent mail into the void. Test it by emailing yourself.
• Match the message length to the absence. A one-day OOO with five paragraphs reads as nervous. A three-month leave with one line reads as careless.
• Switch it off on time. Returning and leaving the auto-reply running for two days tells clients you're still gone. Set a calendar reminder to disable it the morning you're back.

If you manage a team, OOO messages also surface a planning question: how much time off has everyone actually got, and is your coverage realistic? Before approving overlapping vacations, it helps to know each person's balance. You can sanity-check accrued days with our PTO accrual calculator, count actual working days lost to a holiday week with the working days calculator, and write a clear leave policy in minutes using the PTO policy generator so nobody's surprised by what counts as covered.

Closing

A well-written out-of-office message is a tiny thing that quietly protects your reputation and your coworkers' time. Steal any of the 25 above, swap in your dates and your backup, and you're done. And if the harder part — tracking who's off, when, and whether you have coverage — is what really eats your week, SimplyPTO gives small teams a simple shared calendar and balance tracker so the auto-replies practically write themselves.