AutoReply flow

Purpose

In Microsoft 365, each user can control personal automatic reply settings (formerly "Out of Office Assistant").

Most businesses that use Microsoft 365 need auto-replies for messages sent to common corporate addresses (support@contoso.com, info@contoso.com, etc.). Companies usually use a combination of a shared mailbox and an Outlook rule called "Have server reply using a specific message".

However, there are some disadvantages to this method:

• The auto-reply is sent to the address specified in the From field of the original message. It ignores the Reply-To address if one is present.
• The subject line of the auto-reply is always the same. It does not correspond to the subject line of the original message.
• The body of the auto-reply does not include the original message text.
• Nothing stops the rule from replying to other auto-responders, which creates mail loops.

The AutoReply flow has the following features:

1. The subject line of the auto-reply consists of a prefix ("Confirmation:", "AutoReply:", etc.) and the subject line of the original message. You set the prefix by typing it into the Subject field of your template message. There is no need to edit the flow itself.
2. If the original message has a distinct Reply-To address, the auto-reply goes there instead of the From address. If Reply-To is absent, or matches the sender's own From address, the reply goes to From as normal.
3. You control the entire content of the auto-reply (subject, body in HTML or plain text, and attachments) by maintaining a single template message in an "Autoreply" folder inside the shared mailbox. Change the template at any time, without touching the flow.
4. The auto-reply can optionally quote the sender's original message underneath your reply text, with a From: / Reply-To: / Sent: / To: / Subject: header and a UTC timestamp.
5. Built-in loop protection: the flow checks the incoming message's type, its Auto-Submitted header, and a broad set of no-reply-style sender patterns (noreply@, no-reply@, donotreply@, postmaster@, mailer-daemon@, bounce@, and others), and never replies to itself. Every auto-reply the flow sends carries an X-AutoReplied header, so other systems can be configured to recognize it.

Current version: 1.0.0.7

Installation

Prerequisite: the connection account needs Full Access and Send As on the shared mailbox.

1. The flow uses the "Office 365 Outlook" and "Office 365 Groups" connections. When importing the flow, use your existing connections or create new ones.
   
2. Open Power Automate and import "autoreplyflow_shared_1007.zip", following the Power Automate documentation.
   
3. In the flow's trigger, enter the User Principal Name (UPN) of your shared mailbox in the "Original Mailbox Address" field. Select "Inbox" in the "Folder" field. Turn on Split On and select the array as shown in the picture. Save the flow.
   
4. Create a top-level "Autoreply" folder in the shared mailbox and add one message to it as your reply template. The subject of the message becomes the prefix, and its body and attachments become the content of the auto-reply. See the first picture on this page.
5. Turn on the flow.
   

Limitations

Warning

After Purchase

You will receive a download link for the ZIP file. Import it into Power Automate as described in the Installation section.

Pricing and Licensing

License type

Price per unit

Single license

$99.00

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