How To Enable Out of Office in Microsoft Teams

Sometimes it’s kinda weird how Microsoft Teams handles out-of-office messages. You set one up, and it looks fine for a while, but then for whatever reason, your status gets stuck or doesn’t update everywhere as it should. Like, you turn it off in Outlook, but Teams still shows you as out of office — super frustrating if you don’t catch it quickly. Or maybe you want to quickly set an out-of-office message just for a day or two without messing with the whole Outlook setup. These things can be a bit fiddly, especially if you’re on a tight schedule or managing multiple devices. The good news is, there are a couple of ways to set or disable this so your status actually matches what you’re doing. Mostly, it’s about making sure your automatic replies and Teams status sync up properly, but sometimes, you gotta go a little deeper to fix it. That’s what this walkthrough covers: how to set your Out-of-office in Teams directly, how to do it in Outlook, and how to clear it if the system gets stubborn. Because, of course, this stuff shouldn’t be so hard, but it kind of is.

How to Fix Your Out-of-Office in Microsoft Teams and Outlook

Using the Profile Icon on the Microsoft Teams App

This is the quick and easy way if you just want to throw in a message and tell folks you’re away — works on Windows, Mac, mobile, basically everywhere you run Teams. Setting it directly in Teams helps if Outlook isn’t updated or isn’t syncing right.

1. Launch the Microsoft Teams app and log in if needed.
2. Click your Profile icon in the top-right corner.
3. Select “Set status message”.
4. Type your custom out-of-office message. Make it clear, concise — or whatever feels right. Usually, people just say something like “Out for a bit, will reply later.”
5. Check the box for Show when people message me — this makes sure it’s visible to anyone messaging you.
6. In the Clear status message after dropdown, pick how long you want this message to stay up. You can choose preset times or go for Custom and set dates manually.

On some setups, this can be a little flaky, so if it doesn’t show up immediately, try restarting Teams or logging out and back in. If you’re planning to schedule it for later, you might see a Schedule out of office option too – but that’s only if you’re signed in with a work or school account linked to Microsoft 365, not a personal account.

1. Choose Schedule out of office.
2. Toggle on Turn on automatic replies.
3. Write your message in the box.
4. Select the checkbox for Send replies only during a time period and pick the dates.
5. Optionally, check Send replies outside my organization and decide if external folks get the message.
6. Hit Done.

Using Automatic Replies on Outlook — a better app for longer trips

This one’s what officially links your out-of-office to both Outlook and Teams, so if you don’t want to mess with settings twice, it’s the way to go. But sometimes, Outlook can be slow or out of sync, especially if you’re on a web version or mobile. Also, if Teams still shows you as out after turning off Outlook replies, that’s a sign to troubleshoot a bit more.

1. Open your browser, head over to Outlook on the web, and log in.
2. Click the gear icon in the top-right corner to open settings.
3. Go to Mail > Automatic replies.
4. Switch the toggle for Automatic replies on.
5. If you want it for a specific time (say, your vacation days), check Send replies only during and set your dates.
6. Type your out-of-office message in the box for inside your organization. For example: “Out until Monday, will respond then.”
7. If needed, enable Send replies outside your organization and put a different message — helpful if you want to be polite to clients or external contacts.
8. Finally, click Save. Sometimes it’s quirky, so double-check after a couple of minutes if it shows up in Teams.

How to Clear or Turn Off Out of Office in Teams or Outlook

Disabling in Microsoft Teams

If Team’s still acting like you’re out even after turning off automatic replies, or if you want to clear the message for good, do this:

1. Open Microsoft Teams.
2. Click your Profile icon, then hover over the current status message.
3. Click the trash icon next to it to delete the message.
4. This should clear your out-of-office tag, but sometimes Teams needs a restart to recognize the change — just a heads-up.

Turning Off Automatic Replies in Outlook Web

So, if your Outlook automatic reply is still active and showing as out of office in Teams, do this:

1. Log in to Outlook Web.
2. Click the gear icon top-right.
3. Navigate again to Mail > Automatic replies.
4. Switch Automatic replies off.
5. Don’t forget to hit Save, or it’ll keep running in the background.