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We were checking out the keywords people regularly search for on Novell.com (using our site search as well as Google), and spotted a recurring desire to know how to set a vacation rule. This is no great surprise. We all love to take vacations, and particularly love to let our co-workers know that we are taking them. This is one of life's simple pleasures. And to make it even more pleasurable, GroupWise 2012 has vastly streamlined the way you set it all up.
Rule creation in general can be a fairly complex undertaking. And in earlier versions of GroupWise, you had to roll up your sleeves and figure out a bit of if/then logic to set it all up. Not hard, just a little complicated. This older Vacation Rule article, written in 2004, shows just how complicated it was (and still is, for those of you still using GroupWise 6,7, and 8). Look at the comments at the bottom of the article to see all the little twists and variations people used on their own vacation rules. Very fun, in a Sudoku kind of way.
Anyway, we thought it was high time to write about how to do it in GroupWise 2012. It's almost too easy to need an article, but for those of you who might find it useful, here goes.
When you get back from vacation, there's no need to turn off your vacation rule. Because you told it the End Date (Step 6), GroupWise stops replying with your message once the vacation period has ended.
If you change your plans, or (shudder) get back from vacation early, you can manually turn off your vacation rule like this:
On the main WebAccess page, click the Options icon , then click Options.
NOTE: this is a bit clumsier to use than Windows, Mac and Linux. You have to turn this on when you leave, and turn it off when you return. There's no date range selector, so GroupWise will dutifully reply with your Out of Office message forever unless you turn it off.
Good to Know
Your vacation rule will automatically block out the days of your vacation on your calendar, so people will know they can't schedule you for meetings while you're away.
Also, GroupWise will keep track of everyone who has been sent your Out of Office message, and will only send it once per user. Just part of our quest to reduce spam in your mailbox.
If you have anything to add, please post a comment. Do you have any interesting horror stories about Vacation Rules gone awry in GroupWise or any other email program? We'd love to see them.