Somebody came into my office one day and ask me this question: How do i create an auto-reply in microsoft outlook. I am like this is easy just go to tools -> out of office. then she said i do not want an out of office but an auto reply. I want to auto-reply to the customer even if i am in the office. The rest is GOOGLE.. To create and auto reply in outlook just go to rule and alert and create a rule that when you receive a message outlook reply with an email template. That is all.