Overview

When trying to set an Out of Office message in Microsoft Outlook the following error is encountered:

Your automatic reply settings cannot be displayed, because the server is currently unavailable. Try again later.

Environment

• GFI WebMonitor
• Microsoft Exchange 2010
• Microsoft Outlook 2003, 2007, 2010

Root Cause

Microsoft Exchange 2010 server changes the way users set Out of Office messages. It is now done through an Out of Office URL which GFI WebMonitor can block if GFI WebMonitor is set to filter internal / LAN traffic, this process will exclude the Out of Office URL from being blocked.

Process

Verify whether the Microsoft Outlook connection to Microsoft Exchange server is via TCP / IP:

1. Hold down the CTRL key and right-click on the Microsoft Outlook icon in the systray and choose Connection Status.
   
   
2. In the new window, look under the Conn column and see what it lists for the connection type:
   
   
   
3. If the Connection type displays HTTP or HTTPS, then you will need to add the URL of the Microsoft Exchange server to Excluded Sites under the Exceptions section of your Web Filtering Policy.
   
4. If the Connection type lists TCP / IP, then hold down the CTRL key and right-click on the Microsoft Outlook icon in the systray and choose Test E-mail AutoConfiguration.
   
   
   1. In the new window, enter an email address, click on Test, then scroll down until you see OOF URL:
      
      
      
      
   2. Add the URL listed to Excluded Sites under the Exceptions section of your Web Filtering Policy.
      
   3. Log out of the workstation.
      
   4. Log back in and you should now be able to set an Out of Office message.