Choose a short message, a responsible alternative contact and clear start and stop dates. Avoid publishing unnecessary personal details. Set an interval so one sender does not receive a reply to every message in a long conversation.

1. Open Autoresponders in cPanel and select Add Autoresponder. Choose the correct email address and domain.
2. Use a suitable character set such as UTF-8, enter the interval in hours, and fill in the From name, subject and body. Select HTML only if the body actually contains intended HTML formatting.
3. Set the start and stop times and review the displayed schedule. Confirm the date and time interpretation rather than assuming another person’s time zone.
4. Create the autoresponder and test from an external address. Repeat tests with awareness that the interval may intentionally suppress another reply to the same sender.
5. When you return, confirm the responder has ended or remove it from the current autoresponders list.

Subject: Thank you for your message

Thank you for contacting me. I will return on [return date] and will review your message when I am back.

For an urgent request, contact [alternative team or person] at [working email address].

Replace every bracketed item before enabling the responder. Test the alternative address and choose a response interval that avoids sending the same person repeated replies during one conversation. The original message must still reach a monitored mailbox.

Check that the original message reaches the mailbox and that the reply is accurate and readable. Ensure the alternative contact address works.

Spam handling and response intervals can explain why a repeated test gets no automatic reply. If replies continue unexpectedly, inspect the end date and any separate responder in an email client or external mail service. Avoid multiple responders that can send conflicting messages.

• Opening cPanel webmail securely
• Forwarding a cPanel email address to another inbox
• Configuring cPanel spam filtering and the Spam Box
• Changing an email mailbox password in cPanel
• Creating a moderated announcement list with cPanel Mailing Lists

• cPanel documentation