Out-of-office (OOF)

Observations on Outlook's Out Of Office Handling

OOF dialog

When setting up an OOF timespan in Outlook, it will consider OOF to be "on" and show the OOF config button with yellow background only if the current time is within the timespan. As time progresses forward and the OOF period has begun, Outlook will not update itself; some event (e.g. incoming mail) needs to happen before it turns yellow.

This OOF state is written to the PR_OOF_STATE property on the store object when the OOF dialog config is applied, and it will not be updated even after the OOF yellow background shows.

Exchange Server evaluates almost nothing of this at all. It ignores PR_OOF_STATE, and ignores the PR_BODY texts stored in the FAI message. Editing the FAI messages' PR_BODY will not change the automatic reply body. Changing e.g. the PR_MESSAGE_CLASS however will make Exchange stop sending the reply, even if it is changed back afterwards.

OOF is get/set by Outlook using the EWS API instead.

MAPI only gets gratitious copies, and only of certain information, making those copies practically useless.

OOF levels

OL offers four stiff levels:

OOF_DISABLED
OOF_INTERNAL: internal members (this organization) only
OOF_CONTACTS: internal, and user's contacts
OOF_EXTERNAL: internal, and externals

There is no way to, for example, enable OOF for just externals.

Rule 1

When the OOF level is >= OOF_INTERNAL, this rule will be created (in PR_RULES_TABLE, but not PR_RW_RULES_STREAM):

PR_RULE_NAME="Microsoft.Exchange.OOF.InternalSenders.Global"
PR_RULE_PROVIDER="Microsoft Exchange OOF Assistant"
PR_RULE_ACTIONS={
    lpActions->ulVersion = 0x00000001 = EDK_RULES_VERSION
    lpActions->cActions = 0x00000001
    lpActions->lpAction[0x00000000]:
    lpAction->acttype = 0x00000004 = OP_OOF_REPLY
    lpAction->lpRes:
    lpRes was NULL
    lpAction->ulFlags = 0x00000000 =
    lpAction->actReply.lpEntryId:
    cb: 70 lpb: 00000000EA01816B84555A47AB5BE61FE0BBB21E070066E7E68ED3C93F4DA3C31C8011FD60FC000000A8B1550000325AA2D15223B0449E3A8B4C7F5959B00001664AB6140000
        => references PR_ENTRYID of FAI message
    actReply.guidReplyTemplate = {BD9B44ED-D910-4E11-99DA-D2B0FCA0CA30} = Unknown GUID
        => references PR_REPLY_TEMPLATE_ID of FAI message
    lpAction->ulActionFlavor = 0x00000000 = OP_OOF_REPLY
    lpAction->lpPropTagArray = NULL
}
PR_RULE_CONDITION=NULL
PR_RULE_STATE=ST_KEEP_OOF_HIST | ST_CLEAR_OOF_HIST | 0x100

FAI message:

PR_MESSAGE_CLASS="IPM.Note.Rules.OofTemplate.Microsoft"
PR_ENTRYID=<as specified in actReply.lpEntryId>
PR_REPLY_TEMPLATE_ID=<as specified in guidReplyTemplate>

This rule has no conditions stored whatsoever.

Rule 2

When the OOF level is >= OOF_CONTACTS, this rule will be created:

PR_RULE_NAME="Microsoft.Exchange.OOF.AllExternalSenders.Global"
PR_RULE_PROVIDER="Microsoft Exchange OOF Assistant"
PR_RULE_ACTIONS={
{
    lpActions->ulVersion = 0x00000001 = EDK_RULES_VERSION
    lpActions->cActions = 0x00000001
    lpActions->lpAction[0x00000000]:
    lpAction->acttype = 0x00000004 = OP_OOF_REPLY
    lpAction->lpRes: NULL
    lpAction->ulFlags = 0x00000000 =
    lpAction->actReply.lpEntryId:
    cb: 70 lpb: 00000000EA01816B84555A47AB5BE61FE0BBB21E070066E7E68ED3C93F4DA3C31C8011FD60FC000000A8B1550000325AA2D15223B0449E3A8B4C7F5959B000016B2EF60B0000
    <entryid of a FAI message>
    actReply.guidReplyTemplate = {DF9FE98E-A4E7-4EDF-990C-DF172ECFBC4D} = Unknown GUID
    <PR_REPLY_TEMPLATE of said FAI message>
    lpAction->ulActionFlavor = 0x00000000 = OP_OOF_REPLY
    lpAction->lpPropTagArray = NULL
}
PR_RULE_CONDITION=NULL
PR_RULE_STATE=ST_KEEP_OOF_HIST | 0x100

FAI message:

PR_MESSAGE_CLASS="IPM.Note.Rules.ExternalOofTemplate.Microsoft"
PR_ENTRYID=<as specified in actReply.lpEntryId>
PR_REPLY_TEMPLATE_ID=<as specified in guidReplyTemplate>