Prepare your PC for holiday
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Whether you're leaving the office for the holidays, going on vacation, or are going on a business trip, there are a number of things you can do to prepare your computer for your time away. Cancelling appointments and letting people know you'll be gone are just a few of the things you can do to make sure your responsibilities are covered and people aren't trying to meet with you.
Use some of these best practices to make sure your work goes on smoothly while you're gone.
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1. Decline Upcoming Meetings
Decline or cancel any upcoming meetings that are scheduled while you're gone. Co-workers will not expect you to be at meetings and will know not to attend recurring meetings you run.
To decline a meeting invitation in Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, open the meeting occurrence and click Decline.
Decline upcoming meetings so that co-workers will not expect you to attend.
If you're the organiser of the meeting, either send a cancellation or arrange for a co-worker to run the meeting. To cancel the meeting, open the meeting occurrence and in the Actions menu click Cancel Meeting.
Cancel meetings you have organised so that people don't show up for meetings when you're not there.
2. Update your Voice Mail Greeting
Record a voice message that lets people know you're going to be out of the office for an extended amount of time. Provide the name of the person to contact for immediate assistance and let people know when you plan to return.
3. Make Sure your Mailbox Doesn't Exceed its Size Limit
If you're gone for a long time, you run the risk of your Outlook mailbox exceeding the size limit set by your IT department. A full mailbox will prevent you from sending or receiving e-mail while you're gone. Before you leave, use the Mailbox Cleanup tool in Outlook to check the size of your mailbox and manage its size. To use Mailbox Cleanup, on the Tools menu, click Mailbox Cleanup.
With the Mailbox Cleanup tool you can do any of the following:
| • | View the total size of your mailbox and of individual folders within it. |
| • | Find items older than a certain date. |
| • | Find items that are larger than a certain size. |
| • | Archive items using AutoArchive. |
| • | View the size of your Deleted Items folder. |
| • | Empty your Deleted Items folder. |
| • | View the size of your Conflicts folder. |
| • | Delete your Conflicts folder. |
Manage the size of your Inbox using the Mailbox Cleanup tool.
4. Block Off Time in your Calendar
Mark your Outlook calendar to show your absence. Co-workers will see you're not available and won't schedule meetings you can't attend. To block off the time, just create an appointment in Outlook that shows you're out of the office.
To block off your time in Outlook:
1. | In the File menu, point to New and click Appointment. |
2. | In Start time, select the date you're leaving. In End time, select the date you're returning. |
3. | If you're leaving for just one day, click the All day event box. |
4. | Under Show time as, select Out of Office. |
5. | Click Save and Close. |
Block off time in your calendar to show you're not available for meetings during your time off.
5. Keep your Password from Expiring
Your IT department might have a limit on how long your password will be valid before you need to change it. If you're going away for more than 14 days, change your network password to ensure it won't expire while you're gone. To change your password, press CTRL+ALT+DELETE and select Change Password.
6. Check in Work Files
If you go on holiday with a file checked out, your team members can't work on the most recent version of that file. Make sure to check in all your files before leaving the office.
7. Secure your Laptop
Laptop computers are a common target of theft. If you're not taking your laptop with you on vacation, take it home or lock it in your desk.
8. Turn on your Out of Office Assistant
Use the Outlook Out of Office Assistant to let people who send you an e-mail know you're away. This Outlook feature enables you to set an automated reply to messages sent to you while you're out. In the reply, let people know who to contact while you're gone. You can also set up rules to file the messages you receive, send special responses to specific people, and more.
To use the Out of Office Assistant in Outlook, on the Tools menu click Out of Office Assistant. Learn more about using the Out of Office Assistant.
Use the Out of Office to send messages to people while you're gone, or set up rules for specific messages you receive.