Yes | No Thanks | Maybe Later
Vacation Message (UNIX)
Introduction
The Vacation program allows you to setup your email account to automatically reply to any incoming message. For example, if you will be unable to read your email for an extended period of time, you might want the vacation program to respond to messages with contact information.
Note: If you are already forwarding your email to another address or filtering your mail, you must first rename your .forward file by typing mv .forward .forward.old at the UNIX prompt, then follow the instruction below.
Enabling the Vacation Program
When you leave, you will want to enable the vacation message to let everyone know that you will be away.
To enable the vacation message:
- At a UNIX prompt, type
setenv EDITOR pico - Next type
vacationand hit return. - The system will automatically create a default vacation message for you. This is the message which will be sent when you receive mail. Edit this message as you see fit.
- When you are done editing the message, hit
Control-Xto save and exit. - Once you have exited, the vacation program will ask you if you want to see it, hit
y. Verify that the message is correct. - Next, the vacation program will ask you if you want to edit it. If the message is already correct, hit
nif not, hityto fix it. - Finally, the vacation program will ask you if you want to enable the vacation message. Answer
yto enable.
The vacation message is enabled, and it will respond to every message that you receive.
Disabling the Vacation Program
When you return, you will want to disable the vacation message so that you can return your mail to normal function.
To disable the vacation message:
- Type
vacationand hit return. - When asked if you want to view the vacation message, hit
n. - When asked if you want to edit the vacation message, hit
n - When asked if you want to remove it and disable the vacation feature, hit
y.
The vacation feature will be disabled.
Using Vacation while using forward or filtering.
As stated earlier, if your are forwarding or filtering your email, you must first disable those features by typing mv .forward .forward.old at the UNIX prompt before using vacation.
Using Vacation and forwarding your email to another address:
- Follow the section on "Enabling the Vacation Program"
- Edit your
.forwardfile by typingpico .forwardat the UNIX prompt.
Additional information about usingpicois available. - Delete the word
ttrojanwhere, ttrojan is your username. Type the email address to which you wish to forward all your mail. - The
.forwardfile would look like this:
tommy@hotmail.com, "|/usr/bin/vacation ttrojan" - Lastly, exit pico, by typing
Control-X. Pico will prompt you to save your changes.
Using Vacation and filtering e-mail:
- Follow the section on "Enabling the Vacation Program"
- Follow the documentation on Filtering Email.
- Edit your
.forward fileby typingpico .forwardat the UNIX prompt. - Delete the word
\ttrojanwhere, ttrojan is your username. Type"|/usr/bin/filter" - The
.forwardfile would look like this:
"|/usr/usc/bin/filter","|/usr/bin/vacation ttrojan" - Lastly, exit pico, by typing
Control-X. Pico will prompt you to save your changes.
Last updated: Monday, August 17, 2009, 11:37AM PDT



