Out of Office Message When Leaving Your Job: 8 Examples
Here's the short answer: a strong out of office message for leaving a job names your last day, says you've left the company, gives one or two specific people to contact instead, and stops there. Skip the new job. Skip the personal email. Skip the long thank-you. Two sentences is enough.
You're typing this with one foot already out the door. Your laptop goes back tomorrow. People are still emailing you about projects that won't be yours by Friday, and you don't want anyone stuck.
The message you set on your last day is the only thing standing between your inbox and a quiet drift of unread emails — some from coworkers, some from clients, some from a vendor you haven't talked to in six months who suddenly needs a contract signed. A clean auto-reply protects them and protects you.
What follows are eight permanent out of office messages for leaving your job. Copy them, swap the placeholders, paste them in. Pick the one closest to your situation.
8 Out of Office Messages for Leaving Your Job
1. The clean two-sentence version
The default. Works for most office jobs, most situations, most tenures.
Subject: No longer with [Company]
Thank you for your email. As of [date], I am no longer with [Company]. For anything related to [topic], please contact [Name] at [email].
2. The two-handoff version
For roles where your work split across two clear domains — say, sales and support, or two product lines.
Thank you for your email. As of [date], I am no longer with [Company]. For [topic A], please contact [Name] at [email]. For [topic B], please contact [Name] at [email].
3. The handover-with-thanks version
For medium-tenure roles where you've built up real relationships and want a warmer tone without getting personal.
Thank you for writing. I left [Company] on [date]. [Name] ([email]) is now the right person for [your projects or your topic]. It was good to work with you.
4. The customer-facing version
If clients or external partners email you regularly, they need more reassurance than internal teammates. Name your successor by full name and signal that the handover is real.
Thank you for your email. I am no longer with [Company] as of [date]. Your account is now in the very capable hands of [Name] — you can reach her at [email] or [phone]. She has the full context and will follow up shortly.
5. The layoff version
If you were laid off and don't want a specific departure date attached to the message, leave the date out. Brief and neutral works best.
Thank you for your email. I am no longer with [Company]. For ongoing matters, please contact [Name] at [email].
6. The short-notice version
For exits where you're leaving before a successor has been named. Route to your former manager and let them triage.
Thank you for your email. I left [Company] on [date]. While [Team] determines next steps, please direct urgent inquiries to [Manager Name] at [email].
7. The long-tenure version
For 5+ year exits, a slightly warmer note feels right. Keep it under three sentences.
Thank you for writing. After [N] years, I have moved on from [Company] as of [date]. For anything that was on my plate, please reach out to [Name] at [email]. I'm grateful to have crossed paths with so many of you.
8. The bare minimum
When in doubt, this. Especially if your company will keep the auto-reply running for weeks after you're gone and you'd rather not have a message you can no longer edit reading too personally.
I am no longer with [Company] as of [date]. Please contact [Name] at [email].
What All Eight Have in Common
Notice what every one of these messages does not do. It doesn't name your new company. It doesn't share your personal email. It doesn't list six contacts. And it doesn't try to do the work of saying goodbye — because saying goodbye is the job of the people you actually want to hear from again, done in person or by individual note, before your last day.
The auto-reply protects your old inbox. The personal goodbye protects your relationships. They are two different jobs and they live in two different places.
It Was Great Working With You helps you spend ten minutes before your last day building the list of people who deserve a real message from you — not a bounced one from a deactivated address. Most people skip this step and regret it within a month.
When to Turn It On
Turn it on the morning of your last day, not the moment your resignation is accepted. If you flip it on too early, anyone who has been quietly working with you over the past two weeks gets a confusing "no longer with the company" bounce while you're still sitting at your desk.
The clean order: send your individual goodbyes first, then your team-wide farewell email, then turn the auto-reply on right before you log off for the day. The last day at work checklist covers the full sequence and the small mistakes that hit people in the last six hours.
How Long to Leave It Running
Two to four weeks is the right window. Long enough that quarterly senders, dormant vendors, and "how have you been" coworkers all get the update. Short enough that the message doesn't start to feel like a haunted house.
After that window, whatever happens to the mailbox is your former employer's call. Some companies hard-delete. Some forward to a successor. Some leave the auto-reply on indefinitely. None of those outcomes are yours to manage once you're gone.
Three Things to Leave Out
Your new job. Even something small — "I've moved on to [Company]" — can read as a swipe at your former employer and creates awkward optics with HR. Save it for your LinkedIn announcement, not your old inbox.
Your personal email address. The right place for it is a private note to the few people you actually want to stay in touch with, not a public bounce-back that anyone who ever emailed you can scrape. The farewell email to coworkers guide covers how to share contact info properly with the right small group.
Any version of "I'll miss you all." The auto-reply is a logistical message read by people who may not even know you. Sentiment belongs in your individual goodbyes, where it lands. Strip it out of the auto-reply.
Who to Name as the Contact
Pick one person per topic, not five. If a colleague will inherit your client accounts, name them. If a teammate is taking over an internal project, name them. If the answer is honestly "I don't know yet," name your former manager and let them route from there.
Sketch this out before your last day — the knowledge transfer template is a good place to capture who owns what — because trying to remember at 4:47 PM on Friday who handles which account is how mistakes happen. And give the people you name a warning that you're listing them. Nothing turns a clean handover sour faster than a colleague finding out they've inherited your inbox via bounce-back.
If you're not sure who deserves a personal heads-up before the auto-reply goes live, It Was Great Working With You will help you map it in a few minutes.
How to Set It Up
Quick instructions for the three places most people need them.
Outlook: File → Automatic Replies → Send automatic replies. Paste the message into both the "Inside my organization" and "Outside my organization" tabs so external contacts also see it. Set the date range if you want it to auto-disable.
Gmail (Workspace): Settings gear → See all settings → General tab → Vacation responder → On. Paste the message into the body. Leave the subject line as something neutral like "No longer with [Company]." Save.
Apple Mail or company webmail: Look for "Out of Office," "Auto-reply," or "Vacation responder" in settings. The setting is usually in the account-level preferences, not the app preferences.
If your account will be deactivated on day one — common with layoffs — ask your manager or IT to set the auto-reply on your account on your behalf. Most companies will do this if you ask before your final morning, and it's a small ask that prevents weeks of silent bounces from clients and vendors who didn't know you'd left.
The Last Step
Set the message. Hit save. Walk out. The cleanest part of leaving a job is the part you can hand to a script and forget about.
If there's one more thing worth your time before that, it's the few people who deserve a real goodbye instead of a generic bounce. It Was Great Working With You makes that part easy.
