Outlook 2010 - .oft can't be saved

[Carol W.]

I am working with a user who uses Outlook 2010. Someone else set up an "out of office" template for him. It is an .oft file and is pointed to by an "out of office" rule that this other person set up in Outlook.

The user would like to be able to edit the .oft file as circumstances change - e.g. He wants to be able to say "I will be out of the office until Friday 9/21" or some such specific wording. I found the .oft file and tried changing it. It appears to be changed but it won't save. It appears to be protected although when I right clicked on the file and looked at properties it wasn't "read only". I tried setting the permissions so that "Everyone" has full access. No luck.

Does anyone know how I can edit this oft file and successfully save it?

Thanks in advance.

[HansV]

Is this using Exchange Server or stand-alone Outlook?

[Carol W.]

Stand-alone Outlook.

[HansV]

Try opening the .oft file from within Outlook, then saving it (as a .oft template) over itself.

[Carol W.]

Hans,

Tried opening the oft file in Outlook and received the following message "The file you chose is not an Outlook data file. You must select a new file of this type". Under File | Open Data File, there is no filter for oft -- only pst and "all files" so I chose "all files".

General question: Is there another solution to sending out a variable "out of office" message without using a template?

Thanks.

[HansV]

Activate the Home tab of the ribbon.
Click New Items | More Items | Choose Form...
From the Look In dropdown, select User Templates in File System.
This lets you select and open an .oft file.
Edit it as needed.
Then select File | Save As.
From the Save As Type dropdown, select Outlook Template (*.oft).
Save the modified template with the same name as the original.
Confirm that you want to overwrite the original.

By the way, stand-alone Outlook does not really have Out-of-Office. If the user is not on Exchange Server, out-of-office messages can only be sent if
- The computer remains on during the user's absence.
- Outlook remains running during the user's absence.

[Carol W.]

Thanks, Hans. You make some excellent points.

He is going to try and have something done at the server level. He has his own domain so I'm sure the other individual (who set up the domain and all the email addresses at the domain) should be able to set up something variable using the control panel.