Set your out of office status on Enterprise Grid

When you have to step away from work (like for a vacation or personal leave), you can set an out of office status to let your coworkers know how to get work done or who to contact while you're gone.


How it works

  • When you set an out of office status, add a message with additional information and set an expiration date to let people know when you’ll be back.
  • Other members will see an ⛔ out of office emoji anywhere they can see your full or display name, and they can view your full out of office status either in your profile or when they hover over your status emoji on desktop.
  • If someone mentions you in a channel, they'll receive a private message with your out of office status details — like the Slack version of an out of office auto-reply. Your out of office status will also appear above the message field in direct messages (DMs). 
  • If you use the Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar apps in Slack, you can automatically sync your out of office status in Slack with those apps.

Note: Members of external organizations can see your out of office status if permitted by your Enterprise Grid organization settings, but your out of office message will only be visible to members of your organization.


Update your out of office status

Set your out of office status

  1. Click your profile picture in the sidebar.
    Static image of a cursor clicking the profile picture menu in the Slack app
  2. Click the   Update your status field.
  3. Choose ⛔ Out of office from the list.
  4. Open the drop-down menu below Remove status after... to choose when your out of office status will clear. If you'd like, check the box next to Pause notifications to turn off notifications until your status clears. 
  5. If you’d like, add an Out of office message to display on your profile or when someone mentions you in a channel.
  6. Click Save.


Edit or remove your status

  1. Click your profile picture in the sidebar.
    Static image of a cursor clicking the profile picture menu in the Slack app
  2. Select your current status to edit it, or click Clear status to remove it.


Sync with Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar

You can sync your Google or Outlook calendar to automatically set an out of office Status in Slack. When an out of office event in your calendar starts, the default ⛔ out of office emoji will display in your Slack status.

Tip: Schedule your Slack out of office status in advance by adding a future out office event to your calendar. 

Manage calendar syncing

  1. Hover over   More, then click  Automations.
    An image of a cursor over the More icon in the Slack desktop app.
  2. Select   Apps in the sidebar.
  3. Search for and select Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar to open the app.  
  4. From the app's Home tab, select Settings
  5. Click the button to turn out of office syncing on or off. 
Who can use this feature?
  • All members
  • Available on the Enterprise Grid plan