Autoresponders

An autoresponder lets people who write to you know that you are away or when they can expect a reply. It does not forward the message to anyone else, and it is no substitute for a mailbox that keeps it.

In cPanel > Autoresponders, click Add Autoresponder, select the domain and enter the address, the sender's name, the subject and the reply text. Use UTF-8 to keep accents and other characters.

The most important settings to bear in mind:

• Interval: time in hours between replies to the same sender. A value of 24 avoids repeating the notice for every message that day. An interval of 0 replies to every message the autoresponder processes and can generate excessive notices; do not assume every automated system will avoid repeated exchanges.
• Start and stop: set the dates and times during which the notice should run so that it does not keep replying after you are back.
• Tags: %subject% inserts the subject of the message received. The available tags appear in the form; use them only when they add context.

Add an image or logo with HTML

The HTML Message checkbox lets you write HTML tags in the body of the reply, but it does not show a visual editor or a button for attaching images.

To add a logo, it must first be hosted on a website and reachable through a public HTTPS URL. You can then create paragraphs with the p tag and show the image with img:

<p>Gracias por escribirnos. Hemos recibido tu mensaje.</p>
<p><img src="https://example.com/logo.png" alt="Nombre de la empresa" width="180"></p>

In the example:

• src contains the full public address of the image.
• alt adds alternative text for when the image cannot be shown.
• width sets its width in pixels. You can change 180 to another value to adjust the size.

You cannot use a path on your computer, such as C:\Usuarios\logo.png, because the recipient has no access to that file. Nor is it enough to upload the image to the autoresponder form: it must be published on the server and load from its URL.

Some email programs block remote images at first for privacy and show a button to download them. This depends on the recipient's program and does not mean the HTML code is set up wrongly.

Before switching the reply on for good, send a test to an account of your own to check the text, the size of the logo and the start and stop dates.

Keep the messages and check the dates

Make sure there is an account or a forwarder for that address if you need to keep or deliver incoming messages. Creating only the autoresponder does not create any storage.

Check the time zone and the start and stop summary shown in the form. The notice should give a useful return date or timeframe, and an alternative contact only if that person is ready to deal with those enquiries.

If you repeat the test from the same address within the interval, another reply may not arrive even if the configuration is correct. When your absence ends, check that the reply is no longer active.