Schedule an out of office message using PowerShell

Today I had to configure an out of office message for a mailbox that needed to activate at a specific time.  Exchange 2010 allows me to do this easily using the Set-MailboxAutoReplyConfiguration PowerShell cmdlet:

Set-MailboxAutoReplyConfiguration <alias> -AutoReplyState Scheduled -ExternalAudience All -InternalMessage <message> -ExternalMessage <message> -StartTime <date/time> -EndTime <date/time>

Here is an example:

Set-MailboxAutoReplyConfiguration Dave.Webb -AutoReplyState Scheduled -ExternalAudience All -InternalMessage “I am away on annual leave, please contact the helpdesk if your request is urgent” -ExternalMessage “I am away on annual leave, please contact the helpdesk if your request is urgent” -StartTime “12/15/2015 18:00:00” -EndTime “12/31/2015 00:00:00”

The Set-MailboxAutoReplyConfiguration command supports the following parameters:

• Alias – the alias of the mailbox
• AutoReplyState – enable, disable or schedule the auto reply
• InternalMessage – the message to display to users in the same Exchange organisastion
• ExternalMessage – the message to display to users outside of the Exchange organisation
• StartTime – messages will not be sent until this date and time
• EndTime – messages will stop being sent at this date and time