How to create a template for Outlook messages

Outlook 2016
To customize an automatic reply in Microsoft Outlook, first, you need to create a template of email message that will be send according to custom rules. You can use a template, also, when you need to send messages regularly such as some reports, if it contains the same text, subject or recipients and just need a little modification.

To create a template, do the following:

   1.   On the Home tab, in the New group, click New Email to create a new mail message (or click Ctrl+N):

New message in Outlook 365

   2.   Leaving the To field blank, type the autoreply's subject into the Subject field and type the text you want to appear in the message body. For example:

New template in Outlook 365

   3.   After creating a message, click the File tab, and then click Save As:

Save As in Outlook 365

   4.   In the Save As dialog box:

  • Click the down arrow next to the Save as type field and choose Outlook Template (*.oft)
  • Type a filename for your message in the File name field
  • Then click Save:
Save template in Outlook 365

Note: Outlook will automatically save the file to the default Templates location:

C:\Users\<user_name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates\*.oft

Sure, you can change the path like it shown above.

   5.   Click the Close button on the message window to close the message:

Close button in Outlook 365

   6.   When prompted to save the message, click No:

Draft save in Outlook 365

Note: To create a message using a template, see How to create a message using the template.

See also this tip in French: Comment créer un modèle pour les messages Outlook.

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