Out of Office Detection helps you handle leads who are away by recognizing out-of-office auto-replies and making sure you follow up at the right time. When lemlist receives an automatic out-of-office email (not a classic manual reply), it logs it in the lead’s activity and automatically reschedules the next step to the out-of-office return date (choosing the best possible date to contact the lead).
What Out of Office Detection does
Detects out-of-office auto-replies received from a lead (for example, Gmail’s Vacation Responder).
Extracts the return date from the auto-reply using AI (e.g., “I’m out of office until February 11”).
Adds the message to the lead’s activity as an answer/event so you can see that an out-of-office message was received.
Automatically reschedules the next step to align with the detected return date (so the lead is contacted again at the best time).
Creates a task in the Tasks section with a due date set to when the out-of-office ends, so you have a visible reminder to follow up.
How it works (end-to-end)
An auto-reply is triggered
Your email is delivered to the lead, and their mailbox sends an out-of-office response back (vacation responder / auto-reply).lemlist receives the out-of-office message
The platform recognizes the inbound message as an auto-reply/out-of-office type response.AI analyzes the message text
lemlist parses the content to find a specific return date mentioned in the body of the message.lemlist logs the event, reschedules the next step, and creates a task
The out-of-office is added to the lead’s activity, and lemlist automatically adjusts the lead’s next sending date to match the detected return date (best possible date to contact the lead). lemlist also creates a task in the Tasks section with the due date set to the detected return date.
Where you can see it in lemlist
Lead activity / detail view: in the lead’s Activities tab, you’ll see an event labeled “Out of office” (for example, “Absence détectée”) along with the detected return date.
Campaign scheduling: the lead’s next step is automatically rescheduled based on the detected return date.
Tasks: a task is created in the Tasks section with the due date set to when the out-of-office ends.
Detection requirements (important)
Out of Office Detection depends on the lead’s auto-responder and what it includes in the message:
The lead must have a vacation/out-of-office auto-responder enabled (e.g., Gmail Vacation Responder or similar).
The auto-reply message must include a specific return date in the text (for example, “back on Feb 11” or “out until 11 February”).
If no clear return date is mentioned, lemlist may not be able to determine the best time to reschedule the next step (and may not be able to set an accurate task due date).
What it doesn’t do
Doesn’t pause the lead in the campaign.
Doesn’t unpause the lead (immediately or on a specific date).
Doesn’t treat the out-of-office message as a reply that stops the campaign (it won’t be assimilated as a “real” answer that ends the sequence).
Why this matters
Keeps context visible by logging the out-of-office message in the lead’s activity.
Improves timing by automatically rescheduling the next step to the detected return date (best possible time to contact the lead).
Reduces manual tracking—you don’t need to remember when to reach back out (the task due date can serve as a reminder).
Best practices
Check the detected return date: open the lead’s activity to confirm the date lemlist extracted from the auto-reply.
Let the sequence continue at the right time: since the next step is automatically rescheduled, you typically don’t need to create or manage anything manually.
Use the task as a reminder (optional): the task created with the out-of-office end date can help you keep track of when to follow up.
If the date isn’t detected: review the auto-reply content—if it doesn’t include a clear return date, you may need to decide follow-up timing manually.
What happens when the lead returns
When the detected return date is reached, the next step is scheduled to be sent at the best possible time. The campaign is not automatically paused or resumed by this feature.