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Autoresponders fire a canned reply to anyone who emails a specific address. The classic use is the out-of-office message; you can also use them for sales acknowledgements (“we got your inquiry, we’ll respond within 24 hours”) or simple confirmations. Open it from cPanel home → Email → Autoresponders.
Autoresponders page with existing rules and Add Autoresponder button

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Set one up

1

Click Add Autoresponder

Top of the Autoresponders page. Pick the domain if you host more than one.
2

Pick the address

Type the local part (e.g. info). The autoresponder fires for mail to this address.
3

Set From and Subject

The reply will appear to come from the From you set. Subject can use %subject% to echo the original subject.
4

Write the body

Plain text or HTML. Variables you can use: %subject%, %from%, %email%.
5

Set start and stop

Default is Immediately to Never. For an out-of-office, set start to today and stop to your return date.
6

Pick the interval

The interval prevents the autoresponder from spamming the same sender. Default is 4 hours, which means a sender gets at most one reply every 4 hours regardless of how many messages they send.

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Tips

  • Don’t autoresponded everywhere. Setting a wide-open autoresponder on info@ plus an active mailing list invites loops and gets you flagged as a spammer. Use them sparingly and on addresses where the volume is human-shaped.
  • Mind the privacy of the canned reply. “I’m out of the country until June 5” tells anyone who emails — including spammers and would-be burglars — that nobody’s home. Be vague: “Out of office, returning shortly.”
  • Stop dates matter. Autoresponders silently keep firing until you remove them or set a Stop date. After a vacation, delete the rule rather than leaving it dormant.

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