What is the purpose of an auto-responder?

An auto-responder is a script that automatically returns a prewritten message to anyone who submits e-mail to a particular address, whether an individual or a Web site. Auto-responders are widely used by Web sites for the purpose of responding to visitor comments and suggestions in a preliminary way. You may see an auto-responder in cases where you purchase something online, receiving a "thank you for your order" email, etc.

You can set up an auto-responder from your control panel under email configuration. When setting up the auto-responder, you will be asked for the following information:

Address: This will be the name of your auto-responder (infor@yourdomain.com, etc) Incoming messages will not be stored at this address.

Forward To: If you want to read messages sent to the auto-responder, specify a different email address where messages should be forwarded. This field is optional, but if you do not specify a 'Forward to' email address, you will not be able to read messages sent to your auto-responder.

Reply To: The email address where you want to receive any replies from your auto-responder. This address must be different from the incoming Email Address, but can be the same as your Forward To address. (i.e. the reply address can not be info@yourdomain.com if that is the name of your auto-responder. If you name the auto-responder and the reply to address the same, if someone replies to the auto-responder, it will be an endless loop, as replying to the auto-responder will send another auto-response, etc)

Subject: The subject line for your auto-responder email; 80 character maximum.

Body: The main message of your auto-responder email (this is what your auto-responder will say); 1,000 character maximum.