The Vacation Mail Setup Utility is available to staff, students and faculty. It sets up an automated email response to your new email messages, informing people that you are away, and thus unable to answer them right away. This utility can be used for any extended leave, including vacation, medical or sabbatical leave. To use this utility you will need: access to the Web, a UC Davis computing account with a new-style LoginID, and a Kerberos password. According to Debbie Edwards, the UC Davis Postmaster, there is no minimum vacation length for this utility, but it is especially useful for anyone who will be gone longer than a week. "I have set up vacation mail for as few as two days, and as long as six months," she said. The Vacation Mail Setup Utility can be found at http://ir.ucdavis.edu/info/email/vacation_setup.html. This page offers information on how to set up the account and simple step-by-step instructions.

To set up a vacation message, first click on, "Click here to authenticate and continue with the vacation setup." You will be asked for your LoginID and Kerberos password. After entering that information, hit return and choose the "Set up vacation" option on the main page. Enter the subject and body of your automated reply, which gives you the option to personalize your message. Then, click on "Submit." You will be sent to a Web page displaying the information you entered, and asking you to confirm. Once you confirm, your automated reply is set up. To disable the utility, follow these same steps. "The best thing about this utility," says Edwards, "is that it is on the Web, and accessible to everyone. I used to have to do it individually for each user."

It is important to plan in advance before going on vacation. You will need to acquire a new-style LoginID and Kerberos password if you do not already have one. "While the switch from the old-style LoginID (which are most ez, fz, and sz logins) to a new-style LoginID is quick and simple, it needs to process overnight. I have had people call me two hours before they are leaving town to set up their vacation mail," says Edwards, "but it takes overnight before their new-style LoginID is activated." Check the Vacation Setup Utility Web page for information on how to set up the new-style LoginID.

The most important reason to set up this utility is to lessen the amount of email sent to you and to avoid exceeding your email quota (see related story in this issue). When people receive your automated response, they are less likely to email you again until they know you are back. Also, if someone sends you an important message and expects a response, the automated reply lets them know that you are out of town.

In addition to setting up the automated response, it is a good idea to take other steps to slow down your email traffic. You should unsubscribe from any mailing lists. If you are subscribed to a UC Davis email list, you can unsubscribe by going to http://listproc.ucdavis.edu/listproc/sub.html, and following the directions. If you are subscribed to a non-UCD email list, you will often find information on how to unsubscribe at the bottom of each message. If you have another email account with a larger quota than your UCD account (such as an ISP), you should have your UCD mail forwarded there. The most important thing to remember is to plan, and make sure that you have a new-style LoginID and Kerberos password. If you have any questions about these requirements, go to http://mothra.ucdavis.edu/UCDLoginID/status.html.

Autumn Bouck is a senior majoring in English and Spanish. She joined the IT Publications team in May.