Monitoring Out-of-Office Messages

I will be the first one to admit it when I think I’m missing the point entirely, and that’s the case now.  I’m confused…. maybe you guys can shed some light?

I get the Microsoft Tips & Tricks daily tips email. Sometimes, like today, it provides me with  sometimes helpful little tidbits that I can turn into much like this one. And today’s.

Today, the Tips and Tricks says that you can monitor out-of-office messages using Outlook. The theory is that the  first time you send an e-mail message to someone who has turned on his or her out-of-office notification, you’ll receive an automated e-mail message to inform you. But…. here’s the think. Wouldn’t you *know* that someone has turned on their out of office notifications? Do you seriously need to “monitor” them?

The main point of this email is that you can create a rule that triggers a desktop alert so you can spot an out-of-office notification right away. Here’s the thing though, I generally have the little notification desktop thing running anyways – the one that floats the subject message and the first few lines of the message on the screen – and so if it was urgent, and I saw the out of office come in right away…. I’d know. Do I really need a rule to create yet another desktop alert?

Is this actually useful or overkill? Would this be something you’d actually use?