You can set an Out of Office Reply to be sent to anyone that emails you while you are away from the office. If the same person contacts you again while you are away, they will not receive the Out of Office reply unless 4 days have passed since their last message. If more than 4 days have passed, Gmail will send another response to remind that person that you are still away.
To set your Out of Office response:
Click on the Settings cog towards the top-right corner of the screen
Choose See all settings
Click on the Out of Office AutoReply On radio button
Ensure the First Day box is set the date on which you would like to start sending automatic replies. This will default to the current date but can be changed by clicking on the box and choosing a new date if required
If you would like to stop sending automatic replies on a specific date, check the Ends box, then click in the date box next to this and choose the date on which to stop sending automatic replies. This allows you to set your holiday start and end date in advance
Click on Rich formatting to show a toolbar containing options to format text e.g. apply bold, set the text colour and add an image
Type the message you wish to send as an autoreply
If you only want people in your contact list to receive automatic replies, check the Only send a response to people in my contacts box
If you only want people within your organisation to receive automatic replies, check the Only send a response to people in (your domain name)
Click on Save Changes when complete
If you have a signature set, this will be added to the end of your Out of Office message automatically.
A banner will display at the top of the Gmail screen when your Out of Office is enabled. To disable Out of Office so that no more automatic responses are sent out, click on the End Now link on this banner.