GMail: Vacation Responder

Ahh...summer! Time for kicking it on the beach, camping trips, backyard cookouts, and checking tons of email. Wait, what???

Are you taking a vacation this summer and need to unplug from email for a few days/weeks? Consider turning on the Vacation responder in GMail. This handy feature will alert senders that you won't be responding to email messages while you're away.

Here's how to turn it on:

1. Open GMail.

2. Near the top right, look for a small gear-shaped icon and click it.

3. Select 'Settings'

4. Scroll down until you find 'Vacation responder'. It will be at the very bottom of the page.

5. Click the button to turn the vacation responder on, enter the first day and last day of your vacation, choose a subject line and write a quick message.

6. Be sure to keep your message short, to-the-point, and professional.

7. Scroll all the way to the bottom and click 'Save Changes'. GMail does not save automatically, so this button must be clicked for changes to hold.

8. That's it! Go enjoy your vacation and don't worry about email for awhile!