Auto-response Rules

Q: Can one condition check several words?

Yes. Separate the words with a semicolon, such as refund;return;exchange. With Contains any of them matches; with Does not contain the condition matches only if none of them appears. Upper and lower case and spaces are ignored, so Refund and re fund count as the same.

For: Account owners, administrators and team leads who set up automatic repliesRequires: Every plan; the Automation permission, with edit rights to change rulesScreenshots show sample data

The Auto-response Rules tab is where you decide which incoming ticket messages Replyco answers on its own, with which reply template, on which accounts and at what times: an acknowledgement at night, a holding reply over the weekend, a first answer to marketplace questions. Each rule names a template to send, the accounts it watches, a schedule, an optional delay and the conditions a message must meet. Open it from ToolsAutomation and select the Auto-response Rules tab.

Availability: every plan includes the tab, and every feature is on during a trial; companies on an older plan may not have it, see What each plan includes. It is shown to users with the Automation permission; creating, changing, switching and deleting rules needs the edit level of that permission (see User permissions and roles).

What you can do here

See every automatic reply your company sends. The tab lists all rules in an Active and an Inactive group, and a click shows a rule’s accounts, template, schedule, delay and conditions. Find a rule and see its details.
Set up a new automatic reply. A rule needs a name, a template and at least one account; the schedule, delay and conditions decide when it answers. For the whole behaviour, from arrival to sending, see the feature guide. Create a rule · Auto-responses for tickets.
Answer only at the right times. Send outside your company’s working time, over one continuous stretch such as a weekend, or on chosen days and hours, optionally only between two dates. Set when a rule may send.
Make the reply feel less automatic, and limit repeats. A fixed or random delay holds the reply back; the frequency decides whether a ticket gets it once or for every message. Set the delay and how often it answers.
Answer only the messages you mean. Conditions on the sender’s address, subject, text or language, combined with AND inside a group and OR between groups. Set which messages a rule answers.
Change, copy or pause a rule. Edit it, start a variant from a copy, or switch it off without losing it. Edit a rule · Copy a rule · Switch a rule off or on.
Give several rules the same accounts at once, for example after connecting a new shop. Add accounts to several rules at once.
See who changed what. Each rule keeps a history of who created, changed and switched it. See who changed a rule.
Delete what you no longer need, knowing what happens to replies already scheduled. Delete a rule.

The screen at a glance

The Auto-response Rules tab of Tools › Automation in Replyco. The left column lists the Automation tabs Rules, Templates, Auto-response Rules (selected) and Feedback Rules. On the right, under the heading Auto-response Rules and its description, the group header "Active - 3" with a check box is followed by one card per rule: "Out of hours reply", "First reply to marketplace questions" and "Order received", each with a check box, the history, edit, copy and delete icons and a blue switch that is on. Below, the group "Inactive - 2" holds "Weekend reply" and "Holiday reply" with their switches off. In the top right corner the Create New button is highlighted; it opens an empty rule form. — Rules are grouped into Active and Inactive; Create New starts a new rule.

Region	What it shows	What you do there
Automation tabs, left	Rules, Templates, Auto-response Rules, Feedback Rules	Switch between the automation lists
Header, top	The heading, a short description and Create New	Start a new rule
Bulk action, above the list	Add Accounts, shown only while rules are ticked	Link accounts to all ticked rules
Active group	Every rule that is switched on, with the count	Open, tick, edit, copy, delete, switch off
Inactive group	Every rule that is switched off, with the count	Switch rules back on or clean up
Details panel, right (after a click)	The rule’s accounts, template, schedule, delay, frequency and conditions, and Delete, Copy, Edit	Read a rule, then act on it

A group appears only when it has rules. With no rules at all, the list reads No rules found.

Find a rule and see its details

The list has no search box, no columns and no manual order; the order of rules does not matter, because every rule that matches a message sends its reply. Each group header shows its count, for example Active - 3, and a click on the header folds the group away or opens it again.

Open ToolsAutomation and select the Auto-response Rules tab.
Select a rule’s name. The card is outlined, the list moves to the left and the details panel opens on the right.
Read the panel from top to bottom: Affected Accounts, Template, Working Dates, Frequency, the delay, the schedule and Conditions.
Select Edit, Copy or Delete at the bottom of the panel, or the cross in its corner to close it.

The details panel of the Auto-response Rules tab after selecting "Out of hours reply". Under the rule's name, Affected Accounts lists Northwind Electronics UK, northwind-electronics, Northwind Store and support@northwind-electronics.example.com. Then Template reads Out of hours reply, Working Dates All time, Frequency Once (1st response only), Delay 00:15, and the line Outside working hours. Under Conditions one box reads "Where Client email Should Does not contain noreply;no-reply". At the bottom are the red Delete button, Copy and the highlighted Edit button, which opens the rule in the form. — Select a rule to see its accounts, template, schedule, delay and conditions; Edit, Copy and Delete sit at the bottom.

What the schedule lines mean:

Line in the panel	Meaning
Working Dates: All time	No date range; the rule works every day of the year
Working Dates: two dates	The rule works only from the first to the last date, both included
Outside working hours	The rule follows your company’s working time and sends only outside it
Days and Working Hours	The days and the daily time window the rule may send in
Active between	One continuous window, for example Friday 18:00 - Monday 08:00
Delay	The fixed wait before sending, hours and minutes, such as 00:15
Delay From (minutes) and Delay To (minutes)	The random wait, in minutes

Each condition reads as a sentence: Where the field, Should, the comparison and the value; AND joins conditions of one group and OR joins groups.

Example: Northwind Electronics’ Out of hours reply watches its Amazon, eBay, shop and mailbox accounts, sends the template Out of hours reply once per ticket, 15 minutes after the message, outside working hours, unless the sender’s address contains noreply or no-reply.

Create a rule

On the Auto-response Rules tab, select Create New in the top right corner. The form Create Auto-response Rule replaces the list; a contents list on the right jumps to General Info, Schedule, Delivery and Conditions.
Under Rule Name, name the rule after the situation, for example Easter closure. Only your team sees the name: in the list, in the ticket and on the dashboard.
Under Template to Send, pick the reply template the rule sends. Templates are written on the Templates tab.
Under Accounts, pick the accounts whose incoming messages the rule answers.
Set the schedule, the delay and the frequency, as described below, including the time window under Working Hours.
Fill in at least one condition, with a field, a comparison and a value.
Select Save in the top right corner, or in the column on the right once you have scrolled down.

The General Info part of the Create Auto-response Rule form on the Auto-response Rules tab, scrolled so that Rule Name is at the top; it holds "Easter closure". The highlighted field Template to Send, with its description, shows "Holiday reply", the reply template the rule will send. Accounts lists Northwind Store and support@northwind-electronics.example.com, each with a cross. Below, the Schedule section shows Date Range, Send Outside Working hours of Company and Use Working Time Range switched off, Days with all seven days, and Working Hours 00:00 to 00:00. On the right are the contents list and the Save button. — A rule needs a name, a template to send and at least one account.

Replyco returns you to the list at once and sends the rule to the server. When the server confirms, Success appears and the new rule is in the Active group, switched on. Creating a rule also ticks the matching item of the onboarding checklist. The rule answers messages that arrive from now on; it never answers older ones.

Replyco checks the form before it sends anything. It refuses to save, and shows the message in the top right corner, when:

Message	What is missing or wrong
All fields must be completed.	The name, the template, the accounts or the days are empty
The End Date must be greater than the Start Date	Date Range is on and the end date is not after the start date
The Delay To must be greater than the Delay From	Delay Range is on and the second value is not greater than the first
Please enter valid conditions.	A condition has no value

The Create Auto-response Rule form after selecting Save with nothing filled in. In the top right corner a red message is highlighted: "All fields must be completed." with a cross to close it. The form stays open: Rule Name, Template to Send and Accounts are empty under General Info, and the Schedule section below shows Date Range and Send Outside Working hours of Company switched off. Nothing is saved until the name, the template and at least one account are filled in. — Save refuses a rule without a name, a template or an account.

The server also refuses a rule without any condition, for example after you delete every condition group; an error message appears and nothing is saved. Because the form has already closed by then, what you entered is lost, so check the form before you save.

Back at the top of the form leaves without saving.

Set when a rule may send

The Schedule section decides the dates, days and hours a rule works. Three switches choose between three kinds of schedule; for how each is checked against a message’s arrival time, see Auto-responses for tickets.

You want	Set
A reply whenever your team is not working	Send Outside Working hours of Company on. The days and hours come from your company’s working time in Company Settings, holidays included
One unbroken window across days, such as a weekend	Use Working Time Range on, then Active From Friday 18:00 and Active To Monday 08:00
The same hours on chosen days	Both switches off, then Days and Working Hours, for example Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 18:00

Date Range works on top of any of them: switch it on and pick a first and a last date to limit the rule to a season, such as 24 December to 2 January. To learn how working time, holidays and time zones work across Replyco, see Working time.

The Schedule section of the Edit Auto-response Rule form for "Weekend reply", reached with Schedule in the contents list on the right. Date Range is off and Send Outside Working hours of Company is off. The highlighted row Use Working Time Range is on, so the form shows Active From with Friday and 18:00 and Active To with Monday and 08:00: one continuous window over the weekend. Below, the Delivery section shows Delay 00:00, Delay Range off and Frequency Once (1st response only). Save and a back arrow stay on the right. — Use Working Time Range sets one window from a start day and time to an end day and time.

Example: Northwind’s Weekend reply uses Use Working Time Range from Friday 18:00 to Monday 08:00. A message on Saturday afternoon matches; one on Monday at 08:30 does not.

Working Hours can run past midnight: 18:00 to 09:00 on Monday to Friday answers each of those days in the evening after 18:00 and in the morning before 09:00, but not Saturday morning, because Saturday is not one of the days. The start and end times themselves do not count, so 09:00 to 18:00 answers from just after 09:00 until just before 18:00.

Set the delay and how often it answers

The Delivery section decides how long the reply waits and how often a ticket gets it.

Delay holds every reply back by a fixed time, in hours and minutes. 00:00 sends it in Replyco’s next sending round.
Delay Range replaces the fixed time with two values; each reply waits a random time between them, such as 5 to 20 minutes.
Frequency: Once (1st response only) answers only the first customer message of a ticket; Continuous (every response) answers every matching customer message.

While a reply waits, the ticket shows it with Send now and Cancel, and it still goes out if someone answers the customer first. For how waiting replies behave, see Delayed sending.

Set which messages a rule answers

The Conditions section decides which messages the rule answers. It starts with one group holding one empty condition.

In the first box of a condition, pick one or more fields: Client email, Subject, Text or Language.
In the second box, pick the comparison: Contains, Does not contain, Starts with, Ends with or Equals.
In the third box, type the value. Separate alternatives with a semicolon: question;inquiry matches either word.
Select Add New to add another condition to the same group, or Add New Group to add an alternative group.

The lower part of the Edit Auto-response Rule form for "First reply to marketplace questions". Under Delay, two time boxes read 00:05 and 00:20 because Delay Range is on; Frequency is Once (1st response only). Under Conditions, the first group says Subject, Contains, "question;inquiry"; an OR bubble follows; the second group says Text, Contains, "when will;dispatch". Each condition has a bin icon, each group an Add New link and its own bin. At the bottom the highlighted Add New Group link adds another alternative group. — Conditions in one group must all match; groups are alternatives joined by OR.

All conditions in a group must match; one matching group is enough. Upper and lower case and spaces are ignored. Language offers a list of 20 languages, only with Equals, and cannot share a condition with other fields; the form says * The language target can only be used alone

Example: Order received has one group with two conditions: Subject and Text Contains order, and Text Does not contain cancel. Where is my order 4417? gets the reply; Please cancel my order does not.

The bin next to a condition removes it; the last condition of a group cannot be removed that way (Every group must contain at least one condition.), so use the bin next to the group instead. Add New Group refuses to add a group while the last one is empty: Please finish creating the last Group before adding another.

Edit a rule

Select the rule, then Edit in the details panel; or select the pencil icon on its card.
Change what you need in the form Edit Auto-response Rule. The Save button pulses while you have unsaved changes.
Select Save.

A change applies to the next incoming message. Replies the rule has already scheduled keep their send time and go out unchanged.

Copy a rule

Select the copy icon on a card, or Copy in the details panel. The form opens filled with everything the original has, and the name ends in (copy). Save creates a new, switched-on rule and leaves the original unchanged. Rename the copy and change what should differ, for example the accounts or the template, before you save; otherwise both rules answer the same messages.

Switch a rule off or on

The switch on each card turns a rule off or on. It saves at once, shows Success, and moves the card to the other group. A switched-off rule answers no new message but keeps all its settings. Replies it had already scheduled still go out; cancel them in the ticket if they should not.

Add accounts to several rules at once

Tick the check box on each rule card, or the check box of a group header to tick the whole group. The button Add Accounts appears above the list.
Select Add Accounts. A panel opens with the explanation Select channel accounts to assign to all currently selected auto-response rules.
Pick one or more accounts in the field Filter by Account.
Select Apply. It stays disabled until you pick an account.

The Auto-response Rules tab after ticking the first two rules of the Active group. Above the list the highlighted Add Accounts button has opened a panel that covers the ticked cards: its heading Add Accounts, the explanation "Select channel accounts to assign to all currently selected auto-response rules.", the field Filter by Account and the Apply button, which stays disabled until an account is picked. Below the panel the card "Order received" and the Inactive group with "Weekend reply" and "Holiday reply" stay visible. — Tick rules to add the same accounts to all of them in one step.

Replyco adds the accounts to every ticked rule, reloads the list and shows Success. Accounts a rule already has are kept; this action never removes one. To remove an account, edit the rule.

Example: Northwind connects a second eBay account. Tick Out of hours reply and First reply to marketplace questions, add the new account, and both rules answer its messages.

See who changed a rule

Select the clock icon on a card. The details panel shows the rule’s history, one line per change with the person and the date:

Line	When it is written
[name] created this autoresponse	The rule was created
[name] updated this autoresponse. Click on this row to see changes	Someone saved changes; select the line to see each changed property with its old and new value
[name] turned off this autoresponse or turned on this autoresponse	Someone used the switch

The history of the rule "Out of hours reply", opened with the clock icon on its card, shown in the details panel. Four lines with an icon, a name and a date: Chloe Osborne created this autoresponse on 12/01/2026 10:15; the highlighted line "Theo Rowe updated this autoresponse. Click on this row to see changes" of 02/02/2026 14:05, expanded to "Property Delay was changed from 00:00 to 00:15"; Chloe Osborne turned off this autoresponse on 20/02/2026 17:58 and turned it on again on 23/02/2026 09:02. A Close button sits at the bottom. — The clock icon shows who created, changed, switched off or on a rule, and what changed.

A rule with no recorded changes shows No changes were made to this item yet. Close returns to the details.

Delete a rule

Select the bin icon on a card, or Delete in the details panel, and confirm with Yes. The card’s confirmation asks Are you sure you want to delete this rule?, the panel’s asks Are you sure you want to delete this item?; both delete the rule.

Deleting is permanent. Replies the rule has already scheduled still go out, so cancel them in their tickets first if they should not. Replies it has sent stay in their tickets, but no longer name the rule, and the rule disappears from the Performance dashboard’s usage widget. To stop a rule for a while, switch it off instead.

Why

Fold away the switched-off rules while you work, and tick a whole group to add the same accounts to all of it.

Rule card

Each card holds the rule’s name and these controls, from left to right:

Control	What it does	Why
Check box	Ticks the rule for Add Accounts	Act on several rules at once
Name	Opens the details panel	Read before you change
Clock icon	Opens the rule’s history in the details panel	Find out who changed a rule and when
Pencil icon	Opens the form Edit Auto-response Rule	Change the rule
Copy icon	Opens a filled form that saves as a new rule	Write a variant without retyping
Bin icon	Asks Are you sure you want to delete this rule? and deletes on Yes	Remove rules nobody needs
Switch	Switches the rule on or off; saves at once	Pause a rule without losing it

Comparison	Matches when	Example with the subject Question about my order
Contains	The value appears anywhere in the field	`question` matches
Does not contain	None of the values appears	`refund;cancel` matches
Starts with	The field begins with the value	`question` matches, `order` does not
Ends with	The field ends with the value	`order` matches
Equals	The whole field equals the value	only `question about my order`, in any case

Save, Back and the contents list

Where

Back and Save at the top of the form; once you scroll down, a back arrow and Save stay in the right column under the contents list General Info · Schedule · Delivery · Conditions.

What

Save checks the form, closes it and sends the rule to the server. Back returns without saving. The contents list jumps to that part of the form.

Why

The form is long; the contents list saves scrolling.

Who sees what

Part of the tab	What shows it
The tab itself, under ToolsAutomation	The Automation permission; companies on an older plan may not have the tab
Saving, copying, switching, deleting, Add Accounts	The edit level of Automation; otherwise You don't have enough rights
Days and Working Hours	Both schedule switches off
Active From and Active To	Use Working Time Range on
The rules’ replies in tickets	Everyone who can open the ticket; no Automation permission needed

What you need to know

Topic	Fact
Required fields	A name, a template, at least one account, at least one day, and at least one condition with a value.
Several rules match	Each matching rule sends its own reply; the list’s order does not change that.
Defaults	Every day, no delay, Once (1st response only), one empty condition.
Nothing retroactive	A new or changed rule answers messages that arrive after you save it.
Switch	Saves at once. Replies already scheduled still go out.
Copy	Copies everything; saves as a new, switched-on rule.
Bulk accounts	Adds, never removes.
Delete	Permanent. Scheduled replies still go out; sent replies stay in their tickets.
Templates	Deleting a template deletes its rules; switching it off does not stop them.
Scope	Rules belong to the company: everyone with the permission sees the same list.

Frequently asked questions

General

What is an auto-response rule?

An auto-response rule sends a reply template automatically when an incoming ticket message arrives on one of its accounts, inside its schedule, and meets its conditions. You manage rules under ToolsAutomation on the Auto-response Rules tab; each one names a template, accounts, a schedule, a delay and conditions.

Why can’t I see the tab for auto-response rules?

The tab needs the Automation permission, which shows Automation under Tools; ask an administrator to check your permissions under AdminUsers. Every plan includes auto-responses, but companies on an older plan may not have them; see What each plan includes.

In which order are rules checked?

Order does not matter. When a message arrives, Replyco checks every switched-on rule, and each rule that matches sends its own reply. The list on the Auto-response Rules tab has no manual order; to stop two rules from answering the same message, give them different accounts, schedules or conditions.

Creating and editing

Why won’t Replyco save my rule?

All fields must be completed. means the Rule Name, the Template to Send, the accounts under Accounts or the days are empty. Please enter valid conditions. means a condition has no value. The server also refuses a rule without any condition, and a date range or random delay whose end is not after its start.

I saved a rule and it never sends. What is wrong?

Most often the time window. Open the rule on the Auto-response Rules tab and check that its Working Hours cover the time the message arrived, or switch on Send Outside Working hours of Company, and save. Then check the accounts, the date range and the conditions.

Do I have to add conditions?

Yes. A rule needs at least one condition with a value, and Replyco refuses a rule without any. To answer nearly every message, use a condition that excludes robots, such as Client email Does not contain noreply;no-reply; it matches every sender whose address contains neither word.

Can a rule send a template that is switched off?

Yes. Template to Send offers every template, switched on or off, and a rule keeps sending its template when someone switches the template off on the Templates tab. To stop the automatic reply, switch off the rule on the Auto-response Rules tab.

Schedule and conditions

What is the difference between the three schedule options?

Send Outside Working hours of Company uses your company’s working time and holidays and sends outside them. Use Working Time Range sends in one continuous window from a start day and time to an end day and time. With both off, the rule sends on the chosen Days within the daily Working Hours.

How do I answer only German-speaking customers?

Add a condition with the field Language, the comparison Equals and the value German. Replyco compares it with the language it detects in the message text. The language must be alone in its condition, but you can add other conditions to the same group, for example a subject condition.

Can one condition check several words?

Yes. Separate the words with a semicolon, such as refund;return;exchange. With Contains any of them matches; with Does not contain the condition matches only if none of them appears. Upper and lower case and spaces are ignored, so Refund and re fund count as the same.

Switching off and deleting

Does switching a rule off cancel replies it already scheduled?

No. The switch on the Auto-response Rules tab stops the rule from answering new messages, but replies it scheduled with a delay still go out at their time. Open the ticket and select Cancel on the waiting reply if it should not be sent.

Can I get a deleted rule back?

No. Deleting a rule on the Auto-response Rules tab is permanent; create it again, or next time switch it off instead. Replies the rule already sent stay in their tickets, and replies it scheduled still go out unless you cancel them in the ticket.

Why did an auto-response rule disappear from the list?

Its template was deleted. Deleting a template on the Templates tab also deletes every auto-response rule that sends it. Recreate the template, then the rule, or switch templates off instead of deleting them.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	What to check
All fields must be completed. when saving	The name, the template, the accounts and the days are all filled in.
Please enter valid conditions. when saving	Every condition has a value; delete conditions you do not need.
You don't have enough rights when saving, switching or deleting	Under AdminUsers, the user has the edit level of Automation.
The rule is saved but never sends	1. The time window covers the message’s time. 2. The rule is in the Active group. 3. The message’s account is under Accounts. 4. The date range includes today. 5. The conditions match the message. See Auto-responses for tickets.
The rule answers every message	A condition is too broad, such as a Does not contain condition that nearly every message meets.
A customer got two different auto-responses	Two rules matched the same message; give them different accounts, schedules or conditions.
A rule disappeared	Its template was deleted on the Templates tab.

Auto-responses for tickets: when a reply goes out, and what can stop it
Templates · Reply templates: the replies rules send
Company Settings · Working time: the working time out-of-hours rules follow
Delayed sending: waiting replies in tickets
Performance dashboard: how many replies each rule sent
Rules · Chat auto-response rules