Auto-Response in Gmail

[Dodo aka Diane)]

Hi, Gmail Users--

First, I know there is no "auto-response" per se in Gmail except for the vacation responder.  I have searched Help and the Help Forum for what I want to do and applied the suggestions I learned, but it hasn't worked yet.  I want to send one sender an automatic message that essentially says to go away.  Help said to created a canned response and set up a filter to send that canned response by the name I gave it.  I practiced with a friend, and this did not work.  When I created the canned response, I left the Recipient field blank.  But since my friend did not get that canned response despite my instruction in the filter to send it, I tried something else.  I deleted that canned response and created another one with my friend's e-dress in the Recipients field.  Interestingly (or not), it (friend's name) was not saved as part of the canned response.  Meanwhile, my friend hasn't yet opened that email from me to report whether or not that canned message arrived.  I am writing the group, admittedly prematurely, in case anyone can see the error of my attempts to date.

This was hard to describe, so I hope it is clear to you.  Thanks for any help.

~D.

[Andy]

On Mon, Nov 28, 2016 at 12:50 AM, Dodo aka Diane) <depf...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi, Gmail Users--

First, I know there is no "auto-response" per se in Gmail except for the vacation responder.  I have searched Help and the Help Forum for what I want to do and applied the suggestions I learned, but it hasn't worked yet.  I want to send one sender an automatic message that essentially says to go away.  

​...

​This is not an answer to your question directly ... but I would advise not taking that approach.  If someone is bothering you and won't stop, even a canned response from you might encourage this person to keep e-mailing you.  I think it would be better to ignore the emails.  Use a Filter to delete them as they arrive.

If you have notified the person of your wishes but the emails haven't stopped, also consider the possibility of taking legal action.​

By the way, long ago I created a canned response and tested it, and it worked then.  Have not tested it since ... perhaps I should.

Andy

[John Blake]

Hi Diane

Andy is right, sending any response just encourages people you want to go away, it's a negative response, but a response none the less. Best way I have found is to mark then as Spam, then you'll never see messages from then again, unless you look in your Spam folder that is.

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[Dodo aka Diane)]

Hi, Andy and John--

Thank you for your prompt suggestions.  Here's a little more information although I don't think it affects your replies.  The person is a relative from whom I'm estranged.  He is not harassing me, but there is an occasional msg.  I know I can create a filter to delete his msgs. or send them to Spam, but I wanted him to receive an auto-type of reply that "emails from X...@gmail.com are being blocked."  As I said, what Help provided didn't work.  (My regular canned responses work fine.)  Here are Help two URLs I used:

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/block-email-address-blocked-gmail-email-45926.html

https://www.lifewire.com/block-a-sender-and-let-them-know-in-gmail-1171886

~D.

[Skip Montanaro]

On Monday, November 28, 2016 at 2:09:49 AM UTC-6, jrblakemail wrote:

Best way I have found is to mark then as Spam, then you'll never see messages from then again, unless you look in your Spam folder that is.

Which you should do periodically, as no spam filter is perfect.

 

[stefan ketola]

yep I agree too. A response confirms the email address is live and in use, definitely not the way to go

On 28 November 2016 at 08:09, John Blake <jrbla...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Diane

Andy is right, sending any response just encourages people you want to go away, it's a negative response, but a response none the less. Best way I have found is to mark then as Spam, then you'll never see messages from then again, unless you look in your Spam folder that is.

On Mon, 28 Nov 2016, 14:09 Andy <AI.e...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Mon, Nov 28, 2016 at 12:50 AM, Dodo aka Diane) <depf...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi, Gmail Users--

First, I know there is no "auto-response" per se in Gmail except for the vacation responder.  I have searched Help and the Help Forum for what I want to do and applied the suggestions I learned, but it hasn't worked yet.  I want to send one sender an automatic message that essentially says to go away.  

​...

​This is not an answer to your question directly ... but I would advise not taking that approach.  If someone is bothering you and won't stop, even a canned response from you might encourage this person to keep e-mailing you.  I think it would be better to ignore the emails.  Use a Filter to delete them as they arrive.

If you have notified the person of your wishes but the emails haven't stopped, also consider the possibility of taking legal action.​

By the way, long ago I created a canned response and tested it, and it worked then.  Have not tested it since ... perhaps I should.

Andy

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[catman088]

but I wanted him to receive an auto-type of reply that "emails from X...@gmail.com are being blocked." 

Not possible in Gmail, but you may find a Chrome add in.

Just be careful with add ins;  Google can treat these as spam, and lock your account as well.  They seem to be tightening up on this.

For what it is worth, CR follows:-

"Google themselves do not maintain blacklists / whitelists on your behalf.  Therefore there is no way to actually stop these emails coming to you, or having Google return automatically to the sender.

To avoid reading/seeing any sender:-

You can mark these messages as Spam  https://support.google.com/mail/answer/1366858?hl=en

or

Filter to be deleted on receipt -  (just make sure that you do not delete anything important, as you will be unable to get it back!)

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6579?hl=en

or

Use the new Google "Block Sender" feature

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/8151?hl=en

If using an Android device you can click on the three horizontal dots in Gmail app, to make similar Block/Unsubscribe settings.  These choices, if made here, can only be reversed on the Web interface.

Never use the "unsubscribe" feature on Spam emails. Has no affect whatsoever; merely tells the spammer that they have a "live one" on the hook, and your spam will increase.  As well as that, your address may be on-sold to other spammers.

If mails are harassing/offensive in some way, you should discussing these to your local law enforcement authorities.

You can also report harassing emails to Google, if the offender is using a Gmail account;  Google may or may not take action, and usually will not reply to you.

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/29434?hl=en"

[Andy]

On Mon, Nov 28, 2016 at 5:12 AM, Dodo aka Diane) <depf...@gmail.com> wrote:

Thank you for your prompt suggestions.  Here's a little more information although I don't think it affects your replies.  The person is a relative from whom I'm estranged.  He is not harassing me, but there is an occasional msg.  

​...

​Then it may be that he is not consciously sending them to you, but he occasionally sends emails to "everyone" in his big list of addresses.

Or he does a Reply/All to an old message that has a long list of addresses​.

In either case, if he receives a "your message was blocked" reply from you, he might just ignore it, or file it away for another time (which never comes), because it's too much trouble for him to remove your address from his big list.

Andy

[DEP/Dodo]

To catman088:

Never use the "unsubscribe" feature on Spam emails. Has no affect whatsoever; merely tells the spammer that they have a "live one" on the hook, and your spam will increase.  As well as that, your address may be on-sold to other spammers.

​That really surprises me because Google has offered it as a desirable feature, and I have used it.  The good news is my spam hasn't increased so far.

~D/D​

 

[Dodo aka Diane)]

Thanks to all for your helpful responses.  I wonder why people contributed the info in those two URLs I provided.  Anyway, thanks to you, I am aborting my attempt.

~D/D

On Sunday, November 27, 2016 at 9:50:14 PM UTC-8, Dodo aka Diane) wrote:

[John Phillips]

You may have missed "on Spam emails"?

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[Dodo aka Diane)]

I responded to your comment on that.  ??

On Tuesday, November 29, 2016 at 3:34:08 AM UTC-8, catman088 wrote:

You may have missed "on Spam emails"?

On 29 November 2016 at 16:49, DEP/Dodo <depf...@gmail.com> wrote:

To catman088:

Never use the "unsubscribe" feature on Spam emails. Has no affect whatsoever; merely tells the spammer that they have a "live one" on the hook, and your spam will increase.  As well as that, your address may be on-sold to other spammers.

​That really surprises me because Google has offered it as a desirable feature, and I have used it.  The good news is my spam hasn't increased so far.

~D/D​

 

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[DEP/Dodo]

Hi, Stefan:

I was going to reply to you via the group's site, but I can't find your comment there.(?)  So I'm replying from my Gmail.  My comment to you follows:  I don't care if the recipient knows that the e-dress is functional.  However, the topic now is moot anyway based on all the comments and the fact that I cannot send an "auto-reply" type msg. as I wanted.

~D/D

[Andy]

On Tue, Nov 29, 2016 at 8:48 PM, DEP/Dodo <depf...@gmail.com> wrote:

​...

 

​

However, the topic now is moot anyway based on all the comments and the fact that I cannot send an "auto-reply" type msg. as I wanted.

​I got around to testing "auto-reply with a canned response".

My results were mixed.

First I created and saved the canned response.  Then created the auto-reply Filter that sends the saved canned response.  Then I tested it, by sending myself a message from another email account.

I did get a reply sent back to that account.  However, the reply message was empty, not what it should have been.  Hmm.

Went back to the first account, looked in All Mail, and found TWO saved drafts there.  That's strange.  They had different Subject lines.  One Subject line was set to the name of the Canned Response that I used, and its body was empty.  The other draft had the Subject line that I typed when I created the Canned Response, and the correct body.

I deleted the draft with the empty body -- but that means my Filter now would auto-reply with a deleted canned response (which is now 100% gone, not even in Trash), which of course it can't do.

So I opened the other draft, and saved it again as a Canned Response, but being careful to use the same name as the Subject line.  Then went back and edited the Filter to send this new Canned Response.

Went to the other account, sent myself a test message, and this time I got the right reply back.

So .....  I think the take-away from this is that Canned Responses still mostly work, but they never got the bugs out of them, or they've added new bugs, over time.  Well, it is still a "Gmail Lab" which means it is experimental.  It may take you a few tries to get yours to work.  Keep trying.

Could it be that the Filter you created to test yours, had the wrong email address in the Filter, so that it was never activated when your friend sent you a practice message?  Try this:  Make the Filter do 2 actions: (1) Apply a Label, and (2) Send a Canned Response.  Then have your friend send you a practice message.  If that message doesn't end up with the Label, then you know the Filter was the problem (it didn't match your friend's email address).

Regards,

Andy

[Dodo aka Diane)]

In a word, Andy, no.  The email address wasn't wrong.  Wow--thank you for all that experimenting on my behalf!

[Sean Murphy]

    No, the feature /D is (was) talking about is specifically for messages that you mark as "Spam"...