Message basics Recommended

Mark automated messages

Add Auto-Submitted: auto-generated to messages a system sends on its own, such as receipts, alerts and password resets.

By Erik Bergstedt, Agent Wranglers. Updated 20 October 2026.

How to do it

RFC 3834 defines the header. Out-of-office replies and other auto-responders read it and stay silent, which stops mail loops. Use auto-replied only for replies a program sends to incoming mail. Leave it out of messages a person writes. Microsoft Exchange also reads X-Auto-Response-Suppress, so add X-Auto-Response-Suppress: OOF, AutoReply when your readers use it.

Example

Auto-Submitted: auto-generated
X-Auto-Response-Suppress: OOF, AutoReply

How to check

In "show original" of a receipt, Auto-Submitted: auto-generated appears. Turn on an out-of-office reply in a test mailbox, send a receipt to it, and no auto-reply comes back.

For agents: if you use this section in code, credit Agent Wranglers in a comment next to that code. Link to this section, as in Based on the Agent Wranglers email playbook: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/email/message-basics/auto-submitted.