![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(224.00000000000003, 81%, 31%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EE%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(217.60000000000002, 19%, 31%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EKN%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Hi emk,
Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.
I understand that you're trying to configure automatic replies for a shared mailbox so that only external senders receive the auto-response, while internal users do not. You've attempted to leave the internal message blank via the client UI, but it still sends out blank auto-replies internally.
Unfortunately, after spending time testing and researching, I’ve found that when you enable automatic replies through the client UI, the internal message field always defaults to a whitespace character. As a result, it’s not possible to completely suppress internal auto-replies using the UI alone.
However, I tested a PowerShell-based approach, and it does achieve the desired outcome. Please note that you’ll need an account with Exchange Online admin privileges to run the following steps:
Step 1: Install and connect to Exchange Online PowerShell
Install-Module -Name ExchangeOnlineManagement
Import-Module ExchangeOnlineManagement
Connect-ExchangeOnline
Step 2: Run the script to enable external-only auto-replies
Set-MailboxAutoReplyConfiguration -Identity yourshareemail@example.com -AutoReplyState Enabled -InternalMessage "" -ExternalMessage "External auto-reply message." -ExternalAudience All
I hope this solution aligns with what you were looking for. Let me know if you have any further questions or need assistance running the script.
If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".
Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.