Answer

PROBLEM

When sending an Out of Office reply which is not in English, GFI MailEssentials adds the recipients' email address to the Autowhitelist.

ENVIRONMENT

• GFI MailEssentials
• Microsoft Exchange
• All supported environments

SOLUTION

1. Open Regedit (Start > Run > type regedit)
2. Browse to:
   • x86: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\GFI\MailEssentials\Antispam\Config
   • x64: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432NODE\GFI\MailEssentials\Antispam\Config
3. Edit the value called awx_outofoffice. The data of this value should contain the series text that will be included in the subject of all Out of Office replies. To specify multiple strings, as in the case of out of office replies in multiple languages, use the following format (including quotes): string1 , string2 , string3
4. Close Regedit
5. Restart the Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) Admin and GFI MailEssentials services

CAUSE

By default, GFI MailEssentials looks for the text Out of Office AutoReply: and variations in the subject of the email. If part of the subject matches with the text, GFI MailEssentials will not add the recipient to the Autowhitelist. If  using text that does not match with the pre-configured default values, the out of office reply could be added into the Autowhitelist.