40.19 Business Hours
40.19.1 Overview ¶
In the Business hours area you define weekdays, times and holidays for the Automatic reply task (see Chapter 13). With these you control whether the auto-reply sends the standard text or the out-of-hours text - e.g. “We will get back to you on the next business day”.
Note: Business hours apply only to the Automatic reply task. Other tasks (save, print, forward, database, etc.) are not affected. A program-wide processing lock can be achieved via the Processing times (see Chapter 40.18).
40.19.2 Activation ¶
| Field |
Description |
| Observe business hours |
Globally enables business-hours evaluation |
If this option is disabled, the standard text always applies to the auto-reply - the out-of-hours text is ignored.
40.19.3 Configuration Tabs ¶
The configuration is split across several tabs:
| Tab |
Contents |
| Business hours |
Per weekday (Mon-Sun): Active checkbox + From/To time |
| Holidays (template) |
Template for yearly recurring holidays - master list |
| Holidays (current year) |
Specific holidays of the current year |
| Holidays (following years) |
Outlook for the next 1-2 years |
40.19.4 Business Hours per Weekday ¶
| Field |
Description |
| Active |
Checkbox in front of the weekday name |
| From |
Start of day (format HH:MM) |
| To |
End of day (format HH:MM) |
Exactly one window per day.
40.19.5 Holidays Template ¶
The template defines which holidays you maintain at all - it is the master list. Per entry:
| Field |
Description |
| Name |
Designation (e.g. “New Year”, “May 1”) |
| Type |
Fixed date (same day each year - e.g. January 1) or Variable date (shifts, e.g. Easter, Pentecost) |
| Day/Month |
For fixed date: the date itself |
Add / Remove / Move up / Move down allow you to maintain the list.
Note: Changes to the template are automatically applied to the tabs of the specific years - new entries are added, deleted ones removed.
40.19.6 Yearly Holiday Tabs ¶
For each year (current and 1-2 look-ahead years) a separate tab appears. There:
- Fixed-date holidays (e.g. New Year) appear as a read-only row with date display - they automatically follow the template
- Variable-date holidays (e.g. Easter, Good Friday, Whit Monday) must be filled in manually with the specific date per year - the program does not calculate the exact date automatically
This keeps the logic simple: fixed holidays once in the template, variable holidays entered by hand once per year.
40.19.7 Effect on the Auto-Reply ¶
When sending an automatic reply, the program checks whether the receipt time falls within business hours and is not a holiday:
- Within + no holiday: standard reply text is sent
- Outside or on a holiday: if an out-of-hours text is stored in the Reply task, this is sent - otherwise the standard text
Detailed configuration of the Reply task: see Chapter 13.
40.19.8 Use Case ¶
Standard DE office hours for auto-reply
Mon-Fri active 08:00-18:00. Sat and Sun disabled. Template holidays: New Year, Good Friday (variable), Easter Monday (variable), May 1, Ascension Day (variable), Whit Monday (variable), German Unity Day, Christmas, Boxing Day. Outside these times, the auto-reply sends the notice “We will get back to you on the next business day”.
40.19.9 Tip ¶
- Variable holidays (Easter, Pentecost, Ascension Day) must be entered manually per year - the program does not calculate them. An online search (“Easter 2026”) provides the dates in seconds