A Gmail vacation responder does not normally reply to every message from the same person. If a test receives no response, check the active period, recipient restrictions, and repeat behavior before concluding that the setting is broken.
Confirm the responder is active for this account
Open the relevant Gmail account’s full settings and inspect Vacation responder under General. Verify that it is on, the saved date range includes the intended day, and the response text has been saved. The active responder normally produces a banner across the inbox.
Google’s Workspace setup guidance also says an account must be at least 24 hours old to use the vacation responder. For a newly created managed account, check that requirement before repeatedly rebuilding the message.
Check whether this sender should receive it
If you restricted replies to contacts, confirm that your test sender is included. For an organization-managed mailbox, inspect any additional audience choices actually offered in that account rather than assuming an outside personal address will receive the notice.
Google says messages sent to Spam and messages addressed to mailing lists you subscribe to do not receive the vacation reply. Test with a direct, ordinary message from an eligible address instead of a mailing-list notification.
Allow for the repeat-reply rules
In most cases, the sender gets a vacation reply the first time they contact you. Google says they may receive another if they contact you again after four days while the responder remains active. They may also receive an updated response after you edit the message and they write again.
Consequently, sending several test emails from the same address over a few minutes is not a reliable way to show that every attempted reply failed. Check whether that sender already received the notice and whether their mailbox filtered it.
Use a small, controlled test and inspect both mailboxes. If an eligible first contact still receives nothing, retain the saved dates, account type, recipient restriction, and non-sensitive message time for the administrator or support. Do not turn off spam protection or publish your mailbox contents while investigating an automatic-reply problem.
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References
Reviewed against the linked official and developer guidance on October 27, 2026. Available options and screen labels can vary by account, device, region, and organization policy.