Patent ID: 8688788

Claim:
A method at an email server for automatically responding to an email message sent to a recipient comprising: receiving an enable communication to enable auto-reply messaging for the recipient, the recipient having an email user account with the email server, the enable communication comprising a personalization option; receiving the email message from a sender addressed to the recipient; determining that the recipient has enabled auto-reply messaging with the personalization option; parsing the email message to extract a personalization key therefrom; if a personalization key is extracted, accessing an address book of the recipient; searching the address book to find an entry corresponding to the personalization key; if a corresponding entry is found, determining at least one personal identifier of the sender of the message from the corresponding entry, populating an auto-reply message with the at least one personal identifier to generate a personalized auto-reply message, and sending the personalized auto-reply message to the sender; if a corresponding entry is not found, parsing the email message's body to identify at least one personal identifier in the email message's body, populating an auto-reply message with the at least one personal identifier to generate a personalized auto-reply message, and sending the personalized autoreply message to the sender; if neither the corresponding entry nor the at least one personal identifier in the email message's body is found, generating and sending an auto-reply message without personal identifier.