Can auto-responders exclude threads by label?
No. Auto-responders support a Labels include any of condition, which fires when a thread has at least one of the specified labels. There is no way to make an auto-responder fire only when a label is not present. Auto-responders also support business hours, tier, priority and support email conditions.
Use a workflow instead
Workflows support a Label does not include condition. Set up a workflow with:
- Trigger: Thread created
- Condition: Label does not include your label
- Action: Send message to customer
This sends a message to any customer whose thread does not have that label. It gives the same result as an auto-responder with a label exclusion.
Other ways auto-responses are held back
Auto-responses are suppressed automatically in a number of cases. There is also a configurable delay of up to 15 minutes before one is sent. If an agent replies inside that window, the auto-response is dropped so the customer does not get two replies. The Auto-responses documentation covers the suppression rules, the delay and how to use dynamic fields in the reply.