I believe the out of office function is only enabled when Outlook 2000 is configured to run on an Exchange Mail Server rather than the normal POP3 mail setup. If you are running under the Exchange Server setup and can't see the Out of office option, try upon of Outlook via use of the install Disk. thus time when option appears chose the "Custom" setup option and look for any Outlook features that were not checked with the original install. As you expand the features list (menu list has the "+" marks in front that you click to expand) Check to enable any features that you didn't get the first time around, but want.
if not on an exchange server, you may consider looking into your email provider for an auto-responding message that you're out of office. Most providers allow this type of thing, and they used to categorize it as "vacation" response rather than an out of office. The issue with out of office on your PC / Outlook is that there is no way for it to run and respond to mail received continually, as you probably aren't leaving the machine on 24/7 with outlook open, nor have a way to see items on your email provider's server without 'send/receive' download of those item.
I hope this helps you.
Ron G, September 2009
