Can I set up an auto-reply in Facebook messages to tell people to email me instead?

We created an iPhone app, Taking a Break, that solves precisely this problem. Taking a Break allows you to easily schedule breaks from Facebook and Twitter, and it auto replies to all your incoming communications while you are on break. Taking a Break auto replies to Facebook Comments, Wall Updates, Messages, and Event Invitations, and to Twitter @Mentions and Messages. Taking a Break App Store link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/taking-a-break/id438835787?ls=1&mt=8 Taking a Break Website link: 
http://takingabreakapp.com

Can I set up an auto-reply in Facebook Messages to tell people to email me instead? I  use email for all of my communication, and although I use Facebook to  stay in touch with people, I do not want to use Facebook Messages for  two reasons: I want all of my communication data to be stored in a single place (my email). I do not want to have to check a separate system (I already check my email). How can I set up Facebook to auto-respond and instruct people to email me at my email address instead? I  have set up Facebook to email me when someone sends me a message, but  it is not possible to reply by email, since the From address is  something like "notification+", which rejects replies.

FaceBook Pages now (2016) have an inbuilt option for auto-reply to the page's messages:  Settings/ Messaging/ Instant Replies I believe it can be set only in the desktop version of FB and the message is limited to 250 characters.

There's no way to accomplish what you're trying to do. Facebook can't monetize messaging if you're pulling content out of their ecosystem. Setting up email notifications when it comes to messenger is no different than a email notifications for people "liking" or "commenting on a photo. All your receiving is an alert that something happened. There is no info in that alert so there is nothing to reply to.

Yes you can! It only would work if you are using a Facebook page, not a personal page.Second, If I understand correctly, you want to reply to people using your facebook responder? That may not be possible.Setting and autoresponder should help you with both these problems, as people are advised to mail you directly and thus giving the correct “reply-to” mail adress.Here’s how to set it up.Go to your facebookpage->settings->messages. There you will find all your settings on how to respond to people. Thank them for their message and clearly point out that they should mail you on the given mail adress (and even personalize it with your website link). This should work.Good luck!

Yes you can, there’s this really cool service called Ongair ( https://ongair.im/ ) that let’s you add your Facebook Messenger account to a web-based dashboard which allows you to setup cool things like auto-responders and canned-responses .No you do not have to worry about rejecting replies or not having all your messages in one dashboard.I tried it out and it works well for me. Hope this helps :)