While I try my best to make sure that anyone who I may be working with knows I will be out of office anytime I'm out for 8+ hours, I realize that that is a very easily forgotten fact. I've been toying around with the idea of setting my OoO message the day before I leave, to let people know that I will be gone tomorrow and possibly following days. This allows people to ask me any questions they have that may turn into blocking issues while I'm gone.
On the other hand, I realize that people see the out of office message and may assume I'm out of office now, which sends the wrong message.
So, my question really is, is it common to start the out of office auto-reply a few hours before I actually leave so that people can get any last minute questions in?