Microsoft Teams is a popular collaboration tool used by organizations worldwide. One of its key features is the ability to display status indicators, which let your colleagues know if you’re available for a chat, in a meeting, or away from your desk. Understanding these statuses can help streamline communication and ensure that you’re not disrupting a colleague when they’re busy.
Available
When your status is set to Available, it means that you are online and ready to communicate. This is the default status when you’re actively using Teams. You can participate in meetings, receive calls, and respond to messages without any problem. If someone sees you’re “Available,” it’s a green light for them to contact you directly, knowing that you’re not in a meeting or away from your desk.
When it appears:
- You’re actively using Teams.
- You’ve manually set your status to Available.
Busy
A Busy status means you’re online but occupied with something that requires focus, such as a meeting or working on a task. In this status, Teams will show that you’re online, but it may be best for others to hold off on reaching out unless it’s urgent.
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When it appears:
- You’re in a meeting (but not on a call).
- You’ve manually set your status to Busy.
- You’re working in another application and haven’t touched Teams in a few minutes.
Do Not Disturb
Do Not Disturb is a more focused version of Busy. When your status is set to Do Not Disturb, all notifications are suppressed, ensuring that you won’t be interrupted by messages, calls, or notifications. This status is ideal for when you’re in deep focus mode, giving a presentation, or working on something highly important.
You can also use the “Priority Access” feature within this status to allow only certain people to reach you, even when you don’t want to be disturbed.
When it appears:
- You’ve manually set your status to Do Not Disturb.
- You’re presenting your screen or in a call.
Be Right Back
The Be Right Back status is used to indicate that you’re temporarily stepping away from your desk, but will be back shortly. This status lets your colleagues know that you’re not available at the moment, but that they can expect you to return soon.
When it appears:
- You’ve manually set your status to Be Right Back.
Appear Away
Appear Away shows your status as if you’re not actively working or at your desk. This can be useful if you want to stay online and view notifications without being interrupted. Even though you’re online, others will see you as unavailable, which might discourage them from reaching out immediately.
When it appears:
- You’ve manually set your status to Appear Away.
Away
The Away status appears when you’re not actively using Microsoft Teams. This could mean that you’ve stepped away from your computer, or it may automatically switch to Away if your computer has been idle for a certain amount of time. This status tells others that you’re currently not at your desk and may not respond immediately.
When it appears:
- You haven’t used your computer or Teams for a set period of time (default is 5 minutes).
- Your computer is locked, or in sleep mode.
- You’ve manually set your status to Away.
Offline
When you’re marked as Offline, you’re either not signed into Microsoft Teams, or you’ve manually set your status to appear as offline. In this state, you won’t receive any notifications or messages until you return online.
When it appears:
- You’re signed out of Microsoft Teams.
- You’ve manually set your status to Offline.
Out of Office
The Out of Office status is tied to your Outlook calendar. If you’ve scheduled time away from work in your calendar, Teams will automatically reflect this by setting your status to Out of Office. You can also manually set this status in advance if you’re going on vacation or taking time off.
When you’re Out of Office, people who message you will typically receive an automatic reply (if you’ve set one up in Outlook), letting them know that you’re unavailable for an extended period.
When it appears:
- You’ve set an Out of Office reply in Outlook.
- You’ve manually set your status to Out of Office.
How Microsoft Teams statuses are set
Teams will automatically change your status based on your activity or calendar. However, you can also manually change it at any time by following these steps:
- Click on your profile picture in the top right corner of the Teams window.
- Select your current status from the drop-down menu.
- Choose a different status or set a duration for a specific status.
You can also set a custom status message to provide more context to your colleagues, like “On a call, back in 30 minutes.”
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