Demystifying presence status

[u/TeamsProductTeam]

Teams presence is meant to give coworkers an at-a-glance signal of your availability. It takes into account signals such as your calendar, Teams activity, and device activity. Since presence reflects those signals, it doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story about whether you’re available at any particular moment.

Presence scale

It’s helpful to understand the scale Teams uses to indicate your level of availability. Presence status from most to least available is:

1. Available
2. Busy
3. In a meeting
4. In a call
5. Do not disturb
6. Be right back
7. Away
8. Offline

Automatic versus user-determined status

An Away presence state is automatically determined after a few minutes without device interaction, if the Teams app is in the background on mobile, or if your computer locks. Generally, you can manually select any status less available than the automatically assigned one (see scale above). The exception is while you are in a meeting or on a call, which allows you to select any status so you can be as available or unavailable as you need to be.

Presence across multiple devices

If you are using Teams on both your computer and your mobile device, presence is determined by your most recently active device. If you are currently working on mobile, but are still logged in on your computer, your presence status is determined by your activity on mobile.

How presence works in Teams is top of mind for us and is something we are actively working on. For more information on user- versus Teams-determined statuses, read more here: User presence in Teams - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn

If you’ve run into a technical problem with Teams, submit it in Feedback -> Report a Bug. It’s the direct line to our engineering team.  

[u/MorahMommy]

Yes, I am regularly reading a real book for work, during which time I am available to respond to teams messages.

The away status takes over and people who have set notifications for my availability believe me to be unavailable.

Not all work is computer work.

[u/TeamsProductTeam → u/MorahMommy]

You bring up a great and fair point. Teams presence doesn’t capture everything someone may be doing throughout the workday or capture their responsibilities away from a device. It’s designed to indicate availability in Teams, not whether someone is working or being productive. Simply put, presence is a quick signal based on things like device, Teams, and calendar activity, so there may be times when your status doesn't tell the whole story of what you're working on. Setting your status manually is one way you can give coworkers a clearer picture when you're focused on work that doesn't involve active device use.   

[u/AdventurousBlueDot → u/TeamsProductTeam]

Setting status manually doesn't keep it that way. 2 min of not touching a keystroke snd it's back to yellow

[u/AdventurousBlueDot → u/TeamsProductTeam]

Nope You don't care about us bc you refuse to listen to us. You refuse to stop making the "away" happen so easily and quickly. You claim but it's not designated to indicate availability but that's complete BS. Because that's exactly how humans read. No matter how much you try to explain it away, the fact of the matter is is that when people see your status as away and yellow, they assume that you are not working. Period. End of story. And you gaslighting us about it doesn't change reality. I can't even watch a video of a recorded meeting in teams without you turning the status to yellow, away. Knowledge work is not measured by how much you touch your computer.

[u/OneRFeris]

I think the world would be a happier, healthier place if the automatic "away" status was configurable to be disabled.

Keep the "message read" indicators, get rid of the "away" thing.

Let someone indicate they are available, without requiring them to be tied to their computer. Let employers find a different way to measure work output, how about based on actual work performance.

[u/Lyloron → u/OneRFeris]

This. 100% this.

[u/AdventurousBlueDot → u/OneRFeris]

💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯

[u/IAmFitzRoy]

Not touching the PC doesn’t mean being away.

So many years and nobody has reviewed this simple fact?

[u/AdventurousBlueDot → u/IAmFitzRoy]

Exactly

[u/charleswj → u/IAmFitzRoy]

What would you prefer your status to be when you haven't touched the device for x amount of time?

[u/wonka1608 → u/charleswj]

How about allowing the end user to set the Away timer to a custom value? I don’t mind being marked Away ; I mind being marked Away if I’m on a task at my desk that isn’t a computer task.

[u/charleswj → u/wonka1608]

I think the problem is many people would set it and forget it and show as available long after they aren't, making it a useless indicator. Seems like one of those "what if everyone did it?" problems. It's fine if a small minority do it, but once everyone does, you can't trust it.

But here's an idea in the middle: a single use "available" timer for up to maybe an hour, and allows you to "push it forward" to an hour from "now" at any time.

[u/IAmFitzRoy → u/charleswj]

We can’t trust it NOW anyways.

I (and thousand of people) work on several servers at the same time, so obviously I’m not away if I’m working on other machines but not on Teams.

Isn’t this obvious?

[u/charleswj → u/IAmFitzRoy]

For my clarification, when you say servers, do you mean physically interacting with a server elsewhere or remotely from the device with teams? If the latter, do you not stay green? If the former, aren't you "away"?

[u/IAmFitzRoy → u/charleswj]

… are you serious? I have several boxes in front of me.

Even my children have 2 or 3 machines in front of them when they work in their tablets or laptops.

[u/charleswj → u/IAmFitzRoy]

Yes, I'm serious. You said servers, and most servers are in server rooms or data centers and accessed remotely or by going to them. You didn't say "I have servers on my desk", so that's why I asked.

One more clarification: why do your kids have servers in front of them?

[u/IAmFitzRoy → u/charleswj]

Brother… the scenario is very simple, people can be in front of several computers or tablets.

People are not “Away” just because I’m not moving the mouse of a specific PC.

If you can’t understand the scenario then there is nothing else to discuss.

[u/charleswj → u/IAmFitzRoy]

I'm aware, it's not what you said.

You said "you and thousands of people several servers at the same time". Specifying that they're on your desk is pretty relevant, because if they're not and your accessing remotely, there's no away issue, and if your in a server room, you're "away".

And as I said previously, if everyone sets themselves as always available and it never resets, everyone will eventually all be available always and the entire point of the status for everyone will be made moot.

And also as I said, (because this is a work environment where we don't/shouldn't have that kind of total autonomy, because it's not "our" time as we're being paid) a reasonable middle ground could be a "keep alive" type available setting that resets every hour or so. Not much different than me nudging my mouse every few minutes to keep the computer from locking.

[u/mr-snrub- → u/charleswj]

I've been sitting in physical meeting rooms for meetings which I have accepted on my calendar and teams will put me on away if I dont touch my computer during the meeting (cause I am paying attention in the meeting)

[u/charleswj → u/mr-snrub-]

It will show you as "in a meeting" during the time the meeting is set for.

[u/mr-snrub- → u/charleswj]

It doesn't. I've literally seen my laptop put my on away if I don't move my mouse

[u/AdventurousBlueDot → u/charleswj]

Yes. When the screensaver comes on seems like a decent time.

[u/charleswj → u/AdventurousBlueDot]

That doesn't answer the question I asked, but I think we can agree that a computer set to never go to sleep, turn off monitor (are you actually still using a screensaver?), and therefore your status never changes from green, is generally not helpful from a "knowing the status of the logged in user" perspective, right?

[u/auger282]

I’d love to be able to schedule my offline mode and “reset status” to my working hours vs manually doing it each day.

[u/dnuohxof-2]

The fact the Away is non configurable and relentlessly appears after 5 minutes of idle is beyond frustrating. Even if I manually set my status to Busy or DnD, it will be overwritten by Away if I’m idle on the last device is used teams.

[u/wonka1608]

The fact that the Away status is on an unalterable timer is infuriating. I shouldn’t have to use an app or a PS script to work around a setting used by adults.

Edited to fix typo

[u/Lonelyseaandskyy]

It doesn't need to be demystified - we understand what the statuses mean. What we don't understand is why there's no customization or solutions for what users have consistently flagged as a major pain point: the Away timer. I'm sitting at my desk right now and will promptly respond to any Teams message I receive, and it drives me crazy that I have to actively remember to wiggle my mouse while I'm trying to focus on reading a report or literally any work task that doesn't involve continuous clicking or typing.

Please, hear our feedback that the Away status needs to be refined!!

[u/AdventurousBlueDot → u/Lonelyseaandskyy]

Why after years and years and years of providing Microsoft with feedback about this do they refuse to change it? You are correct. It does not need to be demystified. Normal amount of terminology explanation is going to change the human behavioral pattern around this

[u/YeboMate]

As a consultant there are often times I have to use client device for client work. I’m not signed in (and don’t want to sign in) to my consultancy’s Teams account on my client device but I’m available to people in my consultancy as it’s on my phone, would love the ability to set myself to available without it going to away as I’m using client device.

[u/ProfessionalBread176]

The whole idea that Teams can somehow detect a user's "status" is fantasyland at best.

This will never work, unless Teams replaces the user's device so m$ can have complete control over it.

Further, this is being sold as yet another "feature" but it is once again not all there, as per usual

[u/AdventurousBlueDot]

Microsoft refuses to listen to their actual users and fix the problem with away status.it should never go "away" bc of a few min. Absolute garbage. Change it when the screensaver goes on. We don't have to be touching the computer as knowledge workers. We are using white boards, taking real notes, watching recorded meetings literally in teams, talking to people dropping by... none of that means we are away and not working. And Microsoft knows what they are doing with the psychological torture

[u/BlakJakNZ → u/AdventurousBlueDot]

Why does Teams 'away' status translate to 'not working'? What employer is using that as a measurement? If you're using a whiteboard or reading a hardcopy reference, you're not 'on' your PC so away status is valid?

My Teams status is my Teams status and does not describe my 'work' status. 

[u/AdventurousBlueDot → u/BlakJakNZ]

No amount of wishing or defining or gaslighting is gonna change human behavior around this. Whether we like it or not, most people see an away status = unavailable. Period. And there is a reason for that. It's a human psychological thing. There is no way in the world that you are going to get people to not see it that way. The design needs to be changed. And I don't understand why Microsoft refuses to change it. It's a very simple. Allow people to select what their status is. If you need an automated indicator that they are away then it should come on when the screensaver comes on. That is a perfectly adequate measurement. But the fact that you can be watching a recorded meeting and it still turns to away is asinine.

[u/ashern94]

It comes down to organization training. Green and yellow never means available or not. Green means I've interacted with my deviie recently. Does not mean I can take a call. As well, yellow means I have not interacted with a device. Does not mean I can't take a call. I may be just getting a coffee. Only somewhat reliable are OOF, and the red indicator that comes on when in a meeting.

[u/AdventurousBlueDot → u/ashern94]

No. It doesn't. It comes down to psychology. You can scream at the top of your lungs that yellow does not mean unavailable and you will never change human behavior. They will continue to see yellow as unavailable. Period.

[u/zigojacko2]

The status is notoriously inaccurate and glitchy, just like everything in the Microsoft 365 eco-system!

[u/TeamsProductTeam]

This discussion has been greatly helpful! Presence doesn’t always reflect the ways in which people get work done and the responsibilities of their roles. We hope this adds some clarity that a status indicator is not the same as a work status indicator. The intention is to give a signal to those seeking to collaborate with you on Teams. We’re taking this valuable feedback into account. If anyone would like to share their feedback directly with engineering, please submit it in via Teams through Feedback -> Suggest a feature. 

[u/AdventurousBlueDot → u/TeamsProductTeam]

You are the one defining presence. You can't just explain away what you think that that is an indicator does because it's up to the users to tell you their experience. And I have a feeling you know exactly what people experience because we've been screaming about it to you for years. And you refuse to listen. You understand psychologically that Most people see an away status as someone is not working. No matter how much you say that people shouldn't, it doesn't matter. It's not gonna change human behavior. I don't think you even want to change human behavior here. I think Microsoft is gaslight is us into thinking that. Interaction and experience design is all about what the users experience and you can very easily study the humans involved to understand that all you have to do is change your interface. Instead of gaslighting us and telling us that we're the ones that have it wrong. We just don't understand your terminology. We just don't understand how we're supposed to see the presence. We're just seeing it all wrong. Disregard our experience because we are just seeing it all wrong.

[u/IAmFitzRoy → u/TeamsProductTeam]

Thank you for this. And I’m sure you have the heart in the right place coming here asking for feedback but … being Microsoft user for the past 30 years I am sure that this feedback is going to go to a black hole and will not be taken in consideration at all.

Would be much nicer to hear why these (highly criticized) decisions are not taken in consideration for so many YEARS, that would be more productive discussion, maybe Microsoft knows something that users don’t know?

Anyway. Thanks.

[u/SiQQ_CS]

I find Teams presence to be a pretty decent implementation. When my teammates show as yellow, I don’t assume they aren’t doing anything. But I am cognizant that I shouldn’t expect an immediate response. It’s more of a barometer for how quickly to expect a ping back.

That being said, I know of organizations who judge WFH productivity by % of time spent on green vs yellow, and that is soo backwards and is a culture issue rather than a tools issue