Change your presence status
You can manually set your presence status to control how or whether you want people to contact you. By default, your status is based on your Microsoft Outlook Calendar. For example, if a meeting is currently scheduled in Outlook, your status appears as “In a meeting” in Microsoft Lync 2010 communications software.
When you are in an audio or video call, your presence indicator appears red, as Busy, and your status updates to “In a call.” Part of your presence can include a personal note that appears in your Contacts list, your contact card, and your contacts’ Activity Feed.
Change your presence status
To change your presence status, do the following:
- At the top of the Lync main window, click the status menu under your name.
- From the drop-down list, click the appropriate status. To revert from the status you set and have Lync 2010 automatically update your status, click Reset Status.
To watch a video about how to change your status, click Video: Change Your Status. For more information on setting presence status options, see Control access to your presence information.
Top of
PageChoose the appropriate status
Make sure you set your status to an appropriate state.
| Presence Status | Description |
|---|---|
Available |
You are online and available to be contacted. |
 Busy |
You are not to be interrupted. Busy or in a phone call or meeting |
 Do Not
Disturb |
You don’t want to be disturbed and will see conversation alerts only if they are sent by your Workgroup contacts. Note If you have set your status to Do Not Disturb and you make a 911 call, your status automatically changes to Available. You can reset it at any time. |
 Be
Right Back |
You are away briefly and will return shortly. |
| Off
Work |
You are not at work and not available to be contacted. |
| Appear
Away |
You want to hide your status (appear to others that you are currently away). This selection is displayed as Away to other users. |
Offline |
You are not signed in. (Also, if you have blocked individuals from seeing your presence, you’ll appear as Offline to them.) |
Unknown |
Your presence is not known. (If others are not using Lync as their instant-messaging application, your presence might appear as Unknown to them.) |
Depending on what privacy relationship a contact has, he or she will see different amounts of presence information about you. For more information about setting privacy relationships, see Control access to your presence information.
Add and view a personal note
At the top of the Lync main window, you can type or paste any kind of note you want. The note will appear with your contact card and, if you want, in your contacts’ Activity Feed. If you have set an out-of-office notification in Outlook, it appears to your contacts as your personal note.
If a note is long, it may appear cut off. To expand it, do one of the following:
- In the Contacts list, click the down arrow under the Call button.
- In a contact card, point to the note.
For a video demonstration of how to add a note, see Add a note.
To disable a personal note, clear the note so that it is blank.