Understand presence
Presence information helps you to contact others and helps others to reach you. It provides information about a contact and helps you to decide the best way to communicate with that contact. For example, you see that a co-worker’s presence indicator is green in your Contacts list, indicating that she is Available. You could walk down the hall and talk face-to-face, but you notice that her location and note indicate that she is working offsite, so you decide to send an instant message instead.
A contact’s presence indicator changes color based on several factors, as described in the following table, and is accompanied by text that details the person’s status.
| Presence Status | Description |
|---|---|
 Available |
You are online and available to be contacted. |
 Busy |
You are in a Microsoft Lync 2010 call or, according to your Outlook calendar, you are in a meeting, so you shouldn’t be interrupted. |
 Do not
Disturb |
You don’t want to be disturbed and will see conversation alerts only if they are sent by your Workgroup contacts. |
 Be right
back |
You are away briefly and will return shortly. |
| Away |
Your computer has been idle for a period of time (15 minutes by default). |
| Off
Work |
You are not working and are not available to contact. |
Offline |
You are not signed in. If you have blocked individuals from seeing your presence, you’ll appear offline to them. |
Unknown |
Your presence is not known. If others are not using Lync 2010 as their instant messaging program, then your presence might appear unknown to them. |
For information about setting a personal note, see “Add and view a personal note” at Change your presence status.
