How to Change Your Status on Slack: Message, Emoji and Away Dot

To change your status on Slack, click your profile picture in the bottom-left corner, click Update your status, type a message, pick a Duration and click Save. To change the green or grey dot instead, open the same menu and click Set yourself as away or Set yourself as active.

We checked every step below on 3 October 2026 in Slack's web app (the desktop app uses the same menus), in a test workspace, and read each result back from Slack's API with users.profile.get and users.getPresence. Two things surprised us. Slack now picks the status emoji from the words you type, and setting yourself away survives a sent message and a page reload.

Change your status message and emoji

The profile picture sits at the bottom of the narrow left rail, under Admin. Its menu has the status field at the top.

• Click your profile picture in the bottom-left corner.
• Click Update your status. A Set a status window opens with the field "What's your status?".
• Type your status. Slack fills in an emoji as you type (see the table below). Click the emoji to pick a different one.
• Open Duration and choose when the status clears.
• Optional: tick Pause notifications until status is cleared.
• Click Save.

Before you type, the window lists Slack's suggestions: In a meeting (1 hour), Commuting (30 minutes), Out sick (Today), Vacationing (start and end date) and Working remotely (Today). Under Automatically updates it offers "In a meeting" based on your Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar, which only works after you connect that calendar app.

The Duration menu has seven choices: Don't clear, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours, Today, This week, and Choose a start and end time. Today is selected by default, so a status you set without touching the menu disappears at the end of the day. We saved "Back at 3" with 30 minutes, and the API showed an expiry time 30 minutes after the save.

To edit the status later, open the profile menu and click it. To remove it, click the x next to it in the same menu, the Clear status button.

Slack picks the emoji from your words

If you type before choosing an emoji, Slack fills one in from the text. We typed each status into an empty Set a status field and read the emoji Slack chose. Each result repeated when we typed it again.

When no word matches, the field keeps the speech balloon 💬. We saved "Back at 3" that way, and Slack stored it as :speech_balloon:. The status text holds up to 100 characters; a 101-character status returns too_long from the API. For wording ideas, the Slack status ideas tool sorts lines by situation.

Change the away or active dot

The dot next to your name is a separate setting from the status message. Slack calls it your availability. We changed one and read the other each time:

So a status message never moves the dot, and the dot never touches the message. A status that says "Available" still shows grey when you are away.

A manual away does not end when you start working again. After the reload, Slack asked "Set yourself to active? You're currently set to away, but it looks like you're back." with No Thanks, Set to Active and a Don't ask again box. If you once ticked Don't ask again, nothing reminds you, and you stay grey until you open the menu and click Set yourself as active.

Set yourself as active only clears the manual away. After that, Slack's own timer runs again: on desktop you show as away after about 10 minutes with no keyboard or mouse input on the computer; input in other apps counts (Slack desktop 4.52.178 code, checked 7 Oct 2026). The full rules are in how Slack decides when you are away. If you need the dot to stay green when you step away, Slack Green keeps you active while the computer is off, asleep, locked or closed, with no software or hardware on the computer, and how to keep Slack active compares it with the other ways.

Pause notifications (the Z on your dot)

The Notifications row in the profile menu shows On or Paused. Hover it to pause or resume. Our test account pauses on a schedule, and the row offered "Resume notifications, Paused until Oct 5 at 9:00 AM". While notifications are paused, a small Z sits on your dot; you are not away. Slack's /dnd command in a message box pauses and resumes them too. A Z you did not set usually comes from a notification schedule; what the green dot with a Z means covers each case.

On the Slack mobile app

Tap your profile picture, tap the status field, type the status, choose an emoji and a time to clear it, and tap Done. The away and active switch is on the same screen. We did not test the phone apps for this page. A status you set on the phone is the same status on desktop, because it belongs to your account in that workspace.

Schedule a status change

Choose Choose a start and end time in the Duration menu to have the status turn on and off later. Slack runs each scheduled status once. In our tests on 3 October it started on time and cleared about 60 seconds before the end time. Recurring statuses and calendar-based ones are in how to schedule a Slack status, and every other status topic is linked from the Slack status guide.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the status option in the new Slack layout? Click your profile picture at the bottom of the left rail, not your name at the top. The status field is the first box in that menu.

Why did my Slack status disappear at the end of the day? Today is the default Duration. Pick Don't clear if the status should stay until you remove it.

Can I stop Slack from choosing an emoji? Click the emoji in the field and pick the one you want before you save. Slack only fills one in while you have not chosen one yourself.

Can someone else change my Slack status? Not from the menu. Apps you install with permission to write your profile, such as a calendar app, can set it for you.