How to Change Your Status in Outlook (Available, Busy, Away)

To change your status in Outlook, click your profile picture at the top right of new Outlook or Outlook on the web, then pick Available, Busy, Do not disturb, Be right back, Appear away or Appear offline. Classic Outlook for Windows has no status picker of its own. They show the status Microsoft Teams sets for you, so you change it in Teams (click your picture there) and Outlook follows within a minute. Your calendar also changes it: a meeting marked Busy turns you red for its length, and automatic replies turn you purple.

If your team works in Slack too, Outlook has no say there. Slack keeps its own status and shows you away after 10 minutes without keyboard or mouse input on the computer.

Where to change your status, by Outlook version

All versions show the same presence, because Outlook and Teams read one status from Microsoft 365. What changes by version is only where the picker sits.

Change your status in new Outlook or Outlook on the web

• Click your profile picture or initials at the top right.
• Click the current status under your name (for example Available).
• Pick Available, Busy, Do not disturb, Be right back, Appear away or Appear offline.
• To go back to the automatic status, open the same menu and pick Reset status.

Under the status list you can also pick a Duration, such as 30 minutes, 1 hour, today or this week. When it runs out, Outlook and Teams go back to the automatic status that follows your activity and your calendar. Without a duration, Microsoft's presence rules apply: Appear offline stays until you change it, Busy and Do not disturb last 1 day, and other manual statuses last 7 days. One catch is covered below.

Change your status in classic Outlook through Teams

Classic Outlook shows your presence next to your name and in contact cards, but clicking it opens a contact card, not a picker. The status comes from Teams:

• Open Microsoft Teams (desktop, web or mobile).
• Click your profile picture at the top right.
• Click your current status and pick a new one, with a duration if you want it to end on its own.

Classic Outlook picks up the change within about a minute. If it never shows a status at all, Teams is not registered as the chat app for Office on that computer; Teams status not showing in Outlook walks through that fix.

Set a status message in Outlook

A status message is the short note people see when they open your contact card or send you a message, such as "Heads down until 2pm, call if urgent".

• • New Outlook and the web: profile picture > Set status message. Type the note, tick Show when people message me if you want it in chats, and pick when it clears.
• • Classic Outlook: set it in Teams (profile picture > Set status message). It shows in Outlook contact cards too.

A status message does not change your colour. You can be green with "At lunch" in the note.

Why your Outlook status changes back by itself



"Outlook status not changing" usually means something else is setting it after you do. In order of how often it happens:

• Your calendar. A meeting that shows you as Busy turns you red (In a meeting) for its length. A meeting set to Show as: Free does not. Change it in the meeting's Show as field. The two red states are compared in Teams busy vs in a meeting.
• Automatic replies. Turn on out-of-office replies and your status shows Out of office, a purple dot, until you turn them off. How to set an away message in Teams covers both ends.
• Inactivity. The automatic status goes to Away (a yellow clock) after about 5 minutes with no input on your computer, or when Teams on your phone goes to the background. What the yellow clock means in Outlook has the timer details.
• The duration ended. A status you set for 1 hour goes back to automatic after 1 hour.
• Teams is signed out or closed everywhere. With no Teams client running, you drift to Away and then Offline, whatever you picked.

Manual Busy and Do not disturb are the most stable. Manual Available can still flip to Away when your computer is idle, which is why people search for how to keep Outlook status green.

What each Outlook status means to other people

The full colour guide, including the grey and white dots, is in Outlook status colors meaning.

FAQ

How do I set my status to Available in Outlook? In new Outlook or on the web, click your profile picture, click the status and pick Available. In classic Outlook, do the same in Teams.

Can I appear offline in Outlook? Yes. Pick Appear offline in the same menu. Mail still sends and arrives; you only look signed out in Outlook and Teams.

Does my Outlook status show in Slack? Not by itself. Slack's Outlook Calendar app can set your Slack status to "In a meeting" from your calendar, as shown in Slack and Outlook calendar integration, but your green or away dot in Slack follows Slack activity only.

Can my boss see my private calendar events in Outlook? Usually only the time and "Private appointment". Delegates with private access, attendees and admins see more; see can my boss see my private Outlook calendar events.