How to Set an Away Message in Teams: Status Message or Out of Office

To set an away message in Microsoft Teams, select your profile picture, select Set status message, type your message, turn on Show when people message me, choose when it clears, and select Done. People see it on your profile and above the message box when they write to you. For vacation or sick days, use Schedule out of office at the bottom of the same screen instead. It shows your message in Teams and turns on the same automatic reply in Outlook, between the dates you pick. To set the yellow Away status itself, select your profile picture, your current status, and Appear away.

One catch from Microsoft's own page: "If you have a status message set in Teams, it will not show your automatic out-of-office reply from Microsoft Outlook." Clear the status message when you set an out of office.

The Slack version of this page is Slack out of office message.

Status message, out of office, or status: which one

Set a status message on desktop

• Select your profile picture at the top right of Teams.
• Select Set status message.
• Type the message.
• Turn on Show when people message me, so it appears when someone opens a chat with you or @mentions you.
• Under Clear status message after, pick a time.
• Select Done.

On the phone app: tap your profile picture, tap Set status message, and follow the same steps. The option there is called Clear after.

A status message does not change your dot. If you want the dot to say you are away too, set a status such as Be right back or Appear away, as in how to appear offline on Teams.

We checked that these labels are still the ones Teams uses: on 28 October 2026 we downloaded the Teams web client's English text file from teams.microsoft.com, with no sign-in, and looked for each label (teams_ooo_check.py):

'Set status message'                       in the Teams client: True
'Show when people message me'              in the Teams client: True
'Clear status message after'               in the Teams client: True
'Schedule out of office'                   in the Teams client: True
'Turn on automatic replies'                in the Teams client: True
'Send replies outside my organization'     in the Teams client: True

All six are in today's client, so the steps above and the out of office steps below use the current names. The 280-character limit and the Clear status message after choices come from the same client's code, shown in Teams status message not showing.

How to set out of office in Teams

• Select your profile picture, then Set status message, then Schedule out of office at the bottom. Or go to Settings and more, Settings, General, and select Schedule in the Out of Office section.
• Turn on Turn on automatic replies and type your message. Microsoft says a message is required for the status to sync with Outlook.
• To reply to people outside your company, select Send replies outside my organization and choose your contacts or all external senders. You can write a different message for them.
• Select Send replies only during a time period and set the start and end.
• Select Save.

While it runs, your status shows Out of office, the purple arrow explained in what does the purple arrow mean on Teams, and people who chat with you see your message. Outlook shows the same automatic reply, and a change in either app shows in the other. To turn it off early, open the same screen, switch off Turn on automatic replies, and select Save.

On the phone app: tap your profile picture, tap your status, tap Out of office, turn on Set auto reply, write the message, and set your start and end dates.

Away message examples for Teams

Short status messages, each under a line:

At lunch, back at 1:30. Urgent: call my mobile.
Focus time until 3 PM. I'll reply after.
Out sick today. For project X, contact Dana.
In workshops all day, checking messages at 5 PM.
Travelling, replies may take a few hours.

A full out of office reply:

Thanks for your message. I'm out of office from Monday 6 October to Friday
10 October with no access to Teams or email. For anything urgent about
[project], contact [name] at [email]. I'll reply when I'm back on 13 October.

More ideas, including lighter ones, are in funny Teams status messages. For sick days in particular, see Teams status for sick days, which also has templates for annual, half-day and emergency leave.

For your last day at a company, and the auto-reply that stays after you leave, see out of office message when leaving a company.

Set someone's out of office as an admin

When a colleague is on leave and cannot do it, an Exchange admin can set the reply from Exchange Online PowerShell. Teams picks it up because it reads the same Outlook setting:

Set-MailboxAutoReplyConfiguration -Identity "dana@company.com" -AutoReplyState Scheduled `
  -StartTime "2026-10-06 08:00" -EndTime "2026-10-10 18:00" `
  -InternalMessage "Dana is out until 13 October. Contact alex@company.com." `
  -ExternalMessage "Dana is out until 13 October." -ExternalAudience All

Away message not showing in Teams

• • A status message is set. It hides the Outlook out-of-office reply in Teams. Clear the status message.
• • Show when people message me is off. Your text is on your profile only. Turn it on.
• • The dates have not started. A scheduled out of office shows only inside its time period.
• • It cleared itself. A status message ends at the time you picked. Set a longer time.

More causes, including a cached copy in the Teams app, are in Teams status message not showing.

What an away message does not do

It does not change when Teams shows you Away. That still happens after about 5 idle minutes or when your screen locks, as in how to change Teams away time. And it does not stop messages or notifications. For that, use Do not disturb.

Going on maternity or paternity leave? Templates for the status and the out of office are in Teams status for maternity leave.

FAQ

How do I set an away message in Teams? Profile picture, Set status message, type it, turn on Show when people message me, choose when it clears, and select Done.

How do I set an out of office in Teams? Profile picture, Set status message, Schedule out of office. Turn on automatic replies, write the message, set the dates, and save.

Does a Teams out of office also set Outlook? Yes. Both use the same automatic reply, and a change in one shows in the other.

Why does my Outlook out of office not show in Teams? You have a Teams status message set. Microsoft says a status message hides the Outlook reply. Clear it.

Can I set an away message in Teams on my phone? Yes. Tap your profile picture, then Set status message, or tap your status and Out of office.