Teams Status Message Not Showing? Check These Five Things

If your Microsoft Teams status message is not showing, check the Show when people message me box first. Without it, the message appears only on your profile card, so people who chat with you never see it above the message box. The other common causes: the message cleared itself at the time set under Clear status message after, a status message is hiding your Outlook out-of-office reply, a scheduled out of office has not started yet, or your Teams app or a coworker's is showing an old copy. Each has a one-minute fix below.

A status message changes the words next to your name, not your presence dot, which Teams turns yellow after about 5 minutes without input.

Where a Teams status message shows up

Knowing where the message is supposed to appear settles half of these reports:

• • Your profile card. Anyone who hovers over or clicks your name or picture sees it. This works whatever the checkbox says.
• • Above the message box. When someone opens a chat with you, Teams shows your message there, but only with Show when people message me on.
• • When someone @mentions you. Same checkbox.
• • Not in the chat list or next to your dot. Those show only your presence. A coworker who looks at the list of chats will not see the text.

Status message not showing: causes and fixes



What you see	Likely cause	Fix
Only on your profile card	Show when people message me is off	Edit the message and tick the box
Gone after an hour or a day	Clear status message after ended	Set it again with a longer time or Never
Your Outlook out-of-office text is missing	A Teams status message hides it	Clear the status message
Scheduled out of office not showing	The start date has not come	Check the dates in Schedule out of office
Others see old text, or none	A cached copy in the Teams app	Sign out and back in, or reset the app

1. Turn on Show when people message me. Click your profile picture, then your status message, and tick Show when people message me. Microsoft's support page says this is what makes people "see your status when they message or @mention you".

2. Check Clear status message after. A message set to clear after 1 hour, 4 hours, Today or This week disappears on time, often before the reader looks. Pick Never for anything that should stay, and clear it by hand later.

3. Clear the status message to show your Outlook reply. Microsoft states: "If you have a status message set in Teams, it will not show your automatic out-of-office reply from Microsoft Outlook." If your holiday message from Outlook is missing in Teams, a leftover status message is the cause. The full out-of-office setup is in how to set an away message in Teams.

4. Check the dates of a scheduled out of office. A scheduled out of office shows only between its start and end times, so it is not visible the day before you leave.

5. Refresh Teams. Presence and status messages sync through Microsoft's servers, and an app that has been open for days can show stale data. On both ends, sign out of Teams and back in. If that does not help, reset the new Teams app:

• • Windows: Settings > Apps > Installed apps > Microsoft Teams > Advanced options > Reset.
• • Mac: quit Teams, then delete its cache folders in Terminal and open Teams again:

rm -rf ~/Library/Group\ Containers/UBF8T346G9.com.microsoft.teams
rm -rf ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.teams2

Resetting signs you out and clears local settings, not your chats or your status message, which live in your account.

Status message vs status: two different things

People often expect a status message to change their dot, or the other way round. They are separate:

Status (presence)	Status message
What it is	Available, Busy, Away, Be right back, Do not disturb, Offline	Up to 280 characters of text
Set by	You, or Teams from your activity and calendar	Only you
Shows	Everywhere your picture appears	Profile card, and chats if the box is ticked
Ends	When activity changes, or after a duration	At the Clear after time

If the problem is the dot, not the text, see Teams status stuck on Away or Teams status stuck on Offline. What each icon means is in Microsoft Teams status icons meaning.

Teams status message ideas that get read

Put the useful part first, because the banner above the message box is one line:

• • Out until Monday 9:00. Urgent: @Alex Kim
• • Heads down on the Q3 report until 3 p.m.
• • On a customer site today, slow replies

Longer lists, including lighter ones, are in funny Teams status messages and Teams status for lunch.

FAQ

Why can't others see my Teams status message? Most often Show when people message me is off, so it appears only on your profile card. Tick it in the status message settings.

Why did my Teams status message disappear? The Clear status message after time ran out. Set it again and choose a longer time or Never.

Why is my Outlook out of office not showing in Teams? A Teams status message is set. Microsoft says a status message hides the Outlook automatic reply. Clear it.

Does a Teams status message change my status to Away? No. The text and the presence dot are separate. Set Away or Be right back from your status menu.

How long can a Teams status message be? Up to 280 characters. The banner in chats shows the start of it, so put the key facts first.