Blog Slack Green

Yes. Work email lives in the company's Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace account, and admins can search, export and open any mailbox with eDiscovery or Google Vault, including mail you deleted if a hold covers it. Your manager can read it only if IT grants access. Every admin search leaves an audit record.

Slack has no built-in Spotify status. To show the song you are playing, add a Slack Marketplace app such as SpotMyStatus or Now Playing, sign in to Spotify, and it writes the track and artist into your status and clears it when you stop. Setup for each option, a free script for Mac, and what the status does not change.

The Zoom app for Slack can set your Slack status when you join a Zoom meeting or a Zoom Phone call: type /zoom config in Slack, open Settings, and turn on Enable Zoom Sync presence to Slack status. Steps, admin approvals, the calendar and third-party alternatives, and why none of them keeps your Slack dot green.

Intune shows your employer device details such as model, serial number and OS, plus the work apps it manages. Microsoft says your organization can never see your texts, email, photos, contacts, calendar, passwords, documents, or calling and browsing history. A company-owned device shows more: every app, the full phone number, and location if it is lost.

Not from the network. Meta encrypts personal Messenger chats end to end by default, so the company firewall sees only that you used facebook.com or messenger.com. On a work laptop it is different: monitoring software can capture the chat on your screen and the words you type, and a browser left signed in shows your whole inbox. What each method reveals, and how to keep Messenger private.

Not from the office network: Telegram traffic is encrypted, so IT sees only that you use Telegram. On a work laptop, monitoring software can capture your screen and keystrokes, and Telegram Desktop keeps chats and a logged-in session on the disk. What each method sees, how Telegram differs from WhatsApp, and how to keep it private.

Slack has a built-in GIF picker: click the smiley face in the message field, click GIFs, search, pick one and press Send. It works on desktop and mobile with no app. The /giphy command, uploading your own GIF, and animated GIF emoji are the other ways, plus what to check when GIFs are missing.

Yes. In Google Chat direct messages, the reader's small avatar appears next to the last message they read. It works in one-to-one DMs and group DMs of up to 20 people, not in spaces, and there is no setting to turn it off for users or admins. Where it shows, what it proves, and how it compares with Slack, Teams and WhatsApp.

The cleanest Teams status for lunch is Be right back with a 1-hour duration, plus a status message such as "Out to lunch, back at 1:30" set to clear after 1 hour. Both end on their own. Steps for desktop and phone, lunch messages to copy, and what an Outlook lunch block does to your Teams status.

Outlook for iPhone and Android has its own Do Not Disturb, timed or on a schedule, per account. Outlook on Windows and Mac has none: it follows Windows Do not disturb or a Mac Focus, or you turn off new mail alerts. The red Do not disturb status coworkers see is your Teams presence, and it does not silence mail.

Microsoft Teams has no Out sick status. For a full sick day, schedule Out of office with an automatic reply that names a backup; your dot turns purple and clears on the date you set. If you are sick but working, set a status message and Appear away until the end of the day. Steps for desktop and phone, and 12 status messages to copy.

Yes. When you edit a Slack message, everyone sees the new text with an (edited) label, and nobody gets a new notification. Coworkers cannot view the old version, but notifications, apps in the channel and a save-edits retention setting can keep it. What others see, what admins can see, and how to fix a typo without a label.

A Mac that keeps going to sleep usually has a short display timer: when the display turns off, the Mac sleeps about a minute later. On battery the default can be 2 minutes. How to read the exact reason in pmset -g log, the System Settings that control it, and Terminal commands for when you need the Mac awake.

You can't. Google Chat has no last seen or last active time. It shows only whether someone is active now, idle for 5 minutes on a computer, or away, and in direct messages it shows how far they have read. The clues you can use, what each one proves, and what Workspace admins see that coworkers do not.

Caffeine is a free, open-source menu bar app that keeps your Mac awake: click the coffee cup and the Mac will not sleep, dim the screen or start the screen saver. Where to download the real one, which version fits your macOS, every setting, how to check it works, and the alternatives.

Google Chat has no invisible mode, but Set as away gives the same result: your status shows Away, which is also what people see when you are offline, and messages keep arriving. Steps for Gmail, the Chat app and phones, what others can still see, and how blocking and calendar status change it.

Do not disturb in Google Chat mutes Chat notifications on every device until the time you choose, and shows coworkers a red icon with how long you paused them. How to turn it on and off on a computer and a phone, how to schedule it, what others see, and why some bot messages still come through.

Slack has no built-in be right back status. Type your own, such as BRB, back in 15, pick an emoji, and set Remove status after to 30 minutes so it clears on its own. Lines to copy, a one-click setup for next time, and why your dot still turns away.

No. Slack has one presence value and one custom status per person, and everyone in your workspace sees the same one. Hide a person only hides them from you; they still see your dot. What each workaround shows that person, and what still gives you away.

Yes. Every time your work laptop signs in to company systems or the VPN, the logs keep its IP address and an approximate city. On managed Windows laptops, IT can also use Microsoft Intune's Locate device action to put the laptop on a map through Wi-Fi. Most laptops have no GPS chip, so the result is usually a city or a street, not a live trail. Every method, how accurate it is, and how to check.

On a work Google account, yes: Workspace admins can search and export your Gemini app chats with Google Vault, and a Vault rule keeps them even after you delete them or use a temporary chat. On a personal Google account they have no access, but a work laptop can still record what you type.

Caffeine is a free, open-source menu bar cup that keeps a Mac awake with one click. Amphetamine is a free App Store app with triggers, schedules and a closed-lid mode. We checked both on macOS 26.5.2: versions, settings, and what each holds in pmset. Which to pick, and what neither one does.

Zoom has no Appear offline or Invisible status. Your contacts see Offline only when you are not signed in to any Zoom app, so the way to appear offline is to quit the desktop app and sign out of the mobile app. The steps for each device, what to use when you need to stay signed in, and what your admin can hide.

sudo pmset -a disablesleep 1 stops all system sleep on a Mac, lid closed included, and sudo pmset -a disablesleep 0 turns normal sleep back on. How to check whether it is on, why it outlives a restart, and the pmset and caffeinate commands to use instead.

Open Settings, Personalization, Lock screen, click Screen saver, set it to (None) and click OK. If the options are greyed out or the screen saver keeps coming back, a Group Policy set by IT is the usual cause. How to check it, and the other timers that darken the screen.

Yes, on a work or school account. Microsoft 365 Copilot saves every prompt and answer in a hidden folder of your work mailbox, where compliance admins can search and export it with Microsoft Purview eDiscovery. Your manager cannot open it. Who sees what, how deleting history works, and what a personal Copilot account keeps private.

Your employer cannot read WhatsApp Web messages off the office network, because they are end-to-end encrypted. On a work laptop with monitoring software, screenshots and keystroke logs can still show every chat you open and every message you type. What each method sees, and how to keep WhatsApp private at work.

On a Claude Team or Enterprise account, yes. The organization's Primary Owner can export every member's chats, incognito chats included, and Enterprise companies can stream chats to security tools through the Compliance API. On a personal Claude account your employer has no access. What each plan exposes, and what stays private.

Incognito saves no history on the laptop, so there is nothing for IT to open later. It does not hide your browsing from the office Wi-Fi, the company VPN, an HTTPS inspection proxy or monitoring software, and IT can turn it off.

KeepingYouAwake is a free, open-source menu bar switch that runs Apple's caffeinate for you. Amphetamine is a free App Store app with triggers, schedules and a closed-lid mode. Pick KeepingYouAwake for one click and Homebrew, Amphetamine for automation. Neither keeps Slack or Teams active.

A work laptop that locks after exactly 15 minutes, with screen settings greyed out, is almost always following a policy from IT: the Windows machine inactivity limit, a forced screen saver, or an Intune device lock. Security baselines and PCI DSS ask for 15 minutes. How to see which policy it is, and what you can and cannot change.

A Citrix session can end from four different timers: Windows locking inside the virtual desktop, the Citrix session idle timer, the Citrix Gateway session time-out, and the StoreFront web page timeout. Only input from your own device into the Citrix window resets them. How to tell which one hit you and what keeps each one quiet.

Google Chat shows you Idle after 5 minutes without activity in Gmail or Chat on a computer, and Away once you have been idle for more than 10 minutes. Losing your connection or a sleeping computer shows Away at once. Neither timer can be changed, by you or by a Workspace admin.

Discord's AFK timeout is a server setting. If a server has an Inactive (AFK) channel, members who stay inactive in voice for 1, 5, 15 or 30 minutes or 1 hour get moved there and muted. Server admins can change the timeout or turn it off; members cannot.

Don't Sleep is a free, portable 267 KB Windows app from SoftwareOK that blocks standby, hibernate, the screen saver, log off and shutdown while it runs, with a timer and CPU or network rules. Where to get the real one, what each option does, the command line for a batch file, and what it does not do for Slack or Teams.

In Skype for Business, green means Available, yellow means Inactive, Away, Be right back or Off work, red means Busy, In a call or In a meeting, red with a bar means Do not disturb or Presenting, and grey means Offline or Unknown. A red star means Out of office. Consumer Skype used a green check, yellow clock, red minus and an empty circle.

14 Chrome extensions for remote work, grouped by the job: async video, meetings, focus, writing, passwords, tabs, screenshots, time tracking and keeping the screen on. Each checked on the Chrome Web Store, with user counts, cost, and the extensions to avoid on a work laptop.

It depends which Zoom chat. In a meeting, the host cannot read private messages between two other people, even in a saved chat. Zoom Team Chat on a work account is different: the company owns it, and admins can archive and search it. What hosts, admins and your manager can each see, and what stays private.

Slack has no alert for when a coworker becomes active. No preference, Workflow Builder trigger or profile button does it. You can watch their green dot, send a message they will see when they return, or run a short script that checks users.getPresence every minute and DMs you.

Yes. Every Teams chat on a work account, private one-to-one chats included, is stored in company mailboxes, and admins with the right Microsoft Purview roles can search, export and scan it. Your manager cannot open your chats from Teams itself. Who can read what, how they do it, and what stays private.

Tentative in Outlook means maybe: you might attend the meeting, or the time might be booked. Where Tentative shows up, why unanswered invites land on your calendar as Tentative, how it differs from Busy, and why it does not turn your Teams or Outlook status red.

Outlook shows your Microsoft Teams status, so it turns to Away, a yellow clock, after about 5 minutes without keyboard or mouse input, or at once when you lock the computer. Outlook has no idle timer of its own. Why it can show Away while you work, and what changes it.

Run pmset -g in Terminal. The sleep line names every app that is keeping your Mac awake right now, such as a browser tab playing audio, a Zoom call or Amphetamine. How to read it, the settings that keep a Mac awake on purpose, and how to find what wakes a sleeping Mac at night.

A white circle with a green outline and a green check on Microsoft Teams means the person is Available but has Out of office on. They are using Teams while their automatic replies or an out-of-office calendar event is active. A solid green circle with a white check is plain Available.

Cisco Jabber sets you to Away after 15 minutes without input and when you lock Windows. Where to raise the timer, how to turn off away-on-lock, the jabber-config.xml parameters IT controls, and why Jabber still shows In a meeting or Offline.

ActivTrak has no single idle timer. After 2 minutes without keyboard or mouse input, your time turns from Active to Passive, and after 5 more minutes it turns Inactive and stops counting. Both limits are set by your company's admin. What each state means for your productivity numbers, and what a locked screen, a meeting or a jiggler does to them.

Teams shows Offline while you are online for a few reasons: an Appear offline you set, which never expires on its own; Teams not signed in on any device; a sleeping computer; the phone app unused for 24 hours; or people in another organization who cannot see your presence. Fixes for each.

By default, yes. Microsoft says anyone in any organization using Teams can see your presence, and Last seen is part of the Away status. Your admin decides who outside the company sees it: all organizations, only some, or none with privacy mode. What guests, federated contacts and personal Teams accounts see, and how to check your company's setting.

Insightful's Irregular Behavior Alert flags software mouse jigglers and auto-clickers, from a list of known apps and from precise, repetitive input. Its own FAQ says it does not detect USB or mechanical jigglers. What it checks, when managers see it, and what hardware jigglers still leave in the logs.

In Microsoft Teams, Away means you are signed in but idle, locked, on a backgrounded phone, or set it by hand. Offline means no device is signed in, the computer is asleep, or you chose Appear offline. What each tells coworkers, and how messages and calls behave.

Windows and Mac jiggler apps do not run on a Chromebook, and a Chrome extension cannot move the real pointer. What works: a USB mouse jiggler, a turntable mouse mover, or no jiggler at all, because ChromeOS can keep the display on by itself. Setup for each, and what they do for Teams and Slack.

Microsoft Teams sends no alert when you take a screenshot of a chat, channel or meeting, on any device. What can happen instead: Teams Premium can black out meetings in captures, Intune can block screenshots on Android, and the Record button tells everyone.

Mattermost sets you Away after 5 minutes without activity and Offline when you close the app, lock or sleep the computer. The desktop app counts mouse and keyboard activity anywhere on the computer. Admins can change the timer with UserStatusAwayTimeout.

No. Microsoft Teams keeps no status history you can open: people see your current status and a Last seen time, and that is all. Admins get a last activity date per day from usage reports, and a history only exists if someone logs presence through Microsoft Graph. Where each of those lives and how to read it.

Mouse jigglers are safe for your computer: a USB jiggler is a plain mouse and a platform jiggler is not connected at all. The risks are fake downloads, antivirus alerts that reach IT, unknown USB gadgets that can type, an unlocked screen, and your job.

Remote Desktop sessions end for four reasons: an idle time limit set by policy, a network device that drops quiet connections, a lock screen on the remote PC, and a minimized window that stops drawing. The setting, registry value and PowerShell line for each.

The best PowerToys Awake alternatives are Caffeine and Don't Sleep, both free, portable and a few hundred kilobytes. Windows also has three built-in options that need no download. Which ones also keep Teams green, which ones only block sleep, and what to use on a Mac.

A mouse jiggler is a USB device, app or small platform that moves your pointer a few pixels on a timer, so the computer never counts you as idle. How it works, the three types, what people use one for, and why it keeps Teams green but not Slack.

DeskTime documents no mouse jiggler detector. A jiggler stops the 3-minute idle timer, but DeskTime still records the app and URL in front every few minutes and can take screenshots, so an hour on one unchanged window shows in the report.

No. A mouse jiggler cannot unlock a computer or keep you active behind the lock screen, and Teams shows you Away the moment you lock. It works only if it runs before the lock kicks in, because the movement stops the idle timer that would lock the screen. What still works, what does not, and the locks a jiggler never stops.

How IT teams and monitoring tools detect mouse jigglers: the process list, the injected-input flag on Windows, the USB device log, and the movement pattern. Includes a 30-line script that flags tiny pointer moves on a fixed timer, tested against a real jiggler.

Set up a software jiggler, a USB jiggler or a turntable mouse mover in a few minutes, pick an interval shorter than your shortest idle timer, and test it before you walk away. Why a working jiggler still lets Slack go away, and the five reasons one stops working.

A phone jiggler rocks your phone back and forth. That adds steps in a pedometer app, but it does not keep the screen awake or Teams and Slack green, because phones count touches, not motion. Here is what each kind of phone jiggler does and what works instead.

Most sellers use mouse mover and mouse jiggler for the same thing. When they differ, a mouse mover is a turntable that moves your real mouse, and a jiggler is an app or USB stick that sends fake movement. How to tell which one a product is, what each does to your computer, and what the computer can see.

Upwork does not publish a jiggler detector, but it does not need one. The Upwork time tracker takes a screenshot in every 10-minute segment and counts keyboard and mouse activity, and your client sees both in the Work Diary. What a jiggler looks like there, and what Upwork does about fake hours.

A keyboard jiggler presses an unused key such as F15 every minute so the computer never counts you as idle. You can buy a USB device or run a free script. It keeps Windows awake and Teams green, but Slack only sees keys typed into the Slack window.

Microsoft Teams shows you Away when your computer is idle or locked, and Offline once it goes to sleep. Closing the lid usually means sleep. What coworkers see in each state, and what keeps you Available when the laptop is closed.

Click your profile picture in the Webex App, choose Availability, then Do not disturb, and pick how long. What DND silences, how quiet hours schedule it, how to set it on a phone, and why Webex can stay in DND after you clear it.

Make your own mouse jiggler with a 6-line Python script, an AutoHotkey or PowerShell loop, an Arduino Pro Micro or Raspberry Pi Pico that plugs in as a USB mouse, or a watch under an optical mouse. Code for each, what it costs, and what IT can see.

In new Outlook and Outlook on the web, click your profile picture and pick a status. Classic Outlook has no status picker: it shows your Teams status, so you change it in Teams. How to set Available, Busy, Appear away or a status message, how long each one lasts, and why the status changes back by itself.

Zoom does not notify anyone when you take a screenshot of a meeting, on a computer or a phone. It only announces recordings. Hosts can stop captures with the Prevent screen capture setting or trace leaks with watermarks.

An open red circle next to a name in Microsoft Teams means the person is Busy, In a call or In a meeting while their Out of office is on. A red circle with a white bar is Do not disturb. How to tell the red icons apart, and how to clear the ring on your own dot.

The free auto clickers that run on a Mac: the open-source Autoclick app, cliclick in Terminal, and a few lines of Python. How to set each one up, why each needs the Accessibility permission, and why OP Auto Clicker is not one of them.

Add slackapi/slack-github-action@v4.0.0 as a step, give it a bot token or an incoming webhook URL from repository secrets, and write the message as YAML. Working workflows for failure alerts, threads and message updates, plus a curl version with no third-party action.

Slack audit logs record actions across an Enterprise organization, such as sign-ins with IP address, file downloads, channel joins and app installs, not message text. Where admins view and export them, what the 785 action types cover, and how to pull them with the Audit Logs API.

On a Mac, Slack can share your screen in a huddle only with the Screen & System Audio Recording permission, and macOS applies it only after Slack restarts. The steps, what a wallpaper-only share means, how to reset the permission, and the browser case.

Slack slows down on a Mac when memory runs short, when you run the Intel build on Apple silicon, with many workspaces or animated emoji, or when the app has been open for days. How to check each one in Activity Monitor and Terminal, and the fix for each.

On LinkedIn, a solid green dot on someone's photo means they are active on LinkedIn now. A hollow green circle means they are not, but the mobile app will notify them at once. Turn yours off under Settings & Privacy, Visibility, Manage active status; with No one, you also stop seeing other people's status.

When the Slack app will not open, it is usually already running with no window, or its window sits on a monitor you unplugged. End every Slack process and open it again. If that fails: reset the app data, reinstall, and check what the sign-in link does. Steps for Windows 11 and Mac.

Slack crashes or closes by itself for a handful of reasons: an old version, a corrupt cache, the graphics driver, broken app data, or on Android the System WebView. The fixes in order for Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android, with the commands to reset Slack without losing messages.

A Teams status light is a USB or Bluetooth busy light that copies your Microsoft Teams presence: green when Available, red in a call or on Do not disturb. Luxafor, Kuando and Embrava sell them; PresenceLight and a short Graph API script do it free with a smart bulb. The light shows your status; it cannot change it.

Slack holds iPhone alerts while you look active on a computer, so a quiet phone is often by design. After that, iOS decides: the Slack permission, Focus, Scheduled Summary, and ringer volume. Every iPhone check in order, plus quiet alerts and a badge that will not clear.

Next to a person's name or photo, the yellow clock in Outlook means Away or Be right back, a status Microsoft Teams sets. On an email, a clock means Outlook is holding that message for later: a scheduled send or a snooze.

When Slack alerts stop on a Mac, the cause is usually macOS: Slack's notification permission, a Focus mode or schedule, or the setting that hides every banner while you share your screen. The Mac checks in order, then the Slack settings, sound, and a reset.

The free Linux mouse jiggler is a short loop: xdotool on X11 or ydotool on Wayland moves the pointer 1 pixel and back every minute. If you only need the screen to stay on, an inhibitor is cleaner. Slack still counts only input inside its own window.

45 Zoom status messages you can copy, grouped by focus time, meetings, time zones, out of office, remote work and funny ones, with the Clear After setting that fits each. Plus how to set a status message in Zoom Workplace and how it differs from your presence dot.

Teams marks an edited message with an Edited label that everyone in the chat sees. Nobody is notified again and nobody in the chat can open the old text, but a notification or a missed-activity email may already hold it. Edit steps, read receipts, and the admin settings.

Not live, on ordinary Teams calls and meetings: Teams has no silent listen-in for admins. Your employer can record calls with a notice, record every call under a compliance policy, keep transcripts, and see who you called and for how long. The one live exception is call-queue monitoring.

Six read-only checks on a work Mac, no admin password needed: MDM enrollment, the Privacy & Security lists, permissions IT pre-approved, background items, running agents and the browser. Plus a script that runs them all and what counts as normal.

On a work computer, yes. Windows and macOS record every sign-in, sign-out, lock and unlock, and a managed laptop can pass those records to IT along with app sign-ins, VPN times and monitoring data. What each record holds, who reads it, and how to see your own.

PowerPoint and Keynote hold the screen on in slide show mode. A PDF, a browser deck or a window shared in Teams or Zoom does not, so the screen dims mid-talk. How to keep it on for the length of the talk on Windows and Mac, without changing your settings for good.

Caffeine empêche la veille, mais Slack ne compte que l'activité dans sa propre fenêtre. Au bout de 10 minutes, vous passez quand même absent. Ce qui marche vraiment.

A download stops when the computer sleeps, not when the screen turns off. Block sleep for the length of the download on Windows or Mac, let the display go dark, and the file finishes. Settings, commands and a script that stops by itself.

A personal VPN hides the sites you visit from the office network, but not from monitoring software, a managed browser or IT on a work laptop. The company VPN shows your employer every site it carries. What each setup hides.

Signed in to Teams on a computer and a phone? Your status comes from the device you used most recently. That is why a quick look at your phone can turn you Away, and why a phone in your pocket shows Away instead of Offline at night.

To turn on Do not disturb in Zoom, click your profile picture, point at your status and choose Do not disturb, then a time from 20 minutes to 24 hours, or Custom for a daily schedule. It blocks pop-up notifications for Zoom Team Chat and Zoom Phone calls. Busy, by contrast, mutes nothing. How the two differ, and how to keep a Zoom meeting free of pop-ups.

A mouse jiggler moves the pointer; an auto clicker clicks wherever the pointer sits. Both keep Teams and the screen awake, but an auto clicker can click the wrong thing, and fixed-interval clicks are exactly what monitoring tools flag.

Your employer can monitor your personal computer only through something work puts on it: device management, a monitoring agent, the company VPN, or work apps and browser profiles. Each one sees a different slice. How to check which ones you have.

Good Slack status etiquette is short: set a status when people cannot reach you the usual way, say when you will be back or who to ask, and set Clear after so it never goes stale. A grey dot on its own needs no explanation. What to set for meetings, focus, lunch, sick days and holidays, the do's and don'ts, and how a team can agree norms.

Yes, keeping a laptop awake drains the battery, and the screen is most of the cost. An idle laptop with the screen on draws about 5 to 10 W, with the screen off about 2 to 5 W, and asleep under 1 W. A mouse jiggler or Caffeine adds almost nothing by itself; the cost is the awake screen it keeps on. How to measure your own laptop and keep the drain low.

Teams quiet hours is a phone setting: profile picture, Notifications, Block during quiet hours. It mutes Teams on your phone at set hours or on set days, and nobody else can tell. The desktop app has no quiet hours; here is what to use instead.

Presenting on Microsoft Teams is a status Teams sets while someone shares their screen, a window or PowerPoint Live slides in a meeting or call. It shows as a red circle with a white bar, mutes their notification banners, and ends when they stop sharing. It is different from the Presenter role in a meeting. What each means, how Presenting compares with In a meeting and Busy, and why it sometimes does not show.

No, not in the Teams desktop app. It reads keyboard and mouse input on the whole computer, so a minimized Teams stays Available while you work in other apps. Teams on the web can show Away when its tab is in the background, unless you turn on its activity detection setting, and the phone app shows Away as soon as it goes to the background.

To change the screen timeout on Windows 11, open Settings, System, Power & battery, expand Screen, sleep, & hibernate timeouts, and set Turn my screen off after to the time you want, or Never. The same from a command prompt: powercfg /change monitor-timeout-ac. Why the screen still goes dark on the lock screen after 1 minute, and the other timers that turn it off.

Amphetamine is free and covers almost every keep-awake case, so switch only for a reason: open source, one click, Shortcuts, a lid-closed setup without Enhancer, or nothing to install. The alternative for each, compared on price and features.

Move Mouse is a free, open-source Windows app by Steve Williams that moves, clicks or scrolls on a timer so your PC does not lock or sleep. Get it from the Microsoft Store or GitHub, not from look-alike download sites. It keeps Microsoft Teams green, but it helps Slack only while the pointer sits over the Slack window. Settings, why it stops working, and alternatives for Mac.

To turn off the screen saver on a Mac, open System Settings, then Lock Screen, and set Start Screen Saver when inactive to Never. On macOS Monterey and older, it is in System Preferences, Desktop & Screen Saver. The display-off timer and the password delay are separate settings, and a Hot Corner can still start the screen saver. All of them, plus a Terminal command.

Classic Outlook for Windows shows Teams status only while Teams runs on the same PC and is registered as the chat app. Check that first, then the Outlook option, the registry value and the contact's address.

Yes. When you type in a Microsoft Teams chat, the other people see three animated dots and your name. Teams has no setting to turn the typing indicator off, for users or admins; Microsoft's moderators confirmed it in 2026. Read receipts are a separate feature that you can turn off. How the indicator works, how to write without showing it, and why the dots sometimes go missing.

Your employer can see your keystrokes only if a keylogging tool runs on the computer you type on, such as Teramind, Veriato or InterGuard. Hubstaff, Time Doctor and ActivTrak count activity without recording which keys you press, and Slack and Teams record neither. On a company laptop, keystroke logging is legal in most US states; New York, Connecticut and Delaware require written notice.

ActivTrak detects mouse jigglers three ways: known jiggler apps running on the computer, uniform input patterns from software or USB devices, and 45 minutes on one screen. Flagged time drops out of reports even when no alarm is on.

Teams on a Mac turns Away after about 5 minutes with no keyboard or mouse input anywhere on the Mac, and at once when the screen locks. Lock Screen settings, caffeinate and Amphetamine stop the lock but not that timer, so Teams still goes yellow. A jiggler app, a one-line cliclick script or a USB jiggler creates input and keeps Teams Available. Setup for each.

Status unknown on Microsoft Teams means Teams could not get a presence answer for that person. Microsoft lists four causes: they have not signed in, they set Appear offline, a network problem with the presence service, or they use Skype for Business. It is common for people in other organizations. What it says, and does not say, about someone leaving, and how to fix it when it is your own status.

Discord has five status colors. Green means online, a yellow crescent moon means idle, a red circle with a line means Do Not Disturb, purple means streaming, and grey means offline or invisible. A green phone shape means the person is online on mobile only. What each icon means, plus the mute, deafen, LIVE, crown and gem icons next to names.

The purple circle with a left-pointing arrow in Microsoft Teams means Out of office. Teams shows it while automatic replies are on, or while an Outlook event marked Out of office is running. How to set it, remove it and fix one that is stuck.

A grey circle with a white x on Microsoft Teams means Offline. The person is not signed in on any device, their computer is asleep, or they set Appear offline, which uses the same icon. A grey circle with no x is a different status, Status unknown. What triggers each, how to tell them apart, and how to fix it when your own dot shows the grey x.

In Microsoft Teams, Busy is a status you set by hand, and it lasts one day unless you pick a duration. In a meeting comes from an Outlook event, and In a call comes from a live call, so both end on their own. All three show a red dot and still let notifications through. How they differ from Do not disturb and Away, and why Teams shows Busy when you are free.

Focusing in Microsoft Teams means the person has a Viva Insights focus time block on their calendar right now. Their notifications are muted until it ends. You cannot pick Focusing from the status menu yourself.

Yes. With Hubstaff Insights, Hubstaff flags known mouse jiggler apps by name and uses an AI check to flag input that looks automated. Hardware jigglers trip pattern checks such as mouse use with no keyboard for 50 minutes. What Hubstaff records, what it does not, and what managers see.

A PowerShell script that presses F15 once a minute keeps Microsoft Teams Available, because Teams goes Away only after about 5 minutes with no input anywhere on the PC. Copy-ready scripts for PowerShell (F15, Num Lock, stop at a set time), Python and Mac, why SetThreadExecutionState does not work for Teams, and what the script cannot hide.

A mouse jiggler keeps Microsoft Teams green on a Windows or Mac computer, because Teams counts input from the whole system. It does nothing for the phone app, and Teams on the web needs one setting first.

To set a custom status on Discord, click your profile icon in the lower-left corner, choose Add Status, type up to 128 characters, pick an emoji and a Clear After time, then press Save. On mobile, tap your profile icon and choose Add Status. How to edit or clear it, why it is not showing, and status ideas.

Do Not Disturb on Discord sets a red status and silences Discord's desktop pop-ups and sounds, including mentions, DMs and the call ring. Messages and calls still arrive, unread badges still count, and Discord says mobile push notifications still come through. How to set it with a timer, how it differs from Invisible and Idle, and why it can turn on by itself.

Do not disturb in Teams hides pop-up banners and sends calls to voicemail. Messages still arrive, priority people still get through, and it resets after one day unless you set a duration.

Caffeine for Windows presses F15 every 59 seconds, and Teams counts that as keyboard input, so it usually keeps you Available while the PC stays unlocked. Caffeine for Mac and Amphetamine only stop sleep, so Teams still sets Away after about 5 minutes. The Teams Caffeine Chrome extension works only for Teams on the web.

Last seen on Microsoft Teams is the time Teams last saw you active. It appears next to Away or Offline in a chat header or profile card, never while you are Available, and any device resets it, including a quick look at Teams on your phone. There is no setting to turn it off. What moves the time, why it looks wrong, and what admins see instead.

The Teams spoon trick puts an optical mouse on a shiny spoon. The curved metal confuses the mouse sensor, the cursor jitters, and Teams counts that as input, so it does not set you to Away. Why it works, why it often stops working, and why it does little for Slack.

To keep your Skype for Business status active, open Options, Status, and raise both idle timers, Inactive and then Away, from 5 minutes to as much as 360 minutes each. Consumer Skype shut down on May 5, 2025 and Skype for Business Online in 2021, so for most people the real question is now Teams. What still works, status icons, Outlook, and status not updating.

In the US it is mostly legal for an employer to monitor company devices, accounts and premises, often without asking. The limits are state notice laws in New York, Connecticut and Delaware, consent rules for audio recording and biometrics, bans on cameras in restrooms, and your personal devices. The EU, UK and parts of Canada and Australia add notice and proportionality rules.

Your employer cannot sign in to your Gmail, and doing so without permission can break the Stored Communications Act. But on a work computer, screenshot and keystroke monitoring, browser history, HTTPS inspection and Outlook's local cache can all expose personal email. Work email is fully visible, deleted messages included. Case by case, with what to do.

Slack has no calendar of its own. The best calendar app for most teams is Slack's free Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar app, whichever matches your email: reminders, invites, a daily agenda and automatic In a meeting status. Add Calendly, Reclaim, a leave tracker or a birthday bot only for the job those miss.

In Outlook, green means Available, red Busy, In a meeting or Do not disturb, yellow Away, grey Offline or unknown, and purple Out of office. The dot comes from Microsoft Teams presence, not from Outlook. What sets each color, why the status is greyed out, whether you can hide it, and how calendar Show as colors differ.

Your employer cannot look up a second job in any government or payroll database. They find out through employment verification services such as The Work Number, the multiple-jobs box on your W-4, LinkedIn, activity on the work laptop, and overlapping hours. What each channel shows, what it does not, and how to check your own record.

To stop a Windows 11 computer from sleeping, open Settings, System, Power & battery, Screen, sleep & hibernate timeouts and set the sleep timers to Never. On a Mac, turn on Prevent automatic sleeping in Energy or Battery settings, or run caffeinate. Steps for Windows 11, Windows 10 and macOS, one command for each, why a PC sleeps too fast, and what to do on a locked-down work laptop.

Idle on Discord, the yellow crescent moon, means the person is signed in but has not used their computer for about 10 minutes, has left the Discord app on their phone, or set Idle by hand. Idle vs online, the idle color and icon, how long it takes, and what server AFK timeouts do.

To stop Ubuntu from locking the screen, open Settings, Privacy & Security, Screen Lock, turn off Automatic Screen Lock and set Blank Screen Delay to Never. The same fix as gsettings commands, how to stop suspend too, how to pause the lock for one task, and the equivalents for KDE Plasma and Linux Mint.

Yes. When you leave the Discord app on your phone, your status changes from online to idle, the yellow moon, almost at once. There is no 10-minute wait as on a computer. What others see on mobile, when you go offline, and how to stay online or hide it.

The Outlook Calendar app for Slack connects a Microsoft 365 calendar to Slack: event reminders, join buttons, invitations you can answer in Slack, and Status Sync, which sets In a meeting, Working remotely or Out of Office from your calendar. How to set it up, why the status sometimes does not update, and what to do on on-premise Exchange.

No, Slack is not end-to-end encrypted. It encrypts messages and files in transit and at rest, but Slack holds the keys, so its servers can read your data and workspace owners can export it on some plans. What Slack encrypts, who can read your messages, how Slack compares with Signal, WhatsApp and Teams, and the real Slack security risks.

Teams does not show coworkers a map of where you are. It shows a work location, In the office, a building name or Remote, when you set one or when your company turns on workplace check-in, which reads the office Wi-Fi. Your profile card shows your local time, and admins see sign-in IP addresses. What each feature shares and how to turn it off.

Bossware is employee monitoring software that records what workers do on their computers: apps and websites, active and idle time, and often screenshots, keystrokes or webcam photos. What it records, the common products, how it differs from security software, what the law says, and how to check for it.

Yes. A video playing in Chrome, Edge, Safari or a player app keeps the screen on and stops the computer from sleeping, because the player asks the system for a wake lock. It stops working when the video is paused, muted in a hidden tab, or is only a GIF, and it never counts as activity for Slack or Teams.

Yes. On Zoom app 6.6.5 and later, a meeting with no activity for 55 minutes shows a 5-minute countdown and then ends. Free hosts also hit a 40-minute cap however active the call is, and any meeting ends 40 minutes after only one person is left. What each limit is, how to turn off the inactivity timer, and how to stay on longer than 40 minutes.

To tell if you are being monitored at work, read the IT policy, check whether the laptop is managed, look for monitoring agents, open your browser's management page and check who issued the certificate behind the padlock. Eight checks with commands for Windows and Mac, and what each one can and cannot prove.

Zoom records when you join and leave a meeting, your device, IP address and approximate location. It does not see your other apps, tabs, keystrokes, mouse or eye movement; the attention tracker that flagged an unfocused Zoom window was removed on April 2, 2020. What each role can see, and where the real tracking happens.

In Webex, a green icon means available, orange means busy, red means do not disturb, a moon means quiet hours and a clock with 'Active X minutes ago' means not active. All ten Webex status icons, the order Webex ranks them in, and how to change yours.

Use a status message for a few hours and a scheduled out of office for days away, which also turns on your Outlook auto-reply. The steps for desktop and phone, the setting that shows your message when people write to you, and message examples.

On a work laptop or the work network, usually yes. The network sees every site name, an inspection proxy or monitoring agent sees full pages, and Incognito hides history only on the device. What each layer sees and how to check yours.

Your employer can see your screen in four situations: when you share it, when monitoring software takes screenshots or recordings, during a remote support session, or in a recorded virtual desktop. How to check a work laptop for each.

On Discord, Invisible and Offline show the same gray status. Offline means you are not signed in on any device. Invisible means you use Discord as normal, including sending messages, while everyone sees you as offline. What still gives you away, and what Invisible cannot do.

Change the Slack notification sound in Preferences, Notifications, Sound & appearance on desktop, or under Notifications, Sound on iPhone and Android. The full sound list, per-type sounds, why there is no per-channel sound, custom sound workarounds, and fixes when no sound plays.

Discord has no way to appear offline to one person or one server. Invisible hides you from everyone. What blocking, ignoring, removing a friend and per-server activity settings hide, from Discord's own help center.

Slack focus mode is a desktop feature you turn on from the sidebar. It turns Slack grayscale, replaces numbered badges with dots, pauses notification sounds (VIPs optional) and sets your status to In focus mode for 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours or until you turn it off. How it differs from pausing notifications, and what it does not change.

Caffeine for Windows is a free tray app from Zhorn Software that keeps your PC awake by pressing an invisible F15 key every 59 seconds. How to set it up, the command-line switches worth using, and how it compares with PowerToys Awake, Don't Sleep and Mouse Jiggler, including what each does for Teams and Slack.

100+ funny Microsoft Teams status messages grouped by situation: meetings, focus time, working from home, breaks, Mondays, Fridays and out of office. Plus how to set one in Teams, the 280-character limit, and when to keep it plain.

Yes, if your company keeps Teams messages with a retention policy or a hold. The chat shows only that a message was deleted, but compliance admins can find the full text with eDiscovery, and the originals of edited messages too.

Your employer can see you through the laptop camera during video calls, and only through software that turns the camera on. How to tell when the camera is on in Windows 11 and macOS, which monitoring tools take webcam photos, and what the law allows.

Inactive on Microsoft Teams means Teams set you to Away by itself: about 5 minutes with no input on the computer, a locked screen, or the phone app in the background. How it differs from Appear away, Be right back and Offline.

To set yourself Away on Zoom, click your profile picture and choose Away (on a phone: profile picture, Availability, Away). Zoom clears a manual Away as soon as you use Zoom again, so for a status that stays, use Busy, Do not disturb or Out of office. How to set each one, and how to make Zoom set Away for you.

Teams on your phone shows Available only while the app is open on screen. In the background you are Away, and after 24 hours without use, Offline. How the phone and the computer combine, and how to keep the phone green.

Webex has no Appear offline button. You can stop sharing your availability with everyone, hide it from specific people, or set Busy or Do not disturb. Where each setting is on desktop and mobile, what coworkers see, and what it costs you.

Amphetamine is the best free app to keep a Mac awake: it runs from the menu bar, has triggers for apps, Wi-Fi and power, and can keep a MacBook awake with the lid closed. KeepingYouAwake and Caffeine are the one-click open-source picks, Lungo is the paid one, and the built-in caffeinate command needs no install.

Select your profile picture, your status, then Appear offline, or type /offline. It lasts until you change it, messages still reach you, and read receipts can still give you away.

What your employer can see on your phone depends on who owns it and how it is enrolled. A company phone shows much more than a personal phone with a work profile, and work Wi-Fi sees the sites you visit. How to check which setup you have.

If you use a company ChatGPT Enterprise, Claude or Microsoft 365 Copilot account, your employer can usually read your chats. On ChatGPT Business they cannot by default. On a personal account they cannot open your history, but a work laptop can still record what you type.

Teams sets you Away after about 5 idle minutes, and there is no setting for that timer, for you or your admin. The lock, sleep, duration and web settings that do change when you turn yellow.

Windows 11 locks itself for one of six reasons: the sign-in-on-wake setting, a short screen timeout, Dynamic lock, presence sensing, a secure screen saver, or a company policy. How to find which one it is, turn it off, and what to do when the setting is greyed out.

brew install --cask slack-cli installs Slack's official slack command on macOS and Linux. The install, the first commands, the common errors, and the other Slack CLIs in Homebrew for sending messages, exporting and status.

Slack lists are tables of tasks inside Slack, with fields, assignees, due dates, a board view and a comment thread on every item. How to create a list from scratch or a template, set up fields, turn it into a kanban board, add messages to it, share it, and what the plan limits are.

Install the Jira Cloud for Slack app, type /jira connect in a channel to send a Jira space's updates there, /jira notify for personal notifications as DMs, and create work items from any message with More actions. Every /jira command, Jira automation to Slack, and fixes when previews or notifications stop.

Go to slack.com/get-started, enter your email, type the confirmation code, and click Create a Workspace. It is free to start, you become the Primary Owner, and it takes about five minutes. Steps for desktop, iPhone and Android, and what to set up next.

Slack sidebar sections are custom groups of channels, DMs and apps in your sidebar. Only you see them, and they need a paid plan. How to create one on desktop and mobile, move many channels at once, sort and filter each section, share a section with your team, and get disappeared sections back.

A Slack user group is a named list of people with one @handle, like @designers, that notifies all of them and can add them to up to 100 default channels. How to create one, who can, how to mention it, and how it differs from a channel.

To contact Slack support, open slack.com/help/requests/new and click Contact support, or use Help > Contact us inside Slack, or type /feedback in any message box. Email feedback@slack.com if you cannot sign in. Slack lists no support phone line. Response times by plan and what to include.

Open the channel, click its name, go to Settings, and choose Change to a public channel. By default only Workspace Owners, Org Owners and Org Admins can do it. The whole history and every file become visible to the workspace.

A Slack canvas is a document for briefs, notes and how-tos; a Slack list is a table of items with owners, due dates, fields, board views and a thread per item. Use a canvas to explain, a list to track. Who can see each, what happens on the free plan, and how to use both in one channel.

Slack Workspace Owners have every admin power plus billing and owner management. Admins manage members and channels but cannot see billing. One Primary Owner alone can delete or transfer the workspace. The full role list, and how to change roles.

The Slack tips that save the most time: Cmd/Ctrl+K to jump anywhere, Shift+Esc to clear unreads, the Up arrow to edit, the Later tab, schedule send, /remind, search modifiers, custom sections and status that clears itself. 25 tips for beginners and power users, grouped by task.

A guest joins your Slack workspace and your company pays for Multi-Channel Guests. Slack Connect links two workspaces and each company pays for its own people. Costs, limits, permissions, and which one to pick.

Slack has built-in emoji packs you add from the emoji menu: Add Emoji, Emoji packs, Add Pack. For more, download free packs from sites like slackmojis.com and bulk upload them with an open-source Chrome extension. Steps, sizes, and a script to download every custom emoji in your workspace.

To look busy on Microsoft Teams, set your status to Busy with a duration, or block time in your Outlook calendar so Teams shows In a meeting. Focus time shows Focusing, and a status message says what you are on. How long each lasts, what Teams does when you go idle, and what not to do.

In Google Chat a solid green circle means active, an orange circle with a clock means idle for 5 minutes, a hollow grey ring means away, and a red circle with a white bar means do not disturb. Every status, and what sets it.

Webex App on Windows or Mac shows you Available while you use your computer and switches to 'Active X minutes ago' when you stop. On a phone, only sending or reading messages counts. How to keep Webex active, what a keep-awake tool and a custom status do, and why your status may stick on inactive.

A green circle in Zoom means available on desktop, a green phone shape means available on mobile only, a grey clock means away, and red icons mean busy, do not disturb, in a meeting or on a call. Every Zoom status icon, and what sets it.

Slack's free plan hides messages after 90 days. Pumble, Discord and Chanty keep unlimited history for free; Mattermost, Element and Rocket.Chat are free if you host them; Google Chat and Teams free cost nothing if you already use Google or Microsoft. What each free plan limits, from each vendor's pricing page.

Zoom sets you Away after 15 minutes of inactivity by default, and unlike Slack or Teams it lets you turn that off. The setting, step by step, and what still turns your Zoom status to Away or Offline.

Slack is built for companies: business apps, admin controls and shared channels with other firms, for $7.25 a user a month on Pro. Discord is free for everyone with unlimited history and group voice, but has no SSO, retention or compliance tools. Prices, limits, calls and status compared.

No. Slack gives admins no record of your search terms. On Enterprise they can see how many searches you ran each day. What admins see about edits, private channels, scheduled messages, analytics and read receipts.

Slack does not ping anyone when you leave a channel, but it posts a line saying you left, unless an admin turned join and leave messages off. Edits show (edited), deletes leave no alert, forwards do not tell the author, and removing someone does notify them. What each action shows, and how to leave quietly.

Slack and Teams do not connect natively for chat. You can start Teams calls from Slack with the free Microsoft Teams Calls app, relay messages with a paid bridge such as Mio, and sync your Teams status to Slack with a short script. Every option, what it costs, and the setup steps.

When you use Slack on a phone and a computer at once, one active device is enough to keep you green, and a manual away on any device sets you away on all of them. The rule, common cases, and how notifications pick a device.

Slack huddles are quick calls inside Slack: 1:1 on the free plan, up to 50 people on paid plans, no recording. Zoom is built for scheduled, recorded and large meetings, with a free plan of 100 people for 40 minutes. Limits, cost, recording and privacy side by side.

Working two remote jobs at once takes four things: contracts that allow it, fully separate devices and accounts, a calendar that protects both jobs, and a chat status that stays believable in both. The practical setup, and the risks.

Employers monitor remote workers through five layers: work apps like Slack and Teams, laptop management, monitoring software, the network, and your output. What each one sees, how to check your own laptop, and what the law says.

A keep-awake Chrome extension stops your screen from dimming and your computer from sleeping through Chrome's power API. It does not type or click, so Slack still shows you away after 10 minutes and Teams after a few. How the Keep Awake modes work, which platforms they suit, and what to use instead.

Slack no longer sells Slack AI as an add-on. Pro includes AI summaries and huddle notes; search answers, recaps, translations and Slackbot come with Business+, at $7.75 more per user a month. What each AI feature does, who it pays off for, and what it does with your data.

Slack Pro is worth it if your team needs messages older than 90 days, group huddles, shared channels with clients or workflows. It costs $7.25 a user a month paid yearly. What Pro adds over free, what it costs for 5 to 50 people, and when Business+ is the better buy.

To share audio in a Slack huddle, click the share screen icon, pick a screen or window, check Share system audio, then click Share. Everyone hears what your computer plays. Where the option is missing, how Chrome differs, why a Mac needs a permission, and how to stop echo.

Idle Pilot and Slack Green both keep you available from the cloud with the laptop closed. Idle Pilot covers Slack or Teams for $9 a month. Slack Green covers Slack only for $3.99. The full comparison.

The Slack free plan shows only the last 90 days of messages and files, deletes data older than one year, allows 10 apps, and limits huddles and Slack Connect to one-on-one. Every limit from Slack's help center, what happens at day 90, and when upgrading is worth it.

When a Slack huddle will not connect, has no sound, or others cannot hear you, run Slack's audio and video test, check the microphone and speaker in Preferences, re-grant Slack mic and camera access in your OS, and try Chrome or your phone to find a network block. Fixes by symptom for Mac, Windows, browser and mobile.

The best mouse jiggler depends on the computer. A free app for your own PC, a USB dongle for a personal laptop, a mechanical mover for a managed one. Picks per type, what IT sees, and what each does for Slack.

Teams is cheaper if your company already pays for Microsoft 365. Slack is better when most work happens in chat, threads and apps. Prices, free plan limits, calls, apps and how each app decides you are away, side by side.

Slack has no record button for huddles. On paid plans, turn on AI notes to keep a summary and transcript in a canvas; Slack tells everyone. For audio and video, use a screen recorder such as Xbox Game Bar, Snipping Tool or OBS, and ask everyone first. Steps for Windows, Mac and mobile.

Twelve Slack Workflow Builder examples with the exact trigger and steps for each: daily standups, channel welcomes, time-off approvals, help desk requests, emoji escalations, keyword routing, incidents, list updates and webhooks from other tools. Plus where Workflow Builder lives, what it costs and how branches work.

Slack has no built-in timer, but four built-in tools act like one: /remind me to ... in 25 minutes, a status that clears itself, /dnd for a focus block, and Workflow Builder for dated countdowns. For a live countdown in a channel, use a Marketplace app or a 15-line bot script.

A red dot on the Slack icon means unread activity somewhere; a red number means DMs, mentions, keywords or followed thread replies. Press Shift+Esc to mark all read, check Threads, Activity, Later and other workspaces, then clear the cache or reset the OS badge.

Saved messages in Slack live in the Later tab, which replaced stars and Saved items in 2023. Hover a message and click Save for later, or press A. Add a reminder, mark items complete, and find them with is:saved. Where Later is on desktop and mobile, and what changed.

Your Outlook status shows your Microsoft Teams presence, so to keep Outlook green you keep Teams Available: Teams signed in and running, input on the computer, no lock or sleep, and no leftover status. What sets you Away, and what you can change.

You can sign in to several Slack workspaces in one app and switch with Ctrl+Tab or Cmd/Ctrl plus a number. Each workspace has its own account, status, presence and Do Not Disturb, so you can be active in one and away in another. How to add, switch and manage them.

In Microsoft Teams, a green check means Available, red means Busy, In a meeting or In a call, red with a white bar means Do not disturb or Presenting, a yellow clock means Away or Be right back, a grey circle with an x means Offline, and a purple arrow means Out of office. Which ones Teams sets for you, and which wins.

To set a Slack lunch status, click your profile picture, Update your status, pick an emoji such as the fork and knife, type "Lunch, back at 1:30", and set Remove status after to when you are back. How to schedule it, the ways to automate a daily lunch status, and what happens to your green dot.

To stop a Mac from locking, open System Settings, Lock Screen, set the screen saver and display-off times to Never or longer, and raise Require password after screen saver begins or display is turned off. Or run caffeinate -d. What a managed Mac allows, and why Slack still shows you away.

Teams admins can see activity counts per person: messages in channels and chats, meetings, 1:1 calls, audio, video and screen share time, and your last activity date. Your status follows keyboard and mouse activity on the whole computer. Teams does not log keystrokes, your screen, or other apps.

A blank, white or black Slack window is usually a failed load, a corrupt cache, a blocked connection or a graphics driver issue. Reload with Cmd or Ctrl+R, use Help, Troubleshooting, Clear Cache and Restart, test Slack in a browser, update, then reinstall cleanly. Steps for Windows and Mac.

Yes. A workspace Owner or Admin can reactivate a deactivated Slack account at any time from Admin, Workspace settings, People: click the three dots and Activate account. The member can sign in at once and sees messages they sent before, but is not added back to channels. Steps, Enterprise, and why an account gets deactivated.

On the free Slack plan you can only see and search the last 90 days of messages and files, and data older than one year is deleted. Paid plans keep everything for the life of the workspace by default. Retention options by plan, file retention, DMs, and who can change them.

To stop Slack opening at startup on Windows, open Task Manager, go to Startup apps, right-click Slack and choose Disable. On a Mac, open System Settings, General, Login Items and remove Slack. Steps for Windows 10 and 11, macOS, and what changes for your Slack status.

To clear the Slack cache on desktop, open Help, Troubleshooting, Clear Cache and Restart. On a phone, go to Preferences, Advanced, Reset Cache. In a browser, hard-reload or clear site data. Your messages and files stay on Slack's servers. When clearing helps, and when it does not.

To set a Slack status through the API, call users.profile.set with a user token that has users.profile:write and a profile containing status_text, status_emoji and status_expiration. Curl and Python examples, how to read and clear a status, and why a bot token cannot set yours.

Most scripts that promise to keep Slack active no longer work. Slack's API cannot force a user to active, bot tokens have their own presence, and OS keypress scripts miss the Slack window. What still works is a session-based client. How to test any script with users.getPresence.

When you set a Slack status, Remove status after (Clear after on mobile) decides when it disappears: don't clear, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours, today, this week, or a date and time you choose. How to set it on desktop and mobile, schedule ahead, and what clearing does not change.

Keep Windows awake from PowerShell without admin rights: call SetThreadExecutionState to block sleep and screen-off, or press F15 every minute to reset the idle timer. The scripts, how to run and stop them, a powercfg one-liner, and what each does for Teams and Slack.

Slack only notifies you about thread replies when you follow the thread: you started it, replied, or were mentioned, or it is in a one-to-one DM. Follow any thread from its menu, or get every reply in a channel from its notification options. The other settings that silence threads.

Slack search operators narrow results: in:#channel, from:@name, with:@name, before:, after:, on:, during:, has::emoji:, is:saved, has:pin, is:thread, "exact phrase", -word and rep*. Every modifier from the Slack help center with examples, date formats and recipes.

A Slack bot token starts with xoxb- and acts as your app's bot user. Get one by creating an app at api.slack.com/apps, adding bot scopes under OAuth & Permissions, installing the app, and copying the Bot User OAuth Token. How it differs from xoxp user tokens, xapp app-level tokens, xoxe rotation and xoxc session tokens.

To delete a custom Slack emoji, click your workspace name, choose Customize [workspace], open the Emoji tab, find the emoji and click the delete icon. Members can delete only emoji they added; owners and admins can delete any. How to replace one, remove packs, and what happens to old messages.

The Slack desktop app gives native notifications, offline reading and every shortcut. Slack in a browser needs no install and adds less memory if your browser is open anyway. Both mark you away 10 minutes after your last input in Slack. The full comparison and which to pick.

Every built-in Slack slash command from the Slack help center, from /status and /dnd to /remind, /msg and /huddle, with what each does, which are desktop-only, and what /status and /dnd really change about your presence.

The most used mouse jiggler for Windows is the free, open-source Arkane Systems Mouse Jiggler. Install it with winget install ArkaneSystems.MouseJiggler, or unzip the mainline or portable build without admin rights. Its modes, command-line flags, and what it does for Teams and Slack.

Slack's built-in export is for workspace owners and admins. Without admin access you can copy a conversation, print it to PDF from a browser, ask an owner for an export, or use Slackdump, an open-source tool that saves channels and DMs you can see with your own login. Steps, formats, and the policy caveat.

No law bans owning or using a mouse jiggler. The risk is employment, not criminal: breaking a company device policy, or backing paid hours with fake activity, can get you disciplined or fired, as Wells Fargo showed in 2024. Where the risk sits, and what to check first.

On Windows, set closing the lid to Do nothing in Power Options. On a Mac, use clamshell mode: power adapter, external display, keyboard and mouse. Commands for both, the admin and heat caveats, and why Slack still shows you away with the lid closed.

AFK in Slack means "away from keyboard": the person is stepping away for a while. It is something people type in a message or a custom status, separate from Slack's automatic away dot. How AFK compares with away, and how to set an AFK status that clears itself.

Slack shows you active when you are not because one signed-in session still counts as active: another computer, Slack open on your phone screen, a huddle, a stale connection, or a tool signed in as you. How to find it, and how to show away on purpose.

No. Slack counts only input inside its own window, so a YouTube video, a Zoom call, a game or Spotify keeps your computer busy but gives Slack nothing. You go away 10 minutes after your last input in Slack. What does count, and how to stay green.

To add a custom emoji to Slack, click the smiley face in the message field, click Add Emoji, upload a square JPG, PNG or GIF under 128 KB, name it and save. Everyone in the workspace can use it. Size rules, GIFs, aliases, emoji packs, and why you might not be allowed.

Slack shows "is typing" to the people in a conversation while you write. You can turn off seeing other people's typing in Preferences, Messages & media, on desktop. No Slack setting hides your own typing from others, and nobody can see your drafts.

Google Chat shows you as Idle after 5 minutes without activity in Gmail or Chat on desktop, and Away after more than 10 minutes. There is no always-active setting. How the status works, what you can set, and what keeps it green.

Microsoft Teams stays on Away (yellow) while you work when you set Appear away or a status duration, when the phone app is in the background, when Teams on the web cannot see activity outside the tab, or when presence is stale. Fix it by resetting your status, closing Teams on other devices, and signing out and in.

Microsoft Teams sets you to Away after a few minutes without keyboard or mouse input on your computer, about 5 minutes in practice, at once when you lock the computer, and when the phone app goes to the background. Sleep shows Offline. Every Teams timer, and how it differs from Slack.

A Slack status that will not update is usually a status you set yourself blocking the calendar, an app that has not synced, a status set in another workspace, automatic statuses turned off, or a stale client. How to tell which one, fix it, and tell a stuck status from a stuck dot.

Nobody can see a deleted Slack message in the app, including admins. Your company can still have it if the workspace retention setting saves edits and deletions, or if a legal hold is on, and read it through an export or eDiscovery tool. What each plan keeps, and whether you can recover a deleted message.

Slack does not track your GPS location or show anyone a map. It records the IP address and device of each sign-in in access logs, which owners and admins can see on paid plans, and your profile shows your local time. What each person can learn about where you are.

PowerToys Awake keeps a Windows PC from sleeping, but it does not keep Slack or Teams active. Slack sets you away 10 minutes after your last input in its window and Teams after 5 minutes of inactivity, awake or not. How Awake works, its modes, and what does keep you green.

caffeinate is the built-in macOS command that keeps a Mac awake. Run caffeinate -d to stop the display sleeping, -i to stop idle sleep, add -t for a time limit, and press Ctrl+C to stop. Every flag with examples, and why it does not keep Slack active.

You can keep a work computer awake without admin rights: raise the sleep and screen timeouts in Settings, run caffeinate on a Mac, use PowerToys Awake or presentation mode on Windows, or a browser Wake Lock tab. None of them beat an IT lock policy, and none keep Slack or Teams active.

To delete your Slack account, deactivate it in each workspace: go to my.slack.com/account, scroll to Deactivate account, confirm your password, and click Yes, deactivate my account. Your messages stay. What else to know, and how to delete a whole workspace.

The Slack keyboard shortcuts worth learning, for Mac and Windows, from Slack's own list: Cmd/Ctrl+K to jump, Shift+Esc to mark all read, Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+Y to set a status, formatting, huddles and one-key message actions. Press Cmd/Ctrl+/ in Slack to see them all.

Slack's schedule send only sends a message once. For a recurring message, use Workflow Builder's Send a scheduled message template and pick a frequency, or a channel reminder with /remind. How to set each up, see scheduled messages, and schedule on mobile.