Changing Your Online Status

Your current online status displays on the Instant Messaging button on the Status bar.

• I Am Active This means you are online and able to receive chats.

• I Am Away Your computer might be online, but you are not sitting in front of your computer. You might have stepped away for a break or to go to a meeting. People can still send you chats, but they can't expect you to answer them right away. The chat window, however, will appear on your screen until you return; you can answer it then.

• Do Not Disturb Me You are online but you don't want anyone to send you a chat. You might be in a meeting or working on an important project and you don't want to be interrupted. People will not be able to send you chat messages.

• Disconnected You are not online.

When others in your organization are connected to instant messaging they are able to tell what your status is, just as you can view theirs. This is called presence awareness. Presence awareness allows you to see the online status icons next to names in your Mail, Calendar, discussion databases, Teamrooms, document libraries, and Personal Address Book for anyone who is currently connected to instant messaging. These same icons display in your instant messaging contact list. Table 18.1 shows the status icons you will see.

Table 18.1. Instant Messaging Online Status

Icon	Status	Default Message
	Active	I am active.
	Active (mobile user)	I am active.
	Away	I am away.
	Do Not Disturb	Do not disturb.

To hide this presence awareness, choose File, Preferences, User Preferences from the menu. Click on Instant Messaging, General and deselect Show instant messaging status for names. Click OK.

When you point to the name of a person in your instant messaging contacts list (or where you see a status icon displayed), you will see a pop-up message that relates to the person's online status. The default messages appear in Table 18.1. You can change the messages that display for your name.

To change your status messages, choose File, Preferences, User Preferences and click on Instant Messaging, Status (see Figure 18.6). Enter the text you want people to see in the appropriate message field. You can see a list of previous messages by clicking the down arrow next to the field; select one if you want to use it again. If you want to change the message each time you select a different status, select the check box below the message field. Click OK to save your status messages.

Figure 18.6. You can change your status messages here or click on the Instant Messaging button on the status bar and choose Edit Current Status Message.