|
FAQs:
Presence
Control
how you are seen when you are online
What
is presence?
Presence is the
ability to see when contacts are online and available, and
for them to see when you are online and available. Your presence
status is the state that is displayed to others.
^
top
How
do I tell if someone is online?
You can see on
your contact list (or in the directory) if other users are
online or not.
| State |
User
Appears |
Description |
Online |
 |
Shown when
a user is at their desk, able to receive and respond to
messages. |
Away |
 |
Shown when
a user is logged into Messenger, but away from their desk
(or busy) and not able to respond to messages. This option
has to be manually selected. If you send a message to
a user who is offline, you will receive an automatic response
telling you why they are unable to respond (e.g. ‘in a
meeting’ or ‘busy’). |
Idle |
 |
Shown when
a user is online and logged into Messenger, but has not
interacted with the Messenger software for a period of
time (by default, Messenger will switch to Idle status
after 10 minutes of inactivity but users can change this
time limit). |
Offline |
 |
Shown when
a user is not logged into Messenger, or has chosen not
to display their status (e.g. via selecting ‘hidden’ -
see below). |
^ top
How
do I tell if someone is on a wireless device?
You can see on
your contact list if other users is on a wireless device.
| State |
User
Appears |
Online |
 |
Away |
 |
Idle |
 |
^ top
What
do visible and hidden mean? (How do I let people know I don’t
want to be disturbed?)
The visibility
options (visible and hidden) allow you to display different
presence states to different contacts. This is useful if you
have a small number of contacts who always need to get in
touch with you, but do not wish everyone to know that you
are available. You can assign these contacts to a visibility
list so that they can always see your status, and ‘hide’ (go
‘invisible’) from everyone else.
^
top
How
do I use visibility?
You should first
create a visibility list (click on the ‘view visibility list’
button on the contact list window). This list should contain
your ‘inner circle’ of top contacts, e.g. top clients and
anyone else who may urgently need to get in touch with you.
Then, when you
want to ‘hide’ from your other contacts, click the ‘hidden’
button. The users on your visibility list (the ‘inner circle’)
will see your true presence status (online, away, idle etc.)
^
top
What
are all the possible states and how will I appear to everyone?
| You
Are |
Visible or
Invisible/Hidden |
Users on your
Visibility List see you as |
Users NOT
on your Visibility List see you as |
|
Online |
Visible |
Online |
Online |
|
Idle |
Visible |
Idle |
Idle |
|
Away |
Visible |
Away |
Away |
|
Offline |
Visible |
Offline |
Offline |
|
Online |
Invisible/Hidden |
Online |
Offline |
|
Idle |
Invisible/Hidden |
Idle |
Offline |
|
Away |
Invisible/Hidden |
Away |
Offline |
|
Offline |
Invisible/Hidden |
Offline |
Offline |
^ top
How
do I change my away message?
If you are online,
clicking 'go away' will open the ‘change away message’ window.
If you are already
away, clicking ‘edit away message’ will allow you to change
the message.
^
top
|
