Teams: Notify Me When a Coworker is Available (or Offline)

With so many of our coworkers working remotely, it can become challenging to know who is really “here” and who has “left” at a given time. After all, we can’t exactly wave hello or goodbye as they walk past our desk! In lieu of these familiar “in person” notifications, here is a quick way to be notified virtually via Teams.

James Kirk is now available banner

Teams Settings

In the upper right of your Teams screen is either your image (at WSU this is imported from Outlook), or your initials. Click on this circle to access a variety of options. We are selecting Settings for this one.

Imae in upper right, setting option

Notifications

1. On the left side of the Settings screen, select Notifications.

2. Scroll all the way to the bottom under the header Status. Select Manage Notifications.

On left, notifications, at bottom status, Manage Notifications

3. In the search bar, Search for the person for whom you would like to be notified.

      • Quick Note: when searching for people in Teams, try searching by the wording in front of the @ symbol in their email address; e.g. firstname.lastname for faculty/staff, and initials lastname for students.

Add person to notifications

4. Select your person from the dropdown list. They will now appear in a list under Manage Status Notifications.

    • At any time you can revisit this setting and select Turn Off to stop receiving notifications.

Person in notifications, option to "turn off" notifications for them

Notification Banners

That is all there is to it! Now you will be notified when this person becomes available…

James Kirk is now available banner

And when they go offline…

James Kirk is now offline

Pretty cool!

Teams Essentials Training

Are you interested in learning more about Teams? I would love to see you in one of my remote Teams Essentials trainings! Sessions are listed in myTraining. There will always be a listing or two of this session, so if you don’t see a time that works for you, not to worry, simply select Notify me of new sessions to receive an an email when a new session is listed.

Notify me of new sessions link

Thoughts?

What do you think, will you activate notifications for any of your Teams contacts? I would love to hear from you!

Congratulations, Power Users!

Congratulations to our newest Power Users! For the full gallery, and more information about the WSU Microsoft Office Power User Program, please visit: wichita.edu/poweruser

  • Lora Lea Pickering
  • Mikayla Irish
  • Kelly Eden