Present and accounted for
See who's online, away or not available.
Presence settings let you set your own, and see your contacts current online status. It's great when you don't want to be disturbed, want to appear offline or see if your colleague in India has signed in yet so you can ask an urgent question.
Let others know when you’re busy.
Go invisible when you don’t want to be disturbed.
See if a contact is online.
“Hi, are you there?”
Set your presence so that your contacts know when you’re available to talk, or too busy to chat. There are seven to choose from so your contacts always know if it’s a good time to talk or chat. And you can tell at a glance the status of your contacts.
- Online. This is the automatic status setting when you are online and available.
- SkypeMe!™. Means you are happy to be contacted by people who are not in your contacts list.
- Away. You’re signed in, but you’ve been away or haven’t used your computer for a while so probably won’t answer a call or instant message.
- Not available. You’re signed in, but not used your computer for a long time, so aren’t available.
- Do not disturb. You’re busy and don’t want to be contacted right now. In this setting the notifications of calls or instant messages will not be displayed.
- Invisible. When you don’t want users to know that you are really online, choose this one and you appear offline. You can still call and send and receive instant messages.
- Offline. You’re not signed in, and can’t call or send or receive instant messages.
- Calls forwarded. You’re not signed in, but your incoming calls will be forwarded to your phone.
- Voicemail. You’re not signed in, but people calling your will be sent to your voicemail.
- Blocked. Once you were friends, but no longer. Block your ex-buddy (or your ex), and they won’t be able to see if you’re online or call or instant message with you.
- Not on a computer. This is a bit of a special one. If you’re using one of the snazzy WiFi or cordless phones with Skype built-in, this icon is shown.
- Pending. Another special one. When you add someone to your contact list, they need to approve it. Until they’ve gotten around to do that, this icon is shown.
With a live presence indicator for all your contacts, you can tell who is signed in and whether it’s convenient to talk to them. No matter who you want to get in touch with, their presence setting will show you their status – so it will never be a bad time to call again.
Want to change your presence setting?
Simply click the little arrow next to your name at the top left of the main window in Skype. This will show all the presence settings and you simply select the one you want to use.
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Got questions?
How presence works
You can set your presence so others know whether you can be contacted – you can even go invisible for total privacy. To learn more about editing your profile see the guide to your profile.
