How to keep your Teams status Available

Why Teams shows you as Away

Teams has no idea whether you are working. It only asks the operating system how long it has been since the last key press or mouse movement, and it changes your status by itself in four situations:

• Inactivity. After about 5 minutes with no keyboard or mouse input, the green Available dot turns into the yellow Away one. Teams offers no way to change that delay.
• Locked screen. As soon as the session is locked, by you or by a timer, Teams marks you Away.
• Sleep. The same happens when the computer sleeps or you close the laptop lid.
• Teams in the background on a phone. On Android and iPhone, your status turns Away when the Teams app is no longer on screen.

This is why the status flips while you are sitting at your desk. Reading a long document, reviewing a design, thinking, or taking a phone call produces no key presses and no pointer movement, and to the system that looks the same as being gone.

Every option, compared

There are six kinds of fix people try. Only three of them stop the change to Away caused by inactivity, because they are the only ones that produce activity the system counts as yours.

Teams settings: what they do and what they do not

Teams lets you pick a status by hand and say how long it should last. In the desktop app, select your profile picture, select your current status, choose Duration, pick the status, and set a time under Reset status after.

The catch is that the duration is honoured for Busy, Do not disturb, Be right back and Appear away, but not for Available. If you set Available and stop touching the computer, Teams still moves you to Away after about 5 minutes.

A status message ("Reviewing documents, reachable by chat") tells colleagues you are around, but it does not change the colour of the dot.

If your goal is not to be interrupted, Busy or Do not disturb with a duration is the right tool and you need nothing else. If your goal is to stay green, Teams has no setting for it.

Operating system power settings

Raising the time before the computer sleeps or locks removes two of the four causes: the machine dozing off and the session locking by itself. You will find these in the power and lock screen settings of Windows, macOS and your Linux desktop.

They do not fix the main cause. Idle detection keeps working with the screen on, so an awake, unlocked computer that nobody touches still reports you as Away after about 5 minutes. On a work computer these settings are also often fixed by company policy.

caffeinate and PowerToys Awake: why they are not enough

caffeinate (built into macOS) and PowerToys Awake (a free Microsoft utility for Windows) stop the computer or the display from going to sleep. They are good tools for a long download or a presentation, and they are often recommended for Teams.

The problem is that neither one simulates keyboard or mouse input. The system idle counter keeps running, so Teams turns Away exactly as before. The details are in caffeinate and PowerToys Awake for Teams.

USB mouse jigglers

A USB mouse jiggler is a small device that the computer recognises as a mouse and that nudges the pointer every few seconds. Nothing has to be installed, which makes it the only option on a computer where you cannot install software.

• For: no software, no permissions, and it works on any operating system.
• Against: it runs for as long as it is plugged in, whether or not you are using Teams. Some models move the pointer visibly. It takes up a port, and it is one more USB device attached to the computer.

More in mouse jiggler or TeamsActivo.

Free jiggler apps

Free programs move the pointer in software, for example Mouse Jiggler on Windows or Jiggler on macOS. They do the essential job, and they are a reasonable choice if you use a single computer and do not mind switching them on and off yourself.

What they do not do is know anything about Teams. They carry on with Teams closed, outside your working hours or in the middle of a presentation, unless you remember to stop them.

TeamsActivo

TeamsActivo is an activity simulator built for this one problem. Every 15 seconds it checks how long the computer has gone untouched and, from 60 seconds of inactivity, moves the pointer 1 pixel and puts it back. While you are using the computer it does nothing.

• It turns on when Teams opens and stops when Teams closes.
• It does not move the pointer while a mouse button is held down or while a full-screen app (a video or a presentation) is in front.
• It can be limited to work hours (Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 19:00), and it stops after 4 hours without real use, so it does not keep going if you leave.
• With the session locked it does nothing, and it never stops you from locking the computer.
• One licence covers 3 devices running macOS, Windows, Linux or Android.

It costs €5 + VAT per month after a 10-day free trial. There is a setup guide for Mac, Windows, Linux and Android and iPhone, and the price and trial are on the home page.

Which option to choose

• You want quiet, not a green dot: set Busy or Do not disturb with a duration in Teams. Nothing else is needed.
• You cannot install software on the computer: a USB mouse jiggler is the only thing that works.
• You use one computer and are happy to manage it by hand: a free jiggler app is enough.
• You use several devices, or want it to follow Teams and your working hours by itself: that is what TeamsActivo is for.

What no method can prevent

• A locked screen. With the session locked, Teams shows Away and no program can simulate activity.
• A closed lid. A closed laptop goes to sleep, unless it is connected to an external display and set up to stay on.
• Company policies. If your organisation enforces a screen lock through MDM, Group Policy or Intune, that policy takes priority over any tool.

Use these tools on your own devices and within your organisation's policies.

How to keep Teams on Available with TeamsActivo

1. Start the trial. Subscribe at teams-active.es. Your licence key arrives by email.
2. Download the app. Pick the version for your system on the downloads page and install it.
3. Enter the key. Open TeamsActivo, choose "Introducir clave…" (enter key) and paste the key you received.
4. Leave it on automatic. With the automatic option on, which is the default, TeamsActivo turns on when Teams opens and stops when Teams closes. There is nothing else to do.