Teams away setting automatically switching on when not away

Anonymous
2020-07-01T17:06:37+00:00

Hi there, 

My teams status is constantly switching to "away" while I am working on my computer. This is very frustrating as my co-workers need to know when I am actually away or available.

Is there a manual override for this? It would be excellent to be able to set it as available so that my team knows they can reach my even if I am working on paper, or in this case if it has switched itself to "away".

Thanks!

Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Teams for business | Other

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-02-25T22:08:46+00:00

    Mouse Jiggler doesn’t work because you have to be active in Teams directly in order for it to register. My issue is when I am being productive over in excel but Teams shows me away or inactive because I haven’t done anything with Teams in the allotted time. Mouse Jiggler works great for things like Skype that just looked for any activity on the laptop.

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-02-25T20:55:30+00:00

    Luckily there's a hardware solution for something that Microsoft is apparently unable to solve programmatically:

    MouseJiggler

    I think that Microsoft is selling their 5-minute-Away-User-Productivity-Check as a feature, but they don't realize that it's making users everywhere hate Teams. It's a matter of time before another Slack comes along to make everybody switch en-masse.

    Microsoft, can you add some code to Teams to make the mouse move around so that your code understands that the status should not be "Away"? Maybe that can be added as a plugin? I would pay for that if I hadn't already bought a hardware solution.

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-02-25T20:05:03+00:00

    Not that being the 1,379th poster matters, but I also have the same issue. It is incredibly frustrating because our management watches for individuals who are 'Away' and it creates a false perception of our availability and productivity, especially now with a lot of our work being remote with our clients. Teams was heavily marketed as the best solution to the COVID remote workforce dilemma, but this is a huge missing piece. Having to constantly open Teams and generate activity just to prove I'm available makes me far less productive. Strange for an app that is supposed to increase the productivity of our workforce. Need to create or find a feature improvement request on this and upvote it.

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-02-25T19:03:56+00:00

    It's February 2021 (almost March) and this issue has been a constant and yet inconsistent pain in the rear since it started.

    Ironically I sometimes leave my desk for 15-20 minutes and remain available, while other times I go grab a coffee for 2-3 minutes and come back to an away status... Wish this made sense at least.

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  5. Anonymous
    2021-02-22T15:35:13+00:00

    It is so frustrating! I have to read a lot of documents throughout the day on my computer, but the new Teams 'availability' setting makes it seem like I'm not available or working. With so many people working remotely these days, this feature is so frustrating!

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