Updated June 2023
Microsoft Teams Status messages are a great way to display your current status so other users know when they should and shouldn’t contact you. They have been heavily used in other Microsoft tools such as Skype for Business and Microsoft Outlook, so you may already be familiar with the concept. Let us take a look at how to set a status and some common Microsoft Teams status message examples along with it.
Looking to get the most out of MS Teams? Check out our Teams 101 Guide!

Changing your Teams status is easy to do and is the same across mobile and desktop apps.
First, click on your profile which is located at the top right corner of the desktop application.
Then, select Set Status Message:

Your status message can contain up to 280 characters and can be used to share important information about your current work location, availability, and more.
For example, if you want to let people know to contact someone else while you are away, you can @mention someone to contact in your absence:

If someone mentions you in their status message, you will receive a notification as shown in the image below:
By default, you should also have show when people message me enabled in your status.
For example, if you try to send a message to a co-worker, as soon as you start typing in the message box you will get a prompt showing their current Microsoft Teams status message:
You can decide when you want your Microsoft Teams status message to end with the clear status message function. Choose between the options provided, or select your own custom time frame.

Once you've set your status, you will receive a notification of your set status and the top notification bar in the Microsoft Teams application.
This is easy enough to dismiss, but it's a nice cue that will help you to understand how and where your status messages for Microsoft Teams will be used.

Once you set a status message, it will be visible in multiple places across Teams:
1. In one-to-one or one-to-many Microsoft Teams Chats: When you start a one-to-one chat, the status message will be visible above the conversation box. You can always dismiss the notification if necessary.
2. @Mentions in Microsoft Teams Channels: You will also see the status message if you are mentioning a person as part of a Microsoft Teams Channel. This happens both in new conversations and replies.
3. Pop Up Card in Microsoft Teams: The Microsoft Teams’ status message also appears on users’ contact cards. If you hover over the image of a person in Microsoft Teams you will see their contact card. As you can see in the image below, the status message is displayed along with when the message was entered.

There are a number of ways that you can use the Microsoft Teams status feature:
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