Set your Slack status and availability

Change your Slack status to let everyone know your whereabouts and availability.

Tip: Are you an Admin? Check out customizing status suggestions for your workspace. 

Status vs. Availability  

Status

Whether you're in a meeting, working from home, or heading on a vacation to Fiji, you can set a status and let your workspace know what you're up to. 🌴 😎

Availability

Your availability indicates whether or not you're currently active in Slack. From the dot next to your name, your teammates will know whether you're active, away, or in Do Not Disturb (DND) mode. When you launch Slack, you'll also see when you're connecting. 

Active Connecting

Away Do Not Disturb

Your status in Slack

Setting a status is an easy way to let folks know what you're up to — that way there are no surprises if you don't respond to a message right away. You can choose from five suggested status options or enter a custom status with your very own emoji flair. 💅   

A custom status can be up to 100 characters long. If you don't select an emoji, we'll display 💬  next to your display name to let members know you've set a status.

Tip: Your status emoji will display next to your display name in all messages you send, while your full status will display on your profile.

Set your Status 

Desktop

iOS

Android

Windows Phone

1. Click your workspace name in the top left to open the menu.
2. Hover on Set a status.
3. Select an emoji and enter a status or select from one of the suggested options.

When you hover on your status emoji, your full status will display above it:

Tip: In a hurry? Type /status to quickly set or clear your status.

1. Open the right sidebar by swiping your screen from right to left.
2. Tap Set a Status.
3. Enter your status or select one of the suggested options. 
4. Tap Done when you're finished.

1. Tap the   Overflow menu in the top right corner.
2. Tap Set a Status.
3. Enter your status or select from one of the default options.
4. Tap Save when you're finished.

1. Tap the   More actions icon in the top right corner. 
2. Tap Set a status.
3. Enter your status or select from one of the default options.
4. Tap the Save button.

Note: Once you've set a status, it will remain unchanged until you edit or clear it.

Note: To prevent revealing potentially sensitive information about your organization, members' custom statuses are not displayed within shared channels (beta). 

Edit your Status

Desktop

iOS

Android

Windows Phone

1. Click your workspace name in the top left to open the menu.
2. Hover on Edit status. 
3. Enter or select a new status, or click the    to clear status. 

1. Open the right sidebar by swiping your screen from right to left.
2. Tap the current status, like Commuting or Working remotely, for example.  
3. You can tap Clear Status or set a new one. To set a new status, select a suggested option or enter your own custom status.
4. Tap Done in the top right corner to save your changes.

1. Tap the   Overflow menu in the top-right corner. 
2. Tap Edit Status.
3. Make your changes and tap Save.

1. Tap the   More actions icon in the top-left corner
2. Tap your current status.
3. Tap the   close icon next to your status to clear it, and enter a new status if you'd like. 
4. Tap Save at the top right to finish.

Your availability in Slack

You can access Slack and receive notifications on the go, so we keep availability simple — members are either active or away.

How Slack determines your availability 

Desktop

Web browser

Mobile

In our desktop apps, you’ll appear active whenever Slack is open and you're interacting with your computer. After 30 minutes of inactivity, Slack will automatically change your status to away. You’ll appear active once you start interacting with your computer again.

You'll appear active whenever you're interacting with Slack in a web browser. After 30 minutes of browser inactivity, you will be marked away. As soon as you re-engage with Slack in the browser, your availability will update to active again.

In our mobile apps, you'll appear active when the Slack app is open. When you switch to another app, close the Slack app, or lock your screen, you'll remain active in Slack for 30 seconds before updating to away.

Set your availability

Now that you understand how Slack determines your availability, here's how you can set your availability yourself. Let's say you'd like to appear as away, but still keep the Slack app open. Here's how: 

Desktop

iOS

Android

Windows Phone

1. Click your workspace name in the top left to open the window.
2. Select Set yourself to away.

You'll be marked as away until you open the menu again and select [Away] Set yourself to active.

Tip: Short on time? Use /away and /active to quickly update your availability.

1. Open the right sidebar by swiping your screen from right to left.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Next to Your Availability, tap the toggle to set yourself active or away.
4. Tap the   close icon in the top left corner to finish.

1. Tap the  Overflow menu in the top-right corner.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Next to Availability, tap the toggle to set yourself active or away.
4. Tap the   back arrow in the top left to finish.

1. Tap the   More actions icon in the top-right corner.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Under Online presence, tap the menu to choose between active and away.
4. Tap the   back arrow at the bottom left to finish.

Note: Members won't be able to see whether you've manually set yourself away or if you're simply inactive.

Members' status & availability

There are a few places in Slack where you can see your teammates' status emojis (if they have a status set) and their availability.

Desktop

iOS

Android

Windows Phone

From the directory

1. Click the  More Items menu at top right.
2. Select Directory.

A solid dot shows the member is active; an empty dot indicates they're away. An emoji next to their name indicates they have a status set — click into their profile to see it.

Active

Away

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From direct messages and the details pane

Your teammates' status emojis and availability can also be seen in your left sidebar. Click the   plus icon next to Direct Messages to browse through all members. You can also see this information from the Members section of the channel details pane. 

Direct Messages list

Channel details pane

From the directory

1. Swipe right to left to open the right sidebar.
2. Tap Directory.

A solid dot shows the member is active; an empty dot means they're away. An emoji next to their name indicates they have a status set — tap into their profile to see it.

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From direct messages

You can also view the availability of your teammates from the Direct Messages section of the channel list:

1. Swipe from left to right to open the channel list.
2. Tap the   plus icon next to Direct Messages to view everyone on your team.

From the directory

1. Tap the   Overflow menu icon at the top right.
2. Tap Directory.

A solid dot shows the member is active; an empty dot indicates they're away. An emoji next to their name indicates they have a status set — tap into their profile to see it.

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From direct messages

You can also view the availability of your teammates from the Direct Messages section of the channel list:

1. Tap your workspace name in the top left corner.
2. Tap the  plus icon next to Direct Messages to view everyone on your team.

There isn't a way to view the Directory in the mobile app yet, but you can still see members' statuses and availability. Here's how:  

1. Tap the   Menu icon in the top right to open the channel list.
2. Tap the  plus icon next to Direct Messages to view everyone on your team.

A solid dot shows the member is active; an empty dot means they're away. An emoji next to their name indicates they have a status set — tap into their profile to see it.