# Presence and your status

> See who in your organisation is online, in focus or busy, set yourself to Busy, and appear offline whenever you want to.

Source: https://plexiidesk.com/help/people-presence
Section: People and sharing > People
Plans: Team plan
Updated: 2026-10-15

Presence shows who in your organisation is around right now. Your teammates see whether you are online, in a focus session or busy, and you see the same about them. You decide whether you are seen: you can appear offline at any time.

## Before you start

- **Plan.** Live presence is part of the Team plan. On other plans the **Team** button does not appear in the header, and people in the directory show as **Offline**.
- **Sign in, and belong to an organisation.** Presence shows the people you share an organisation or a team with. See [Set up and manage your organisation](https://plexiidesk.com/help/org-manage).
- **PlexiDesk needs to be open.** You show as online while PlexiDesk is open and signed in on your computer. When you close it, you show as offline.

## What each status means

| Status | When it shows |
| --- | --- |
| **Online** | PlexiDesk is open and signed in. This is the starting status. |
| **In focus** | You are in a focus session. Teammates see **In a focus session** beside your name. It changes back when the session ends. See [Start a focus session](https://plexiidesk.com/help/focus-session). |
| **Busy** | You have set yourself to Busy, as described below. |
| **Offline** | PlexiDesk is closed, you are signed out, or you have chosen to appear offline. |

Statuses appear with a coloured dot on people's pictures: green for online, violet for in focus, red for busy and grey for offline.

## See who is online

1. In the header at the top of the window, click the **Team** button, the people icon. Its tooltip says **Team — who's online right now**. A number on it shows how many teammates are online.
2. The **Team** panel opens. At the top it says how many people are online, or **No one else online**.
3. Below your own row, each teammate who is online is listed with their status and what they are doing, such as **In a focus session**.

When nobody else is online, the panel says **No teammates online right now. They'll appear here the moment they open PlexiDesk.**

Press `Esc` or click outside the panel to close it.

You also see live status in these places:

- the **Directory** page and the **Team status** widget on People Home. See [The People area](https://plexiidesk.com/help/people-overview).
- the **People Map**, where the **Around now** count and the **Around right now** panel use it. See [People Map](https://plexiidesk.com/help/people-map).
- the desk menu, under **Who's here**, which shows who else is on the desk you are on. See [The desk menu: where you are, who's here, rename, share and move](https://plexiidesk.com/help/desk-menu).

## Set yourself to Busy

Use Busy when you do not want to be interrupted.

1. Click the **Team** button in the header.
2. In your own row at the top of the panel, click **Busy**. Its tooltip says **Toggle do-not-disturb**.

Your row now says **You · Busy**, and teammates see you as busy. To change back, click **Available**.

Busy stays until you click **Available** or a focus session starts or ends. It is not kept when you restart PlexiDesk.

## Appear offline

Appear offline hides you from everyone else while you carry on working. You still see everyone else.

1. Click the **Team** button in the header.
2. In your own row, click **Appear offline**.

Your row now says **Appearing offline to others**, and a small eye icon sits on your picture. To be seen again, click **Go visible**.

Appearing offline:

- is your choice alone, and no administrator can override it;
- stays on until you turn it off, including when you restart PlexiDesk;
- is never recorded, and nobody sees a personal "last seen" time for you;
- turns off the **Busy** button until you go visible again.

While you appear offline, using features still counts towards your organisation's anonymous totals, but never as anything about you personally.

> **Note:**
> Appear offline is set on each computer. If you use PlexiDesk on more than one computer, set it on each one.

## Tips

- **Look before you knock.** Check whether someone is in focus or busy before you message, knock or call them. See [Video calls and knocking](https://plexiidesk.com/help/calls-and-knock).
- **Use a focus session instead of Busy** when you are about to concentrate. Your status changes to In focus by itself and back again when you finish.
- **Check their local time too.** The People Map shows whether a teammate is inside their working hours. See [People Map](https://plexiidesk.com/help/people-map).

## Common questions

**I don't see the Team button in the header.**
Live presence is part of the Team plan. If you are on the Team plan, check that you are signed in.

**A teammate says I look offline, but PlexiDesk is open.**
Open the **Team** panel and check your row. If it says **Appearing offline to others**, click **Go visible**. Also check that you are signed in: you show as offline while signed out.

**Who can see my status?**
People in the same organisation as you, and people in the same teams and groups as you. Nobody outside them sees your status.

**Can my administrator see when I appear offline?**
No. Appearing offline is never recorded, and no administrator can turn it off for you.

**Does my status show which desk I am on?**
Only on the desk itself. When you are on a desk that is shared with others, they see you under **Who's here** in its desk menu.

## Related tasks

- [The People area](https://plexiidesk.com/help/people-overview)
- [People Map](https://plexiidesk.com/help/people-map)
- [Team status widget](https://plexiidesk.com/help/home-widget-team-status)
- [Video calls and knocking](https://plexiidesk.com/help/calls-and-knock)
- [Start a focus session](https://plexiidesk.com/help/focus-session)