Setting Your Google Chat Status

Tags: Google Chat

Once you’ve added another Arboretum staff member to your Google Chat contacts, they’ll be able to see your availability status as a small icon next to your name. It will be solid green for available, an empty circle for unavailable / away, a “no” icon for “do not disturb,” and so on. You can allow Google to set that status for you, based on your online activity, or set it manually.

To let Google set your status for you:

Open Gmail in a browser window, and find the status dropdown in the upper right corner.
Make sure to select “Automatic” (the first option).

Setting it as Automatic means that Google will change your status based on what you’re doing online.

If you’re in your Gmail window, you’ll be marked as “Active.”
If you’ve got a meeting set in Google Calendar, you’ll be marked as “In a meeting.”
If you have Focus Time turned on, you’ll be marked as “In Focus Time.”
After you’ve been inactive for a few minutes online, you’ll be marked as “Idle.”
And if you’re not online, you’ll be marked as “Away.”

If you want to override what Google has set, see the section below about manually setting your Chat status.

To manually set your Google Chat status:

Open Gmail in a browser window, and find the status dropdown in the upper right corner.
Select one of the options:
- Do not disturb: Turns off your notifications and lets people know you’re not available.
- Set as away: Other people will simply see your status as “Away.”
- Add a status: Choose from one of the pre-set statuses (Be right back, Vacationing, etc.) or create your own! You can even use emojis! You’ll have to set a specific time period for the custom status so Google knows when to turn it off again.

Remember, different people use (and respond to) Google Chats in different ways! Chats are good for quick responses from folks you work closely with, but might not be good for more complicated questions or for people you’ve not already established a relationship with. For more advice about the communication tools available to you at the Arboretum, please review the Scheduling Tools and Guidelines document!