If you use Teams in a browser, you've probably lived this: you're reading something in another tab, or your video's playing in a second window, and Teams decides you've vanished. Green dot to Away, even though you never left your desk.
Microsoft has actually addressed this, specifically for the web version of Teams. It's a real setting. It works, and it's been rolling out generally since late last year. But it fixes a narrower problem than the name suggests, so here's exactly what it does and doesn't do.
What the setting actually is
It's called "Keep my current status when I'm active outside of Teams on the web," tucked into presence settings. Before it existed, Teams on the web could only see activity inside its own browser tab. Click away to read a doc, check email, or watch something in another tab, and as far as Teams was concerned, you'd stopped existing. Five or so minutes of that, and you're Away.
With the setting on, Teams asks your browser whether the device itself is active, not just its own tab. So typing in another tab, moving your mouse elsewhere on screen, all of that now counts, and your status holds at Available instead of drifting to Away.
Worth being precise about what it's checking: activity or idle, that's it. It isn't reading what you're doing in other tabs, what site you're on, or what you're typing. Microsoft's own description is blunt about the limit: it detects whether you're active, not what you're active on.
How to turn it on
It's off by default, and it's a setting you switch on yourself, no admin involved:
- In Teams on the web, open the ellipsis menu
- Go to Settings
- Choose Notifications and activity, then Presence
- Toggle on the activity detection option
Your browser will then prompt you for a permission. You need to accept it, or the setting quietly does nothing and you're back to the old tab-only behaviour without any obvious warning.
It needs a reasonably current browser: Chrome 94 or later, or Edge 114 or later. Older versions, or browsers outside that pair, don't get the option at all.
What it doesn't fix
A few limits worth knowing before you assume this fixes your Away problem for good.
It's web-only. If you use the Teams desktop app, or the mobile app, this setting isn't there and isn't needed, because those apps were already reading activity across the whole device, not just their own window. If your Away problem happens in the desktop app, this update changes nothing for you.
It still needs real activity somewhere. This isn't a "stay green forever" switch. It's watching for genuine input: keystrokes, mouse movement, something. If you're actually away from your desk, on a call from your phone, thinking with your hands nowhere near a keyboard, there's no activity for it to detect, and you'll still go Away exactly as before.
You have to know it exists and turn it on. Off by default, buried a few menus deep, and it only ever made the news in IT circles. Most people hitting the tab-switching problem right now have simply never seen the toggle.
Where that leaves you
If your whole workday lives in Teams on the web in a recent Chrome or Edge, and your Away problem is specifically "I switched tabs for ten minutes," this setting is a genuine fix. Turn it on, grant the permission, done.
If you're on the desktop app, or your Away problem is more "I was reading a long document, or in a meeting somewhere else, or just thinking," the setting doesn't reach you, because there's no underlying device activity for it to pick up. That's the gap tools like Green Dotter exist for: genuine, small, natural mouse activity on a schedule you set, so your status holds even when your hands are actually off the keyboard.
Two different problems, two different fixes. Worth knowing which one you actually have before you go looking for a solution.
Frequently asked questions
What does Teams' new activity detection setting do?
It lets Teams on the web check whether your device is active anywhere, not just inside the Teams browser tab, and keeps your status Available while it sees that activity. Previously Teams web only watched its own tab, so switching to another tab or app for a while could flip you to Away even though you were clearly working.
How do I turn on the Teams activity detection setting?
In Teams on the web, open the ellipsis menu, go to Settings, then Notifications and activity, then Presence, and toggle on the activity detection option. Your browser will then ask for a permission you need to grant for it to actually work.
Does this work in the Teams desktop app?
No. This setting is specific to Teams on the web, in Chrome 94+ or Edge 114+. The desktop and mobile Teams apps aren't affected and don't need it, since they already read device-wide activity rather than just their own window.
Will this stop Teams showing me as Away when I'm genuinely away from my desk?
No. It only recognises activity that's actually happening on the device, elsewhere in the browser or in another app. If you step away entirely with no keyboard or mouse input anywhere, your status will still go to Away, exactly as before.