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Manually enable Appear Offline in Lync 2013 Preview via Registry

September 18, 2012 by Elan Shudnow 52 Comments

Lync 2013, just as with previous releases, allows the ability to Appear Offline. And just as with previous releases, you can enable this functionality in the Lync Client Policies. For information on how Lync Client Policies work, see my post here.  To enable Appear Offline through Client Policie against the Global Policy, use the following command:

Get-CSClientPolicy | Set-CSClientPolicy -EnableAppearOffline $true

This will require a Lync 2013 client restart.

As an Administrator, you may not want to make this change to a Client Policy as the goal of Lync is to promote collaboration, not inhibit it by having users Appear Offline and hide from other users.  At the same time, you may want to enable it for a user or two at request and won’t want to have to bother providing this small group of users their own Client Policy.  Lync 2010 provided the ability to do that via registry key.  Mike Pfeiffer provides a great article on Lync 2010 for setting the Lync 2010 registry key to manually enable Appear Offline in Lync 2010.  You can see his article here.

The goal of this article is to show how to do the same in Lync 2013.  Because Lync 2013 is now a part of Office 2013, Lync 2013 registry items are now under the Office 2013 registry section (Office 15.0).  There are two ways to set this registry:

  1. Cmd.exe
  2. Regedit.exe

Using Cmd.exe

The type the following command:

Reg Add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Lync" /V "EnableAppearOffline" /D 1 /T REG_DWORD /F

Using Regedit.exe

  1. Start regedit.exe
  2. In Registry Editor, expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, expand Software, expand Policies, expand Microsoft, expand Office, expand 15.0, expand Lync
  3. Right-click the Lync registry key, point to New, and then click DWORD (32-bit) Value
  4. After the new value is created, type EnableAppearOffline to rename the value.
  5. Double-click the new EnableAppearOffline registry value.
  6. After the new value is created, type EnableAppearOffline to rename the value.
  7. Double-click the new EnableAppearOffline registry value.
  8. In the Edit DWORD (32-bit) Value dialog box, type 1 in the Value data box, and then click OK.

Bug in Lync 2013 Preview

At the current time of this writing, the latest version of Lync 2013 is Lync 2013 Preview.  In the current Lync 2013 Preview, there is currently a bug that prevents the Appear Offline option from being displayed in the Presence drop down selection.

The workaround until this issue is fixed is that you can set Appear Offline in the taskbar by hovering over the Lync 2013 Preview icon and choosing the Appear Offline option there.

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Filed Under: Lync Tagged With: Lync

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Cosmin says

    March 9, 2015 at 5:48 am

    thank you, it worked ;)

    Reply
  2. Srijan says

    February 4, 2015 at 9:37 am

    Awesome, Thanks! This worked for me. Just remember to run cmd as adimstrator!

    Reply
  3. Karin says

    February 3, 2015 at 6:11 pm

    hi,
    I used this for Communicator 2010. Now i got updated to 2013, and the structure in the reg-editor is different from what you have: I have
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > Software > Policies > Microsoft > Communicator
    I dont have Office > 15 > Lync.

    I created the EnableAppearOffline in the Communicator key, but that does not show up.
    Is it really safe to create Office > 15 > Lync when there is a Communicator key?
    Thx!

    Reply
  4. NIKITHA says

    January 20, 2015 at 5:33 am

    Cannot Create a new DWORD 32-bit value.When i'm trying to create a new dialog box pop ups as :CANNOT CREATE A VALUE,ERROR TO THE REGISTRY.

    Reply
  5. Rose says

    December 30, 2014 at 2:41 am

    Hello

    Even I would like to have the offline status in Lync 2013. However I dont have the option 15.0 in my registry.

    "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, expand Software, expand Policies, expand Microsoft, expand Office"

    Under office there is an option "10.0" and on clicking that also there is no Lync option.
    Kindly assist

    Reply
  6. Guest says

    December 21, 2014 at 8:19 am

    Works in Gemini as well :-) (also with the workaround though)

    Reply
  7. Raoul says

    November 10, 2014 at 8:24 am

    Reg Add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftOffice15.0Lync" /V "EnableAppearOffline" /D 1 /T REG_DWORD /F

    The above worked for me from an elevated cmd prompt on Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit with Lync 2013.

    Reply
  8. kris says

    September 29, 2014 at 12:07 am

    Thanks Ellan i psated in the command in cmd.exe it worked for me

    Reply
  9. Madhesh says

    August 18, 2014 at 9:30 am

    Hi,

    Is it possible to keep appear online?

    If yes please let me know

    Reply
  10. TraciC says

    July 25, 2014 at 3:27 pm

    I cannot see "appear off line" in my list of options after changing the registry key vale to 1. How can I get it to show up in my list of options? I exited out of Lync 2013 and it still does not show up.

    Reply
  11. Sujith says

    June 24, 2014 at 3:54 am

    but do we have a registry command to have the lync status show always available even the pc is locked?????

    Reply
  12. college term says

    March 14, 2014 at 11:50 pm

    As an Administrator, you may not have any desire to make this change to a Client Policy as the objective of Lync is to advertise cooperation, not hinder it by having clients Appear Offline and avoid different clients. in the meantime, you may need to empower it for a client or two at appeal and won't have any desire to need to trouble giving this little aggregation of clients their Client Policy. Lync 2010 gave the capacity to do that by means of registry key.college term papers for sale

    Reply
  13. M.Pesky says

    December 18, 2013 at 10:46 pm

    Thanks! I had only 14.0 but followed Marius Robberts' suggestion and it worked!

    Reply
  14. Masthan says

    October 24, 2013 at 11:58 am

    It working like a charm. .I am able to see appearoffline in status too ..I have used command line to execute it
    Cheers
    Masthan

    Reply
  15. Samuel J says

    October 6, 2013 at 10:21 pm

    It's working perfect, thank you :)

    Reply
  16. Gans says

    September 30, 2013 at 12:49 am

    One line cmd with reg add as described worked. Perfect.. Thanks a ton :)

    Reply
  17. Nic says

    June 20, 2013 at 8:21 am

    Hi. How do I remove the LastActive (which is available in Lync 2010 but I dunno where in Lync 2013 client) which shows how long we have been Offline or Away etc?

    Kindly advice and thank you very much

    Reply
  18. Sunny Roger says

    June 10, 2013 at 10:36 am

    Hi Elan, Not sure about where to ask or post this. When i moved from lync 2010 to 2013, i lost privacy where message preview is enabled in message pop up's in lync 2013. Lync 2010 had message pop up's without any message preview. Is there anyway to disable this?

    Reply
  19. sunny roger says

    June 9, 2013 at 1:38 am

    In Registry Editor, expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, expand Software, expand Policies, expand Microsoft, expand Office… I can see only outlook. there is no 15.0 or lync

    Reply
    • Elan Shudnow says

      June 9, 2013 at 12:09 pm

      If it doesn't exist, that just means that you don't have any existing policies that would have created that section in the registry. You can go ahead and create it.

      Reply
      • Sunny Roger says

        June 10, 2013 at 12:06 am

        It works now. Thanks a lot! Just created it manually through regedit.exe using the instructions above.

        Reply
        • Elan Shudnow says

          June 10, 2013 at 7:44 am

          You're welcome.

          Reply
  20. Dave says

    May 26, 2013 at 2:42 pm

    This has always worked well for me with Lync 2010 and Windows seven, but with Lync 2013 on Windows 8 the personal computer establishing seems to be ignored. I re-booted Lync and examined the taskbar review with no fortune. Maybe not displaying it in the existence dropdown was deliberate and in the RTM Lync 2013 they "fixed" the taskbar review too?
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    Reply
  21. wp basic tutorial says

    May 9, 2013 at 2:08 am

    It works fine for me. Thanks for providing the information

    Reply
  22. alvin says

    May 7, 2013 at 4:14 am

    This has always worked for me with Lync 2010 and Windows 7, but with Lync 2013 on Windows 8 the registry setting seems to be ignored.water coolers for offices

    Reply
  23. jamesaddin says

    May 3, 2013 at 10:35 am

    worked like a charm on Windows 8.
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    Reply
  24. gamespokerr 2013 says

    May 3, 2013 at 6:55 am

    A reliable informative post that you have shared and appreciate your work for sharing the information. Got some entertaining information and would like to provide it a try. Applaud your work and keep sharing your information.

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    Reply
  25. shpia says

    May 3, 2013 at 2:59 am

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    Reply
  26. justin says

    April 22, 2013 at 1:45 am

    i tried the above with Windows 8 platform! I am unable to fine the option "Lync" under 15.0.children’s entertainment center

    Reply
  27. Free FX Programming says

    April 19, 2013 at 3:54 am

    This has always worked for me with Lync 2010 and Windows 7, but with Lync 2013 on Windows 8 the registry setting seems to be ignored

    Reply
  28. RobertFreitas says

    April 12, 2013 at 9:37 am

    Thanks Bill; now I really need to work hard to continue to make them interesting! By the way, do you have some apps that you think should be considered for review?

    Reply
  29. Gilbert says

    March 13, 2013 at 1:21 pm

    worked like a charm on Windows 8.

    Many thanks.

    Reply
  30. Sahana says

    March 8, 2013 at 10:30 am

    yea…it did work AMI :) Thank you!

    Reply
  31. Sahana says

    March 7, 2013 at 11:19 am

    Hi ..i tried the above with Windows 8 platform! I am unable to fine the option "Lync" under 15.0 ! Is the path different when it comes to Windows8??? please help..

    Reply
    • AMI says

      March 8, 2013 at 1:36 am

      Hello Sahana
      just looked into my registry and you are right there is not Office, Lync, 15.0 key below the Microsoft Key.
      However, I created them manually and it works.
      Try it

      AMI
      PS: working with WIN8 64bit, Office 2013 32bit

      Reply
  32. VKC says

    March 6, 2013 at 2:02 pm

    Jedi Hammond – Thanks Bro…

    I tried many options – setting up dword key same as how it used to be for Office communicator and for Lync 2010, however nothing worked for Lync 2013

    Finaly following command provided by Jedi worked for me.

    Set-ItemProperty -path HKLM:SOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftOffice15.0Lync -Name "EnableAppearOffline" -Value 1

    Note: – Catch here is that key should be STRING and not DWORD (32 bit) if you're looking for AppearOffline option in Lync 2013 client.

    You may not see key 15.0, but 14.0, so no problem, just create it manually or run above mentioned command and you're done.

    Reply
  33. peter says

    March 5, 2013 at 5:51 am

    If you enable Appear Offline feature in Lync 2013 then your status will be displayed as online. This is a pretty good feature if you wish to stay hide from other users. It’s also possible to disable this feature later if you need it. <a href="http://www.buy-hotbuns.com” target=”_blank”>www.buy-hotbuns.com

    Reply
  34. yashish says

    February 25, 2013 at 8:51 am

    Under office it shows 14.0 instead of 15.0?

    Reply
  35. عجائب وغرائب says

    February 16, 2013 at 10:54 am

    you blog very good information

    Reply
  36. Vijay says

    February 7, 2013 at 5:21 pm

    Command line works fine but need to add one more step (given below)

    Close if any Office Tools & Start Lnyc 2013

    Reply
  37. Gnanendra says

    February 1, 2013 at 8:02 pm

    "Set-ItemProperty -path HKLM:SOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftOffice15.0Lync -Name "EnableAppearOffline" -Value 1" works.

    Thanks

    Reply
  38. Marius Robberts says

    January 27, 2013 at 2:04 am

    Works like a charm! I had to add the keys for "15.0" and "Lync"

    Reply
  39. Best4Video says

    January 15, 2013 at 4:48 am

    This has always worked for me with Lync 2010 and Windows 7

    Reply
  40. Tech News says

    January 5, 2013 at 1:17 am

    This has always worked for me with Lync 2010 and Windows 7

    Reply
  41. Shanmuga says

    November 29, 2012 at 12:11 pm

    hello… i cannot find the Office expansion under "Microsoft" in Regedit… Pls help me out… I'm trying this in Windows 7 Enterprise…

    Reply
  42. Balamurugan P says

    November 29, 2012 at 12:13 am

    It works fine for me. Thanks for providing the information

    Reply
  43. Corey says

    November 6, 2012 at 10:43 am

    This has always worked for me with Lync 2010 and Windows 7, but with Lync 2013 on Windows 8 the registry setting seems to be ignored. I restarted Lync and checked the taskbar preview with no luck. Maybe not showing it in the presence dropdown was intentional and in the RTM Lync 2013 they "fixed" the taskbar preview too?

    Reply
  44. jah says

    October 26, 2012 at 11:28 am

    Lync 2013 Client with OCS 2007

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftOffice15.0Lync]
    "DisableServerCheck"=dword:00000001

    Reply
  45. Jedi Hammond says

    October 24, 2012 at 2:04 pm

    I used your info to make it a Powershell Command as well

    "Set-ItemProperty -path HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Lync -Name "EnableAppearOffline" -Value 1"

    thanks!

    Reply
    • Eric Knight says

      December 5, 2013 at 2:30 pm

      I am having trouble with this. I running Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit system. I cannot get the appear off line to work. I have tried to place it in the registry and it still will not give the option to appear. Please help me

      Reply
  46. jedi says

    October 24, 2012 at 1:54 pm

    works in RTM and its awesome!

    Reply
    • masterhack says

      January 28, 2014 at 10:13 pm

      In my case, 15.0>Lync was not present. Created it manually and added DWORD EnableAppearOffline value 1 and it worked fine.

      Reply

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