Configuring Custom Presence States

 

Topic Last Modified: 2012-10-15

To define custom presence states in Microsoft Lync 2010, create an XML custom presence configuration file, and then specify its location by using the Lync Server Management Shell cmdlets New-CSClientPolicy or Set-CSClientPolicy with the parameter CustomStateURL.

Configuration files have the following properties:

• Custom presence states can be configured with the Available, Busy, and Do Not Disturb presence indicators.

• The availability attribute determines which presence indicator is associated with the status text of the custom state. In the example later in this topic, the status text Working from Home is displayed to the right of the green (Available) presence indicator.

• The maximum length of the status text is 64 characters.

• A maximum of four custom presence states can be added.

• Valid address types for the CustomStateURL parameter are FILE:, HTTP:, and HTTPS:.

  Examples of valid addresses are as follows:

  http://lspool.corp.contoso.com/LSFileShare/ClientConfigFolder/Presence.xml

  https://lspool.corp.contoso.com/ClientConfigFolder/CustomPresence.xml

  file:///c:/LSFileShare/ClientConfigFolder/Group_1_Pres.xml

  file://\\lspool.corp.contoso.com\LSFileShare\ClientConfigFolder\Presence.xml

Localize your custom presence state by specifying one or more locale ID (LCID) schema in the XML configuration file. The example later in this topic shows localization into English - United States (1033), Norwegian - Bokmål (1044), French - France (1036), and Turkish (1055). For a list of LCIDs, see Locale IDs Assigned by Microsoft at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?Linkid=157331.

To add custom presence states to Lync 2010

1. Create an XML configuration file that uses the format of the following example:

   <?xml version="1.0"?>
   <customStates xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/09/2009/communicator/customStates">
     <customState ID="1" availability="online">
       <activity LCID="1033">Working from Home</activity>
       <activity LCID="1044">activity 2 for 1044</activity>
       <activity LCID="1055">activity 3 for 1055</activity>
     </customState>
     <customState ID="2" availability="busy">
       <activity LCID="1033">In a Live Meeting</activity>
       <activity LCID="1036">Equivalent French String for - In a Live Meeting </activity>
     </customState>
     <customState ID="3" availability="busy">
       <activity LCID="1033">Meeting with Customer</activity>
       <activity LCID="1055">meeting with client</activity>
       <activity LCID="1036">Equivalent French String for - Meeting with Customer</activity>
     </customState>
     <customState ID="4" availability="do-not-disturb">
       <activity LCID="1033">Interviewing</activity>
     </customState>
   </customStates>
   

2. Save the XML configuration file to a location on a trusted network site or on the local computer. In this example, the file is named Presence.xml and saved to the network share \\server\comshare.

3. In the Lync Server Management Shell, define the location of your XML configuration file by using a command similar to the following:

   New-CsClientPolicy -Identity ContosoCustomStates 
   -CustomStateURL "file://\\server\comshare\Presence.xml"
   

   Note

   To start the Lync Server Management Shell, click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft Lync Server 2010, and then click Lync Server Management Shell.

4. Use the Grant-CSClientPolicy cmdlet to assign this new policy to users.

For details, see New-CsClientPolicy and Grant-CsClientPolicy in the Lync Server Management Shell documentation.

Note

• By default, Microsoft Lync Server 2010 updates client policies and settings every three hours.

• If Group Policy settings used by previous versions of Microsoft Office Communicator (Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2 or Microsoft Office Communicator 2007) are present, Lync 2010 recognizes them. However, server-based client policies take precedence. For details, see Migrating User Settings to Lync Server 2010 in the Migration documentation.