While it is not currently possible to always appear online in Microsoft Teams, it’s quite possible to appear online for a very long time. This is achieved by preventing your system from sleeping or locking up due to idle behaviour. Fortunately, this can be done without manually interacting with your computer constantly. That’s thanks to programs like Caffeine. Though that’s not to say Caffeine is your only option. There’s a number of alternatives to Caffeine, all of which work the same way. We’ve chosen to recommend Caffeine out of familiarity. Despite that, if you’re uncomfortable with the usage of a third-party program, we do have an alternative (albeit slightly risky) method that’s arguably more effective.
Solution:
- Start Caffeine
- Access hidden icons
- Right click the Caffeine icon
- Set Active for to 24 hours
This post will instruct you on getting started with Caffeine, and as well as actually using it to prevent your devices idle behaviours from triggering.
Contents:
Downloading Caffeine to appear online on Teams
In case you’re curious, there are a number of alternatives to Caffeine, such as Amphetamine (for Mac), and Mouse jiggler.
Step 1 – Access downloads from the Caffeine site homepage
Access the Caffeine site homepage with the following link. You may want to take note of some of the listed help commands or read about the produce. Although doing so is not required. Once satisfied, proceed to the Download page.
Step 2 – Download the latest version of Caffeine.
Upon opening the Download page you will typically be brought to the bottom of the page where lies the latest Caffeine version- available for download. Click the green Download button to begin the download process. If prompted to select a download location, try to remember where the file will be sent.
Step 3 – Extract Caffeine
Upon opening the directory Caffeine’s zip is stored in, you will need to select the zip and interact with it by right-clicking. After doing so, you may select Extract All.
Step 4 – Open Caffeine
If you’re using a 32bit system, double click caffeine32.exe. Otherwise, assuming you have a newer system, double click caffeine64.exe to run it
Prevent sleeping or idle indicators with Caffeine to appear online on Teams
Step 1 – Reveal hidden taskbar icons
Reveal the hidden icons on your taskbar by selecting the ^ button (usually positioned on the right side of the taskbar).
Step 2 – Configure Caffeine’s activity options
After right-clicking the Caffeine icon you will be met with a menu. Scroll to Active for followed by 24 hours (which you will need to click). Additionally, if the Active option was not checked, please click it to change that.
DIY alternative to appear online on Teams
Although this has not come close to occurring on our end, we’d like to inform you there’s a minor chance of damaging your keyboard. Attempt this method at your own risk.
Method
An alternative to the use of this software can be achieved with no more than a paper pin. Before going idle, or walking away from your device, shift the paper pin underneath your insert key. In doing so, your system will continue to receive input as your key is pressed down. This will also work with the ctrl, shift, alt, alt gr, and l-shift keys.
End note
Recap
While we can not configure our account activity to always be online within Microsoft Teams, we can use third-party applications such as Caffeine to remain online/active for a large period of time (24 hours). Caffeine works by simulating keystrokes in the background every 59 seconds. This prevents idle behaviours such as automated sleeping, or screen locking which often make you appear offline/inactive. An alternative, to this, can be using a paper clip to keep a key held down indefinitely- allowing you to feed Windows input even when you’re away.
Farewell
As usual, this section is dedicated to thanking readers for their support. We’d be pleased to know you found this post useful and/or informative. If you have any more SharePoint related queries, please consult our related articles (listed below). However, if you have other queries, consider looking at the rest of the site. We’re frequently posting new stuff each week and may just have the guide or troubleshooting tips you need. Regardless, we wish you a good day/night. Farewell readers.
Our related articles:
- How to use pop out chat in Microsoft Teams – Microsoft Teams servers as the general communications platform provided by their Office 365 Suite. One of its most useful smaller features is the ability to minimise chats and “pop” them out of the application window. This is primarily utilised for multi-taking, or chatting and working simultaneously. Have a read of this post to learn how to use it.
- How to prevent employees downloading the Microsoft Teams app on mobile devices – Communication and accessibility with cloud services comes with a magnitude of benefits, despite this, they also bring a number of risks. One such risk is mobile devices which can easily be lost, compromised or stolen as opposed to company property which is on-site at all times. In this post, we’ll show you how you can meek employees from downloading Microsoft Teams’ mobile app.
- How to fix Microsoft Teams sign-in errors on iPhone – As of today, Microsoft Teams is available on both mobile and desktop via the Windows, MacOs, Android and iOS operating systems. Despite this, errors are still encountered for each version every once in a while. In this post, we’ll be addressing iOS sign in errors.
- Camera isn’t working on Microsoft Teams: Causes and fixes – With Microsoft Teams focus being communication and meetings, you’d think the camera breaking would be impossible. Unfortunately that’s not the case; luckily for you, we’ll be going over the potential causes of your camera not working, and how you can fix it.