Presence icons don't appear in Outlook

Symptoms

Presence information or presence icons don't appear in Microsoft Outlook.

Cause

This problem can occur if any of the following registry values are configured on the computer running Outlook.

Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\<x.0>\Common\IM
or Policy key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\<x.0>\Common\IM
DWORD: TurnOffPresenceIcon
Value: 1 (turn off presence icons in email messages, but leave them on in the contact card), or 2 (turn off presence icons everywhere).

Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\<x.0>\Common\IM
or Policy Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\<x.0>\Common\IM
DWORD: TurnOffPresenceIntegration
Value: 1 (turn off presence integration everywhere in Outlook).

Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\<x.0>\Common\PersonaMenu
or Policy Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\<x.0>\Common\PersonaMenu
DWORD: Enabled
Value: 0 (turn off presence icons in email messages, but leave them on in the contact card).

Note

The <x.0> placeholder represents your version of Office (16.0 = Outlook 2016, Outlook 2019, Outlook LTSC 2021, or Outlook for Microsoft 365, 15.0 = Office 2013, 14.0 = Office 2010).

Resolution

Important

Follow the steps in this section carefully. Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Before you modify it, back up the registry for restoration in case problems occur.

To resolve this problem, either remove the group policies controlling presence integration in Outlook, or change the non-policy registry values to the following.

Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\<x.0>\Common\IM

DWORD: TurnOffPresenceIcon
Value: 0

DWORD: TurnOffPresenceIntegration
Value: 0

Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\<x.0>\Common\PersonaMenu

DWORD: Enabled
Value: 1

Note

The x.0 placeholder represents your version of Office (16.0 = Office 2016, Office 2019, Office LTSC 2021, or Microsoft 365, 15.0 = Office 2013, 14.0 = Office 2010).