Quick Answer: Slack only detects activity within Slack itself. Working in Word, reading emails, being on Zoom calls, or any other work doesn’t count. After about 10 minutes without Slack interaction, you go away regardless of how busy you are.

For reliable presence during work hours, see Idle Pilot or start free.

Why Slack Shows Away When I’m Working

The Core Problem

You’re working. You know you’re working. But Slack shows everyone you’re away.

This isn’t a bug. It’s how Slack’s presence system works, and it’s frustrating for remote workers.

Why This Happens

Slack presence has one simple rule: Did you interact with Slack in the last ~10 minutes?

If yes: green dot. If no: away.

That’s it. Slack doesn’t know or care about:

• Your calendar showing you’re busy
• The document you’re writing
• The Zoom call you’re on
• The code you’re reviewing
• The emails you’re answering

Unless you clicked, scrolled, or typed in Slack itself, you’re “inactive.”

Common Scenarios That Trigger Away

Reading Documents or PDFs

You’re reading a 20-page report. 10 minutes pass without touching Slack. Away.

Video Calls

You’re on a 45-minute team meeting in Zoom. No Slack interaction. Away.

Focused Work

You’re coding, writing, designing, or doing any deep work. Away.

Different App Focus

You’re in your browser, IDE, or any other app. Slack isn’t in focus. Away.

Screen Lock

Your screen locks for security. Slack can’t detect activity through the lock screen. Away.

Laptop Sleep

You close your laptop briefly. Slack disconnects entirely. Away.

What Doesn’t Work

Keeping Slack Open

Having Slack visible doesn’t help. It needs interaction, not just visibility.

Do Not Disturb

DND pauses notifications but doesn’t affect presence. You can be away with DND on.

Manual “Set Active”

You can set yourself active manually, but it reverts after inactivity. Not a permanent fix.

Slack Status Messages

Status messages are separate from presence. You can have a status set and still show away.

What Actually Works

Regular Slack Interaction

The obvious but impractical solution: click into Slack every few minutes. This interrupts focused work.

Cloud-Based Presence Scheduling

Services like Idle Pilot maintain your presence from the cloud during scheduled work hours. Works even when your laptop is closed.

Accept It and Communicate

Some teams accept that presence is unreliable and set response time expectations instead of availability expectations.

Why Slack Designed It This Way

Slack presence is intentionally conservative:

1. Privacy: Slack doesn’t monitor your whole computer
2. Accuracy: The green dot means “recently used Slack,” nothing more
3. Simplicity: Binary active/away, no complex states

The design makes sense for its purpose (recent Slack activity) but frustrates workers who want presence to indicate “working.”

FAQ

Why does Slack show me as away when I’m at my computer?

Slack only detects activity within the Slack application. Working in other apps, documents, or being on video calls doesn’t count as Slack activity, so you’ll be marked away after about 10 minutes.

How do I stop Slack from going away automatically?

You cannot disable Slack’s auto-away feature. The only reliable solutions are interacting with Slack regularly (which interrupts work) or using cloud-based presence scheduling that maintains your status independently.

Does having Slack open keep me active?

No. Slack needs interaction (clicking, scrolling, typing), not just an open window. A minimized or unfocused Slack window will still result in away status after the timeout.

For more solutions, see how to keep Slack always active or the Slack presence scheduler hub.