Understanding Presence and Availability in 3CX Applications

Understanding Presence and Availability in 3CX Applications

This article explains how to manage your presence (status) and call queue availability within the 3CX system.

A Powerful Presence Tools

3CX offers several presence statuses to indicate your availability:

  • Available: You are ready to receive calls.
  • Away: You are briefly unavailable but can be reached for urgent calls.
  • Do Not Disturb: You are unavailable and will not receive calls.
  • Available (No Mobile): You are available on your desk phone, but not reachable on your mobile device.
  • Holiday Leave: You are on leave and unavailable for calls.

Setting Your Status

The method for setting your status depends on the application you're using:

Mobile App:


  1. Open the 3CX mobile app.
  2. Tap your profile picture in the top right corner.
  3. Select your desired status from the available options.
    1. choose from Available, Away, Do Not Disturb, Available -noMobile, Holiday/Leave.
    2. Customise status message and behaviour by clicking on “Avatar > Your Name > Then clicking the Pencil next to the status.
    4. You could also click on "Set Status Temporarily" from here to set a particular status for a limited time period


Web Client and V18 Desktop application:

  1. Open the 3CX Web Client in your browser.
  2. Click on your profile picture in the top right corner.
  3. Select your desired status from the available options.

Quick access from the avatar icon


Changing your status on the fly is an important aspect, which is why it is easy to set by clicking on your avatar icon in the top left corner of the screen. With 2 clicks, you can easily change to a status of your choice. From this menu, you can also opt to set your status temporarily for a fixed amount of time.

Presence customisation

Presence statutes offer total flexibility and ensure that no matter the organisation type, users can set up their profiles to fit exactly what they need.

Custom status messages

You will notice that on each status line when clicking on the avatar, there is a pencil icon. Selecting this allows you to enter any message (up to 120 characters) that is then displayed to all other users. By using this feature, all your colleagues are aware of your availability should they need to advise a client.

Custom profile names

The last 2 status names can be amended to your preference. This can be done by navigating to “Settings” > “Status” > “Lunch” or “Business Trip” and editing the ‘Custom profile name’ field. This could be helpful for users who want to create a separate PUSH profile. Check out the ‘tips and tricks’ portion of this recent blog.

Flexible call routing

Setting a different status is not just about showing your colleagues your availability. It’s a powerful way to redirect calls to ensure that customer calls are not missed. By navigating to the status settings, users can decide what happens in the following circumstances:

  • What to do with unanswered calls from external or internal sources
  • Where to route a call if a user's extension is busy or unavailable

Profile-specific options

In some instances, having your mobile ring at the same time as your 3CX extension can be useful. When setting up the ‘Available’ and ‘Lunch’ profiles, users can tick the ‘Also ring my mobile’ box. In addition to this option, users can allow multiple calls to be received on a single extension and choose if PUSH notifications should be delivered or not.

User-specific exceptions

Flexible call routing is a brilliant feature that all users can employ to ensure that calls are routed correctly. But what if a loved one or a VIP calls? A user can use the ‘Exceptions’ function to set up a dedicated behavior.

For example, if a user's status is set to DND and the CEO of the company calls, it wouldn't be so great for them to get voicemail. So by setting the CEO’s phone number up in the exemptions list, a user can then choose how that call is handled, overriding any other status forwarding rules.

Status scheduler

The status scheduler feature in the Web Client is a great tool for users who work part-time or any combination of hours that may be out of the global office hours scope. By setting up a personal status schedule, users' extensions can be set to automatically change status depending on the day of the week and time of day. Multiple time slots per day can be entered and bulk ‘Add’ and ‘Clear’ options make getting set up quick and easy.

Easy greeting management

Setting different statuses could have a knock-on effect that you might not think of initially. When you set an ‘Away’ status, for example, would your generic voicemail greeting still be applicable? Likely it won't. The solution? With the Web Client, you can record and set up status-specific voicemail greetings. Navigate to “Settings > Greetings”. No need to worry about re-recording a voicemail every time.

Are you using your presence to its fullest extent?

Using the power of the 3CX Web Client to customise and update your profile status is easy and intuitive. Presence customisation is not just limited to the Web Client but is available across the free mobile apps and the desktop application for Windows and macOS. If you are not using your presence profiles to their fullest extent, today is the day to reap the benefits.


v20 3CX Windows Softphone Application: 

  1. Click on your initials or profile picture in the top left corner of your app.
  2. Select your status to let colleagues know whether you are available or not.
  3. Different statuses allow you to have different call handling settings. E.g. directing to a colleague or to voicemail.
  4. Click on “Configure” and “Call forwarding” to edit your statuses from your Web Client.


Logging In and Out of Call Queues

In addition to your general presence status, you can also manage your availability for specific call queues.
Call queues are used to better service incoming calls. Queue members are referred to as agents. Queues distribute incoming calls to agents according to the queue the caller has dialled into, which agents are available and if you have any forwarding rules. A single agent can be a member of multiple queues and they are able to log in and out of queues in various ways.

This guide will take you through the different ways of logging in and out of queues. When an extension is created, the default state of agents and their membership in queues is LOGGED IN.

Logging In/Out of All Queues:
  • Mobile App:
    • Tap the "Q" button on the main screen. A highlighted button indicates you're logged in, a greyed-out button indicates you're logged out.
  • Desktop App & Web Client:
    • Click on your profile picture and choose "Login to queue" or "Logout from queue" depending on your desired action.

Logging In/Out of Individual Queues:

  • Web Client Only:
    1. Go to "Panel".
    2. Select the desired queue from the dropdown menu under your profile.
    3. Click on the "Logged in" or "Logged out" indicator to toggle your availability for that specific queue.

Important Notes:

  • Logging out of a queue does not affect your overall system presence status.
  • Logging out of all queues from the mobile app might not automatically log you out of individual queues you logged out of from the web client.

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