Set personal options

This article describes the Personal options window, where you can specify your sign-in settings, identify what information you want to display to others in Lync, and tell Lync how you want it to interact with other Office programs.

Note:  If you came to this page looking for general information about Lync, click the appropriate link(s) below.

• Basic tasks in Lync 2013

• FAQ about Lync (Lync Basic 2013 users, click here.)

Some features described here may not be available in your organization. Check with your Lync administrator (usually the person who provided your user ID and password) if you're not sure whether a feature has been turned off in your environment.

Set My account options

Use the options under My account to specify your sign-in address and configure how you connect to Lync Server.

• Open Personal options, and, under My account, and in the Sign-in address box, type the name of your user account (for example, someone@example.com).

• Click the Advanced button to configure your connection to Lync Server. Normally you will not have to open this dialog, as these settings will be set automatically or by your technical support team.

• Select the Automatically start Lync when I log on to Windows check box to streamline startup and automatically sign in and start Lync each time you log on to the Windows operating system. If you don't want to automatically sign in, be sure to clear this check box.

• Select the Show Lync in foreground when it starts check box next if you want the Lync main window to open in front of other windows when it starts. If this option isn't selected, the Lync icon appears in the Windows notification area (system tray) when Lync starts.

Set your Personal information manager options

Use the options under Personal information manager to specify how Lync interacts with other Microsoft Office programs.

• Open Personal options, and, under Personal information manager, select either Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft Outlook or None from the drop-down list. When you select Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft Outlook, the Lync search feature uses the Microsoft Outlook Contact list as a source of contacts, in addition to the global address list. When you select None, the Lync search feature returns contacts only from the global address list. It doesn't use either the Windows Address Book or the Outlook Contact list.

If you select Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft Outlook, do any of the following:

• To make your presence automatically reflect when you are in a scheduled meeting, select the Update my presence based on my calendar information check box. Use the following settings to further specify who can see this information:

  • To show this information to contacts in your Workgroup, select the Show meeting subject and location to contacts in my Workgroup privacy relationship check box.

  • To show your Outlook Out of Office information to contacts, select the Display my Out of Office information to contacts in my Friends and Family, Workgroup, and Colleagues privacy relationships check box. Clear the check box to hide your Out of Office information from all your contacts.

• To save your conversation history in Outlook, select the Save instant message conversations in my email Conversation History folder check box. Clearing this check box means that your instant message history will not be included in this folder.

• To save your phone call history in Outlook, select the Save call logs in my email Conversation History folder check box. Clearing this check box means that your phone call history will not be included in this folder.

Set your Location options

If your organization has enabled this feature, you may be able to specify whether your location is shared with other programs.

• To allow other programs to use your location information, on the Personal options window, in the Location area, select the Share my location information with other programs I use check box.

• To hide your location in other programs, clear this check box.

Set your Show pictures options

Use the options under Show pictures to specify whether you want to see other peoples' pictures.

• To display other peoples' pictures in Lync, open Personal options, and, under Display photo, select the Show pictures of contacts check box. If you don't want to see pictures in Lync, clear this check box. (Not showing pictures enables you to see more contacts in your Contacts list. Clearing this box also removes pictures of sender and receiver in IM and group conversations. )

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