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Set up Microsoft 365 Presence Sync

Microsoft 365 Presence Sync is a paid Phonovo add-on that shows selected users' Microsoft Teams presence wherever Phonovo shows presence. It helps your team see whether a colleague is available, in a meeting, on a call, or using Do Not Disturb without switching tools.

Who this is for: customer administrators

Before you start

  • Microsoft 365 Presence Sync must be active on your Phonovo account. If it is not available, open Add-On Products and select Add Microsoft 365 Presence Sync.
  • You need admin access to the Phonovo portal and administrator access in your Microsoft 365 tenant to approve the connection. Microsoft may show an organisational-consent screen; review and approve it in the Microsoft 365 sign-in flow.
  • Decide which Phonovo users should be linked. Linking is deliberately manual, even when Phonovo suggests a likely match. You can enable up to 650 users per connection.

Connect Microsoft 365

  1. In Phonovo, open Settings.
  2. Expand Integrations, then select Microsoft 365 Presence. This page is available to customer administrators.
  3. Select Connect Microsoft 365.
  4. Sign in to Microsoft 365 with an authorised administrator account and approve the requested access. Return to Phonovo when Microsoft redirects you back.
  5. Confirm the page shows Connected. Select Test connection to check the connection at any time.

If Microsoft consent is still being completed, the page shows Waiting for consent. If the connection is no longer being accepted, it shows Needs reconnecting. Select Reconnect, complete Microsoft sign-in and consent again, then confirm the status returns to Connected.

Under Linked users, Phonovo lists your Phonovo users and any suggested Microsoft user. A suggestion is only a suggestion: it does not share presence until you select Confirm link. Check the Microsoft user's name and sign-in address before confirming. Use Disable to stop updates temporarily, or Remove to delete the link. At 650 enabled links, disable one before enabling another.

Under What Teams presence should affect, choose one policy:

  • Show Teams presence in Phonovo (display_only): display the Microsoft presence only.
  • Also treat Do Not Disturb as unavailable (respect_dnd): use Do Not Disturb as an unavailable signal in supported Phonovo availability decisions.
  • Also treat meetings and calls as unavailable (respect_busy): use Microsoft meetings and calls as unavailable signals in supported decisions.

These policies do not universally block or suppress calls. A live local call always takes priority, and the exact behaviour depends on the Phonovo surface and call flow.

Where presence appears

For enabled links, the imported presence can appear in the Phonovo portal, the Operator Panel, BLF/line-key presence, and the AI Receptionist's availability context. It supplements Phonovo's own local presence; it does not replace it.

Precedence is: an active local Phonovo call, then Phonovo's local/PBX presence, then the selected Microsoft policy. A manually set Phonovo status follows the relevant local rules and is not silently overwritten by Teams.

Freshness and privacy

Phonovo receives updates and periodically checks them. Each entry includes when it was observed; a delayed or unavailable Microsoft update is handled fail-open, so stale data is not treated as proof that a user is unavailable. Existing links remain in place while a temporary Microsoft directory lookup is unavailable. If the connection needs reconnecting, Phonovo keeps checking presence while the connection is restored.

Access to Microsoft user data under this add-on is read-only. Phonovo reads presence and the basic directory identity needed to match a user (such as display name and sign-in address). It does not read calendar or meeting content, chats, status messages, or other message content, and it does not change Teams status, calendar entries, chats, directory records, or user content. Phonovo manages only the Microsoft Graph presence subscriptions needed to receive updates.

The separate paid Calendar & Bookings add-on extends this connection to free/busy times and, for people an administrator marks bookable, creating meetings. It requires its own Microsoft administrator approval, and it still never reads meeting titles, contents or attendees. Without that add-on and that approval, everything in the paragraph above applies unchanged.

Use your Microsoft profile photo

Profile-photo sync is included in the existing paid Microsoft 365 Presence Sync add-on. There is no separate photo product, per-user photo charge, or new Microsoft consent screen. It uses the connector's existing read-only User.ReadBasic.All permission, does not ask you to re-consent, and never writes a picture back to Microsoft or Teams.

An administrator must first connect Microsoft 365 and link the relevant Phonovo user under Linked users. A link does not change anyone's avatar on its own. Each linked person chooses for themselves:

  1. Open the account menu from their name or picture in the top-right corner, then select My Profile.
  2. Under Profile Picture, select Change avatar (or the small camera icon on the picture).
  3. Select Microsoft 365, then Use my Microsoft photo.

Selecting Use my Microsoft photo is the immediate save and opt-in. The Microsoft 365 panel shows no Preview or Save Avatar button; Sync now is optional for a later refresh request.

Phonovo starts an import immediately, then refreshes an opted-in image daily. The person can select Sync now when they want to request another refresh. Choosing a gallery image, Gravatar, or uploading an image opts that person out of Microsoft photo sync before applying the new choice.

If Microsoft has no photo (including a later Microsoft 404 response), Phonovo keeps or restores the person's previous usable avatar and tries again on the normal daily refresh. It does not replace an avatar with a blank image. Turning the option off, disabling or removing the link, disconnecting Microsoft 365, or losing the add-on immediately stops the Microsoft image being the displayed avatar and schedules its private cached copy for cleanup.

The imported copy is stored privately. It is available only through Phonovo's authenticated, same-organisation avatar route; Phonovo does not publish a Microsoft URL, an image body, or a public or presigned storage link.

Troubleshooting

  • Microsoft 365 is not available on this account: purchase the add-on from Add-On Products, then return to Settings → Integrations → Microsoft 365 Presence.
  • Waiting for consent: finish the Microsoft administrator consent flow, then refresh the Phonovo page.
  • Needs reconnecting: select Reconnect and complete Microsoft sign-in and consent again.
  • Test connection failed: select Test connection again. If it continues to fail, reconnect and check that your Microsoft administrator has not withdrawn consent.
  • No suggested match: check that the Phonovo user's email matches their Microsoft sign-in address, then select Refresh. Do not link a different user by guesswork; contact Phonovo support if the correct match still does not appear.
  • At the 650-user limit: select Disable for an enabled link before confirming another.
  • Presence looks old: check Last observed, Last update from Microsoft, and Last check on the connection panel. A temporary delay does not change local call handling.
  • Microsoft 365 photo is unavailable (not connected): ask your tenant administrator to connect Microsoft 365.
  • Your Microsoft photo option is unavailable (not linked): ask your tenant administrator to link your Phonovo account to the correct Microsoft user.
  • Photo storage is temporarily unavailable: wait and try Sync now again. Your existing avatar remains in use.

Need Microsoft 365 Presence Sync for your account? Open Add-On Products or contact Phonovo support to discuss the paid feature and user limit.