Email, Messaging, & Video Calls Email 167 167 people found this article helpful How to Prevent Gmail From Revealing Your Online Status Turn off your chat status in Gmail by Heinz Tschabitscher Writer A former freelance contributor who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997. our editorial process Heinz Tschabitscher Updated on December 18, 2019 reviewed by Michael Barton Heine Jr Lifewire Tech Review Board Member Michael Heine is a CompTIA-certified writer, editor, and Network Engineer with 25+ years' experience working in the television, defense, ISP, telecommunications, and education industries. our review board Article reviewed on Dec 02, 2020 Michael Barton Heine Jr Email Gmail Yahoo! Mail Tweet Share Email When you communicate through Google Hangouts with one of your contacts, Gmail adds them to the panel on the left of the email screen for fast and convenient access. Click a name or image in the panel to open a chat window where you can start a text or video chat. You can see when any of these Hangout contacts are online. They can see when you are online, too. Chat Contacts See When You Are Online and Can Chat Instantly Your friend or colleague can automatically see when you are online throughout the Google Talk network — via Gmail, for example — and available for chat. If you can forego that convenience and want to decide for yourself when your contacts can tell whether you are online, Gmail provides this level of control as well. Prevent Gmail From Automatically Revealing Your Online Status To protect your online status from showing up automatically in Gmail and turn off the chat feature for all your contacts. Click the Gear (Settings) icon in the top right corner from any screen in Gmail. Click Settings in the menu that appears. Select the Chat tab. Click the radio button next to Chat off to hide your online status and chat availability. Click Save Changes. Gmail will reload, and the chat window will no longer be visible. How to Mute Notifications in Gmail Here's what to do if you only want to mute the notifications of chat for a set amount of time. If you mute notifications, people will still be able to see that you're online, but you won't receive alerts if they message you. Click the arrow next to your name in the chat panel. In the next menu, click the Mute Notifications for... drop-down menu. Click the amount of time you'd like to mute notifications. You can silence them for 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, or 24 hours, three days, or a week. Click Resume under your name to unmute the notifications before the block expires. Controlling Invites in Hangouts Invisible Mode may not exist anymore, but you have some control over who contacts you. Go back into the menu under the arrow next to your name, and then select Customize Invite Settings. The next screen contains controls that allow specified groups of people to contact you directly or send you an invitation. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Email Address Sign up There was an error. Please try again. You're in! Thanks for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. Thank you for signing up. Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit