Microsoft Lync is an enterprise-ready unified communications platform. With Lync, users can keep track of their contacts’ availability; send an IM; start or join an audio, video, or web conference; or make a phone call—all through a consistent, familiar interface. Lync is built to fully integrate with Microsoft Office. The Microsoft Lync 2010 desktop client is available for Windows and for Mac and mobile versions are available for Windows Phone, iPhone/iPad, and Android devices.

Click here for Installation Instructions.

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Once you have installed Lync on your workstation, you can start using Lync by selecting Microsoft Lync 2010 from the start menu. 

For the Sign-in address put in your fully qualified UCmail address.  For the Username put in ad\username where username is your sixplustwo alias.  The password will be your central login password.

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Users typically will stay logged into Lync and just change their status indicator.  If you really wish to totally exit out of Lync on the workstation, that can be done on the task bar.  If you right click on the Show Hidden Icons arrow you will see the Lync Icon.

Once you right click on the Lync icon you will see available options such as status, Sign Out, Open and Exit.

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Lync is fully integrated into the Exchange Address tables.  You can easily find someone by typing in their name in the search window.  Users' availability will also be displayed to you.

Status indicators are as follows:

Unavailable  Available Is not Lync enabled

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Once you have found a person you want to converse with, you can right click and select Pin to Frequent Contacts.  The user and status will then be visible when you open up Lync by default.

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• As a Lync user you can change your status as required which is what will be displayed to users.
• Right click on the availability selector and you will see the options that can be set. 

• The meaning of each option is as follows:
  • Available:  You are online and available to be contacted.
  • Busy: You are currently in a call or in a meeting.
  • Do Not Disturb:  By default, you will only see conversation alerts from Workgroup contacts.
  • Be Right Back: You are stepping away from the computer for a few moments.
  • Off Work:  You are not working and not available to contact.
  • Appear Away:  your computer has been idle for a while.

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Once you have selected a user, you can click on the user.  You will get the lync screen and then select the IM tab to start a conversation.

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The Lync Phone features allow users to call a contact using the Lync Phone and converse with them using the microphone and video on the workstations.  If the user does not have a microphone and video feed on the workstation, an IM session can be enabled for conversing.  Note: the Phone feature is only for Lync mailboxes and is not integrated for external phones, or the University phone system.

• To call someone, enter their name in the find contact screen and then click on the call button on the right

• If you have a Contacts list, double-click their name or click the call button next to their name and click on Lync Call

• To end the call click on the end call button

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You can initiate a video call with another Lync user.  Bear in mind that the user should have a video feed and microphone set up on their workstation so you can both see each other. 

Once you start a Video Call, you will see the starting video feed. Upon connecting, you should see both yourself and the party you wish to converse with on your screen.

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When scheduling an Online Meeting, users that you add will be sent a meeting invitation and join in as a Lync attendee.  To schedule an Online Lync meeting:

• Get into Outlook 2010, click New Item and then select Online Meeting.

• Fill in the required attendees, time, and subject and send the message as if it was a regular calendar event.  In the body you will see the link to join the online meeting that is being scheduled and the recipient can then click on the Lync meeting and join in.

• A meeting request will then appear in the user’s mailbox.

• Once the user clicks on the message and joins the online meeting, they will be prompted for the Meeting Audio and will be joined into the meeting.

• Once in, all attendants will be able to participate in the Lync meeting.

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• In the Online Meeting click on Share

• On the Share drop-down menu, click on Main Monitor

• A bar will display at the top of the screen and a glow will appear around the screen

• You will get a pop-up screen stating all participants will be able to see everything on the monitor

• You can click the Stop Sharing button in upper right corner to stop sharing your desktop.

Note:  You can also give control to a person you are sharing with by clicking on the “Give Control” button on the upper left of the screen.

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• In the conversation window, click the Share menu and then click Program

• In the Share Programs dialog box, double-click on the program you want to show.

• A bar that reads “You are Sharing” appears at the top of your screen.
• You can click on Preview to see how it looks to the participants.
• When you want to stop sharing, click the Stop Sharing button.

Note:  You can also give control to a person you are sharing with by clicking on the “Give Control” button on the upper left of the screen.

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• In the conversation window, click the Share menu and then click PowerPoint Presentation.

• A bar that reads “You are Sharing” appears at the top of your screen.
• Double-click the PPT file you want to share and you will see an uploading progress bar for the PPT you want to share.

• The slides will be shown in the Stage area.
• To move the slides use the arrows at the lower-right corner of the meeting window.

• Click Show Presenter Notes to see your notes.
• To show thumbnails, click the Show Thumbnails icon.
• Use the controls in the bottom left corner of the meeting window to annotate on the slides, to use the laser pointer, or to insert an image and so forth.

• When you want to stop sharing, click the Stop Sharing button in the upper right corner.
  

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• In the conversation window, click the Share menu and then click on New Whiteboard.

• To start writing or drawing on the whiteboard, use the annotation tools at the lower left of the whiteboard.

• When you want to stop sharing, click the Stop Sharing button

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When you start sharing, you are the only one in control of what is being shown on the meeting stage.  You can allow others to take control of your sharing session and you can take back control at any time.

• Select the Share option and select Main Monitor to share with the individual.

• You can also give control to a person you are sharing with by clicking on the “Give Control” button on the upper left of the screen.

• Click the name of an individual to share control with.
• The person is now in control of your sharing sessions and can use their keyboard and mouse to control your shared content.  The option to Release Control also becomes available on their Online Meeting toolbar.
• To take back control, click Take Back Control on the Give Control menu.

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• In the conversation window click on the peoples icon

• Select the Invite by Name or Phone Number option

• The select contact screen will display and you can then search for a user to add into the conversation.  Once selected click on OK and the user will be added into the conversation.

The simplest way to do that is to either send a Lync meeting request as discussed earlier, or if you have the users defined as a contact, hold the control key down and select the users you wish to add to the conversation.

• In the conversation window click on the attachment icon.

• Once selected, you can then browse to the directory containing the file you wish to share and highlight the document and select open.
• The document will then be shared with the attendees.

• You can easily start up one-note during a meeting and takes notes as you go along.

• To start up one-note within the conversation click on the More icon.

• Once selected, you will be placed in the Microsoft Office One-Note screen.

• Yes, you can invite external users to a meeting.  You can create a Lync meeting request and put in the external user into the request. 
  

• Compose the new Lync meeting request and in the To: field place the user you wish to add to the meeting. 
  

• The user will receive a message to join an online meeting and in the message body they will see the enclosed:

• If the user already has lync installed on their workstation they can just click on the Join online meeting and they will automatically be connected.
  

• For users who do not have Lync installed they can use Lync 2010 Attendee or use a Web Browser to connect to the meeting.  There are some restrictions that apply which are listed below:

Join from a computer without Lync 2010 installed

You can join a Microsoft Lync 2010 meeting or conference call from a computer that does not have Lync 2010 or Microsoft Lync 2010 Attendee communications software installed.

When you open the email meeting request on the computer that does not have Lync installed and then click the Join online meeting link, you see one or more of the following choices, depending on how your organization—or the organization of the person who scheduled the meeting—is configured.

Note If you’re working off-site and Lync or Attendee is installed on your remote computer, Lync opens automatically when you click the Join online meeting link even if you’re not connected directly to your organization’s network.

The following table describes the features and requirements of each of the alternate meeting clients.

Note

·        Lync Web App does not include integrated audio and video. It supports all of the new Lync Server 2010 conferencing features except uploading files that are created by using Microsoft PowerPoint presentation graphics program. In addition, installation of a Microsoft ActiveX control is required for desktop or program sharing.

Lync provides users with privacy relationships.  Contacts can be added to relationships which have specific privacy rules to each type of relationship which can restrict what users can see about you.  Privacy relationships available in Lync are:  

• Friends & Family— Shares all contact information except for meeting subject and meeting location. This level is intended for personal contacts.
•  Workgroup—Shares all contact information except for non-work phone numbers. Contacts assigned to this relationship level can interrupt the user when his status is Do Not Disturb.
•  Colleagues—Shares all contact information except for non-work phone numbers, meeting subject, and meeting location. This is the default relationship assigned to contacts in the organization.
• External Contacts— Shares all information except for phone numbers, meeting subject, and meeting location.
•  Blocked Contacts—Shows only the user’s name and e-mail address. Contacts assigned to this relationship cannot reach the user through Lync endpoints.

Each privacy relationship has its own set of views.  Available views for each are:

• Right click on the contact you want to put into a specific relationship.  
• Scroll down to Select Privacy Relationship and add the user to the specific relationship you want them on.

Lync server uses a feature called Multiple Points of Presence (MPOP) which allows the server to be read from multiple endpoints simultaneously. This enables a user who is signed in at multiple locations that publish presence independently. The server then aggregates these endpoints and forms a single presence class that is published to subscribers.

For instance, a user can be signed in to Lync on a desktop, again on a roaming laptop, at home on a Mac, and also on a mobile device. Each of these endpoints publishes presence independently, and the server then forms the user’s presence appropriately.

Having multiple clients signed in is generally considered a problem because how does a user know which endpoint to send a message to? Without multiple points of presence (MPOP), there is a problem. However, when a user sends another user a message, the Lync Server determines which endpoint is currently most active for that user. For example, a user might be away at three of the four endpoints, so the server sends the message only to the endpoint where the user is Available.

If the server is unable to determine which state is most active, it sends the message to the endpoint it determines most likely active and waits to see if the user acknowledges the toast at any location. If the user opens the toast at an endpoint, the server removes the message from the other endpoints. If an endpoint doesn’t acknowledge the message, the server leaves the message at only one location—the most likely endpoint.

MPOP might not be perfect at all times, but it does enable a user to publish presence from multiple locations and still receive conversations at the most likely endpoint.

• You can click on your conversation history within link and look at past conversations logged on the server.  To look at past conversations open up Lync and click on the Conversation button.
  

• You can then drill down into past conversations that are logged on the lync server.

Visit the SharePoint FAQs page to learn how to add your picture to Lync, Outlook and SharePoint.

Lync has a maximum supported meeting size of 250 users.