how can I have a persistent group chat on lync?

Question

I want to create a group chat just like we can do in Skype. I open a chat to one person, then click on 'invite by name or phone number' and add each user one at a time.

Then we can have a group chat.

But as soon as anyone disconnects, they are removed from the chat - even after they reconnect. So by the end of the day there's only me left. And the next morning I have to recreate the chat session. Eventually I get bored of doing the same thing again and again and stop talking to my team.

We only use Lync in the office since Skype is blocked for security reasons (don't ask).

How can I make a persistent chat session?

Using Lync 14.0.9 for Mac.

Answer 1

According to Microsoft's Client Comparison Table, Lync for Mac does not seem to have persistent chat capabilities.

Answer 2

Up to the Lync admin if they allow/enable creation of persistent chat rooms, I believe.

An alternative to "I open a chat to one person, then click on 'invite by name or phone number' and add each user one at a time" would be to create a group in Lync which contains the relevant people and invite the group to chat. Still has to be done daily in the absence of the of the chat room option, but at least it avoids the one-by-one process.

Answer 3

In our environment all Lync/Skype conversations are saved in a folder in Outlook and so long as one person keeps the chat open you can go to this conversation history and there is a "Rejoin" button. In this way users can rejoin the chat that they previously were a part of without having to be invited back in. May not relate to what you are wanting, but I thought I would mention this feature.