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Summary: Skype for Business Server 2015 or Skype for Business Online administrators can use these tables to understand what features are supported on which clients.

Before you deploy or upgrade to Skype for Business, check which clients are already in use in your organization. Use the tables below to understand the feature support impact on those clients. This can help you communicate changes to users, pace the roll-out process, and fully understand the benefits of upgrading to the latest client.

Some features available with Skype for Business Server 2015 are not available in Skype for Business Online, see Online or Hybrid user account limitations for specifics. Skype for Business Online Admins may want to refer to Skype for Business Online Service Description for information on the different plans available to them.

Skype for Business makes it easy to connect and collaborate with coworkers and business partners around the world: Start instant message conversations and voice or video calls. See when your contacts are available online. Schedule and join meetings. Present your screen during meetings, or give control to others. Today we announced the release of Skype for Business on Mac Cumulative Update 2. With this release comes even more new features as well as more client improvements. There is also a significant change that pertains to the Single window (tabbed) mode. We have updated our Skype for Business on Mac readiness video to help educate you about these. We have the Office 365 Enterprise E1 so we get Exchange Online and Skype For Business. We buy the office Suite individually. I upgraded my PC with Office 2016 Professional today and the older Skype for Business (via our Office 365 portal) is the old version and will not install with Office 2016 installed.

Download Skype for Business for Windows to reach businesses through an enterprise-grade, secure, IT-managed platform.

See Desktop client feature comparison for Skype for Business 2019 for client support on Skype for Business Server 2019.

The following tables show the features that are available with each client that works with Skype for Business Server 2015 or Skype for Business Online. You may also want to refer to Mobile client feature comparison for Skype for Business for smart phone and tablet client feature comparisons. The Client Access License or User Subscription License your organization purchases will also have an impact on which features are available to your users. Whether you deploy the Full or Basic client to users depends on the license or plan your organization chooses to buy. See the Licensing Guide for more details.

Important

Skype for Business Server 2015 and Skype for Business Online support the following previously released clients: Lync 2013, Lync 2010, Lync 2010 Mobile, Lync Phone Edition, and Lync 2010 Attendant. For information about these clients when used with other servers, see the Client comparison tables for Lync Server 2013 and Client comparison tables for Lync Server 2010.

Note

The Lync 2010 Attendant client is not supported in Skype for Business Online.

Note

The Skype for Business Web App browser client and Skype Meetings App Windows 10 app only provide Meetings support. Refer to Plan for Meetings clients (Web App and Meetings App) for more about these clients.

Enhanced Presence support

This table covers the Enhanced Presence features that extend beyond a simple indication of whether a user is online, offline, busy, etc.

Feature/capability	Skype for Business 2015 or 2016 client	Skype for Business on Mac	Lync 2013 client	Lync Windows Store app	Lync 2010	Lync 2010 Attendant	Lync Phone Edition	Communicator for Mac 2011	Lync for Mac 2011
Publish status	✔	✔ ❶	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔ ❶	✔	✔
View status	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
View status notes and Out of Office messages	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Add a custom location	✔	✔	✔	✔
Add a custom note	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Use a photo from any public site for My Picture (not available in Skype for Business Online)	✔	✔

❶ Does not support publishing status based on calendar free/busy information.

Contacts and Contact Groups support

This table covers the features relating to managing IM and Presence contacts.

Feature/capability	Skype for Business 2015 or 2016 client	Skype for Business on Mac	Lync 2013 client	Lync Windows Store app	Lync 2010	Lync 2010 Attendant	Lync Phone Edition	Communicator for Mac 2011	Lync for Mac 2011
Pre-populated Contacts list	✔
View and Modify Contacts list	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Tag contacts for status change alerts	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Control privacy relationships	✔	✔	✔	✔
Search the corporate address book	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Search Microsoft Outlook contacts	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Manage contact groups	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Expand distribution groups and Microsoft 365 Groups	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Search for Response Groups (not available in Skype for Business Online)	✔	✔	✔	✔
Display recent contacts group	✔	✔	✔	✔
Display current conversations group	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Display alternate contact views (for example, tile)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Sort contacts by Group, Relationship, or New (people who've added you to their Contacts list)	✔	✔	Sort by group	✔	✔
Sort contacts by Status (availability)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Search and add Exchange contacts	✔	✔	✔

IM support

This table covers features related to IM support.

Feature/capability	Skype for Business 2015 or 2016 client	Skype for Business on Mac	Lync 2013 client	Lync Windows Store app	Lync 2010	Lync 2010 Attendant	Lync Phone Edition	Communicator for Mac 2011
Initiate IM with or email to a contact	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Navigate among multiple IM conversations/Track multiple conversations in a single tabbed window	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Log IM conversations in Outlook	✔	✔If server side conversation history is turned on	✔	✔	✔	✔	Saved in Communicator for Mac	Saved in Lync for Mac
Use prepared conversation templates	✔	✔
Check spelling	✔	✔	✔	✔
Skill search (with SharePoint Server integration) (On-premises Skype for Business Server and on-premises SharePoint 2013 are required for skill search.)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Persistent Chat (Group Chat) integration (not available for Skype for Business Online)	✔	✔
Escalate a Persistent Chat room to a Skype for Business Meeting with one click (not available for Skype for Business Online)	✔	✔
Inline pictures of sender and receiver in IM window	✔	✔	✔
Send ink messages	✔
Receiv

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