By simply looking at a contact name and the presence icon associated with that person, you can see whether a person is available, in a meeting or out of the office and determine the best way to communicate with them. New in Office Communicator 2007 R2, you can also see what device a person is logged in on. This allows you to instantly make the right communication choices.

Quickly and easily share your desktop with colleagues through the new desktop sharing capability in Office Communicator 2007 R2. Create an instant messaging session that can be altered to add voice, video and desktop sharing for an immediate and complete collaboration session. Get everyone on the same page by having a virtual meeting where they can view the same information at the same time. Share control of your desktop for more active collaboration, enabling you and remote colleagues to work together on documents, presentations and spreadsheets as if you were sitting side-by-side at the same desk.

Office Communicator 2007 R2 provides an updated interface that helps you control and manage your audio conference effectively. View the list of participants, determine the active speaker, mute and un-mute, and easily promote a participant to presenter to share controls with a click of a button. As a software application, Office Communicator 2007 R2 makes it much easier to do these tasks without the need to remember and use touchtone commands.

You can now invite users outside your organization to an Office Communicator 2007 R2 session. Through Office Communicator Web Access 2007 R2, external users can share all the capabilities offered, including instant messaging, desktop sharing and conference calls, without the need to install any software. All you need is a web browser and an internet connection to participate.

Office Communicator 2007 R2 now gives you the ability to forward your calls to your team so they can cover for you while you are away. You can even set a short time delay so they only see the call if you are unable to answer it. Team members will see the call is being transferred on your behalf in the incoming prompt and you’ll get a notification in email for any call answered by a team member. The call forwarding feature works with your Office Outlook contacts list to make sure that calls from someone in your Outlook personal contacts (such as friends and family) are not forwarded to the team.

Now you can appoint delegates in Office Communicator 2007 R2 who can place and answer calls on your behalf. Delegates use the new Office Communicator 2007 R2 Attendant, an application designed with executive and administrative assistants in mind. Delegates can add notes or chat with you within Office Communicator before forwarding calls so you have more information about the call before you answer.

Have a richer conversation by sharing video in high definition. Office Communicator 2007 R2 now supports high definition (HD) and video graphics array (VGA) modes, which become available under certain conditions. Select the desired resolution with ease in your Office Communicator 2007 R2 window.

 Note   A dual core central processing unit (CPU) and VGA webcam are required for VGA support and quad core machines. An HD camera is required to use the HD capabilities.

Office Communicator 2007 R2 now makes audio communication easier for you, with Office Communicator Phone Edition. Place a call using Office Communicator 2007 R2 and use your Internet Protocol (IP) phone as the audio device or vice versa. Call controls including conference, hold, and transfer are synchronized to give you a seamless experience.

Now you have improved access to your voicemail and voicemail options from Office Communicator 2007 R2, making it easy to manage your communications from one place. Receive your messages or change your greeting from the Office Communicator window.

Office Communicator 2007 R2 is the updated version of Office Communicator 2007, so you will be able to use all the instant messaging, audio, video and web conferencing features that you have come to enjoy. With Office Communicator, you have access to multi-party instant messaging, streamlined management of your contacts, powerful phone features and integration with Microsoft Office Live Meeting. The presence indicator, which is at the core of the communications experience, works with Microsoft Office applications so you can click to communicate from within the applications you use most. In addition, Office Communicator 2007 R2 provides the freedom to work from the location of your choice, keeping you connected whether you are in the office or on the road. You can access all the capabilities via an Internet connection, without requiring a secure tunnel (VPN connection) to the corporate network.

 Note   Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS) 2007 R2 is required to enable the full functionality of Office Communicator 2007 R2.