What's the actual way to appear offline on steam?

careful with invisible if it's one specific friend you're dodging. some games have their own friends list or launcher that shows you online regardless of what steam says. and if you want to play with no connection at all, that's go offline in the steam menu, which is a third thing entirely.

click your own name at the top of the friends list, the dropdown is right there. there are two options that look like the same thing though: invisible keeps you connected so chat and invites still work while you show as offline, and offline genuinely drops you off the friends network. nine times out of ten the people asking for offline actually want invisible. playtime still gets recorded either way, it just isn't broadcast.