Forum Discussion
Mac Teams Client - Main Teams window stops displaying after a few days
I have been running Teams client on my Mac for over a year now, through various updates and versions both of the Teams client and of MacOS. I'm currently on MacOS 10.14.6 and Microsoft Teams Version 1.3.00.4460.
What I see regularly is that the main Teams window just stops being accessible. Usually I have it running all the time in the regular display mode - not full screen - and can alt-tab switch between Teams and other apps as normal. Then, after a while, I suddenly find that when I alt-tab to Teams, the app window no longer appears. The menubar shows the Teams menu, and I can go through the menu OK, but most options have no effect. 'About Microsoft Teams' does nothing. Window > Bring All to Front does nothing. Window > Minimize does nothing, etc. The Help options mostly work, but that's about all.
The only solution is to Quit Microsoft Teams and restart the app.
It's a real pain. I frequently end up missing messages because of this.
Has anyone else encountered this issue?
I found a great workaround to this issue. Install app on mac "alttab" alt-tab — Homebrew Formulae and then use Option+Tab on mac to display all windows (yes, even minimized windows on app) and it brings the hidden main window to the screen, YAY!! let me know if this solves
RichBaldry 2 years later and this remains an issue - its very annoying. I also notice, that when you restart it often takes a while to get Teams running up to the point where you can actually join a meeting. I wonder if bluetooth headsets might be a contributing factor (do they cause the disappearing window - haven't been in a position to run without a headset for a few days to try) - as when I restart Teams, trying to connect audio is then an issue and often I will get an extended "joining" message as I desperately try to get into the meeting I am now late for as the window was gone.
It's clear that the Teams client doesn't play nicely. A good solution to this is to use a lesser-known feature of macOS which is, instead of simply command-tabbing to the Teams icon and letting go of the keys, alt-tab to the icon and then press the cursor up arrow. This shows all the windows of the chosen application and you can use cursor left/right to select the "lost" window.
Nick Milner Alt-Tab is not a standard predefined shortcut on macOS (at least, I can't use it/find it). You can command-tab to the Teams app and then do Control-Down Arrow to view all its windows and select one. However, I have tried that in the past, and there simply is not window to select (in those cases where the Teams app decided to lose contact with the world).
I didn't say ALT-Tab, I said Command-Tab, and the suggestion was to Command-Tab to the Teams app and (while continuing to hold Command-Tab) press the up arrow to select a window. You might see "No available windows" but that just means none available on that display. Press up arrow again and you should highlight either a lost window on another display or an empty frame around nothing - selecting that usually brings Teams back to life. That's been my experience anyway. YMMV.
- This cursor/arrow suggestion does not work, it simply states "No windows available", the window is literally gone. If you cmd-tab to Teams and then click the Window menu item, all options are greyed out. I've noticed over the past two and a half years that we've been forced to use Teams instead of Slack that quite often when you attempt to cmd-tab to the applications, the window does not gain focus so I have to use four-finger swipe to get to the hosting desktop. Then, the second stage of this is the root of this thread, there is no actual window to give focus to and cmd-q, re-launch is your only recourse. Most, if not all MS apps don't obey or use the native macOS capabilities such as the window manager. I have hope that MS is evolving however, when they introduced macOS-native notifications in Teams last year my jaw dropped figuring a certain firery land down under (not Oz) had frozen over. Apple appears to be trying to move to more of an iOS-style walled garden and MS will have to get onboard eventually. Either that or Apple will roll over in an attempt to grab more of the business user market share, we know that Pages and Numbers aren't taking over anytime soon.
- Probably not really connected to your issue. BUT from time to time the calling window run on my laptop screen and not the main one. That's a weird situation as my laptop screen is dimmed or closed, but team windows constantly is running on that one. Not saying it is the solution for RichBaldy issue instead just wanted to share this observation, as someone might be in very similar situation..
I can confirm that MS Teams (version 1.5.00.21551) for Mac OS (11.6.8) continues to exhibit this issue on 08/24/22.
- Steve
I have this same issue. It's been consistent across many versions of the Mac Teams client, and across many versions of macOS. The Teams window disappears a couple of times a week, and the only fix is to quit and restart Teams.
It's a PITA, and I can't believe this is still an issue after three years or so of using Teams. Crazy.
You don't have to wait a few days. Just launch Teams then close the window from the Window menu.
Now the only way to get a window back is to quit teams.
I don't know if Microsoft monitors this forum but if they do the the steps to reproduce the defect are as I just described.
I too am shocked that their QA has not caught and logged this very clear bug.
Not being able to create a new main window from the Window menu is a separate issue. We're talking about the main window disappearing on its own... not a consequence of having accidentally (or intentionally) closing it.
The main window occasionally just disappears. That should never happen, regardless of whether or not there's a way to easily instantiate a new main window.
Same issue.
I'm running macOS BigSur 11.6 on a 2019 MacBook Pro, and the Teams window disappears on me multiple times a week. I'm currently running Microsoft Teams version 1.4.00.22368.
As others have stated, (seemingly) randomly, when I go to switch back to Teams, the window is gone, but the application is still running. The only way to get the window back is to quit and restart the application.
Having just switched to this laptop, I was previously experiencing this issue on an older version of macOS on an older (2015) MacBook Pro.
- Still happening with Teams version 1.4.00.11161 on macOS Big Sur version 11.4 (20F71). And with every other version of Teams for Mac I have used for more than a year. Hoping the native notification functionality mentioned a couple comments earlier will fix this: https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/microsoft-365/roadmap?searchterms=66743&OCID=usoc_TWITTER_MicrosoftTeams_M365_spl100001922687517&filters=Microsoft%20Teams&searchterms=66743
- Just wanted to add this happens with Teams version 1.4.00.4971 on 10.15.7 catalina. Was running maybe a couple hours, nowhere near a full day, when the window just disappeared. The teams app is still supposedly running, but you can't do anything and menu items like Window->Bring all to Front are all greyed out
- Hi,
Raising my hand for "there is another annoyed user"
I also have to quit my Teams quite regularly.
Current OS: Big Sur 11.2.3 Teams: 1.4.00.7175
While the app on the iPhone shows me messages instantly, they are not or delayed updated in the App on the Mac. After restarting it, boom "here we are" instantly.
By now I can not correlate it to the notify pop up. And how long it takes from normal behaviour to "delayed mode"
Regards and Greets from GermanyI'm another annoyed user. If I close the main chat window I have to quit and restart the app. This should be easy to fix if MSFT would have someone spend an hour on this problem.
