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?
Hey RichBaldry I've got exactly the same issue on mine. I've used Teams daily for over two years now and it continues to happen every other day or so. The number of times that I've missed notifications from colleagues trying to get in touch are countless.
It is clear that Teams loses reference to the Window and you cannot create a new one. If you press Ctrl-down arrow (or whatever your shortcut is) to show all windows for the current application it simply says 'No Available Windows' - the same as if you've manually closed the main Teams window. In fact - if you manually close the main window I don't see a way to open a new one. I assume this is what happens when Teams has been open for a while.
Very frustrating.
I have the same problem, and I have noticed that what causes it is the "Microsoft Teams Notification" window (the small popup with new chat messages) that doesn't close properly. Alt+Tab goes to that window, which is no longer visible, rather than to the main interface. I have to manually go to "Windows" and select the main window to see it each time. This is super annoying, and restarting the programme after each message received is of course not feasible. I'm looking to turn off these popup windows, and see if this improves things.
My Mac and all the software on it are set to auto-update, so I should have the latest versions of everything.
nadinehengen Just adding my name to this list of people having this problem. I too have noticed that it seems to happen when the notification dialog is closed and Teams doesn't register that properly. There's no question that this is a bug that Microsoft needs to fix. It's not a "make sure your OS is up to date" problem.
Although to be fair, "spaces" in Mac OS is terrible. I'm sure it's a real pain for application programmers to make sure they are doing everything right.
In any case it would be great to have a fix. Certainly only 1 in 100 people having the problem are represented here...
- I'm having the same issue and wondering if there's any way to prevent the chat popup then? I don't see any Preferences in the MS Teams menu....
- I came here looking for an answer to the problem. Amazed there's not a solution other than "Restart Teams." Although what else is new in the Microsoft/Mac = Oil/Water equation?
- 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.
RichBaldryI have the same issue, normally after a long period of inactivity (e.g., overnight) the teams window has totally disappeared. Sometimes I'll see it literally disappear in front of my eyes, although Teams is still apparently running - just the window is not accessible. I also don't know about you but I also, at any point, cannot CMD-Tab to Teams, it just doesn't shift to that desktop (ever). Very annoying as being visible and being able to CMD-Tab to it are both key functionalities..
- 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
I'm on Mac OS 10.15.2 and Teams version 1.3.00.8663. Been running it for well over a year and not had any of the issues you describe.
Guessing you've tried all of the obvious? Uninstall/reinstall? Different Mac profile and see if any difference? Clean up clutter on the Mac etc?
I have the same problem except that even though I restart the app, I cannot see anything anymore RichBaldry - maybe instead of making an Electron-based App, should Microsoft develop a real software for Mac like in Excel or Word ...
RichBaldry Yep. Same behaviour here....
- Forgot to mention that on my machine this occurs 1-4 times during a work day, so I miss messages quite often.
