SOLVED

I can't switch back to Teams chat with Alt+Tab on Mac

Brass Contributor

I can't switch back to Teams chat with Alt+Tab on Mac, becose Teams have two windows: the chat and the Microsoft Teams Notification. Microsoft Teams Notification is the default window, and this window is nowhere, and can't close.

Very frustrating.

Test your apps Microsoft!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

130 Replies

@Norbiprg I have the same issue, been driven me nuts and at least you pointed out why it is happening!

I went in and disabled GPU and unchecked New meeting experience - I no longer have a Notification Window...

Alt - Tab works again.

@Norbiprg Now works or still not working?

@Norbiprg You restarted Teams?

@D_Claxton Is my computer plugged in? Is my display turned on? Am I sitting in front of the display? Are my eyes open? :D Please... :)

Just unchecking the "New Meeting Experience" worked for me... thanks for the tip, this has been maddening.

@jthames This seems to be a temporary solution. After a while, alt-tab stops working again.  I hope MS can fix this. It's a non-trivial impact to my work flow. 

@hartmms Yes mine was good for two weeks and yesterday it came back, but I quit teams and restarted it and alt-tab was working again.

@hartmms Yeah... same here. :facepalm: I also noticed that the alt-tab problem only (in my case anyway) happens when Teams is on another desktop. I can alt-tab to Team IF I'm in the same desktop Teams is in. Seems that the alt-tab short cut brings Teams to the front but does not switch focus to the proper desktop. MS Outlook works fine. 

@jthames +1

 

It's absolutely killing my workflow. It's like I'm walking home from the grocery store and every 10 steps I have to completely empty then re-bag my items. I'm getting where I need to go, but I'm absolutely losing my mind along the way.

 

Microsoft, PLEASE address this before I throw myself out the window.

Teams is a nightmare to use currently when you have multiple physical screens and multiple virtual desktops. Apple manages to have the menu bar wherever and alt tab does not go back to Teams. This combination of excellent user experience makes it rather slow to find the unmute button during a call.

That's why I enabled the "new features" to have meetings in a separate window. When the main meeting window is not on the current desktop or in focus, you get a little control panel on your screen with a mute button and other controls.

@Norbiprg It seems the bug happens when Teams creates its own notification popup.  That "window" never goes away.  You can see this by making Teams main window in foreground, menu bar -> window.  You can see 2 listed windows:   <current chat title> | Microsoft Teams  and a "Microsoft Teams Notification" window. It's this notification window that I think is "active" on every desktop, so that's why alt-tab fails to work.  It already thinks it has switched desktops to the correct one. 

 

Not sure why teams can't just use built in Mac notifications.  It's probably some marketing decision to keep the "look and feel" separate from Mac OS.  

 

@hartmms This is exactly the issue.  And it still constantly drives me nuts, as I use multiple desktops, and can't switch to the main Teams window with Alt-Tab, because of the Microsoft Teams Notification (invisible) window, which exists on every desktop.

 

I always need to Alt-Tab to Teams, then go up to the Teams > Window menu, and select the other window to locate my main Teams window.  We constantly use Teams at my organization, so I am always needing to switch back and forth.

 

It annoys me to no end.

 

Does no one from Microsoft ever chime into these discussions on these forums?  Is there a place to file a bug report?

@Norbiprg @hartmms Here is a partial solution, using a feature that I didn't know existed.  When you Cmd-Tab to Teams, press the up or down arrow on the app selection before you let go of Cmd.  This shows all application windows for Teams (including the invisible one :) ) and you can select the correct Teams window using the right/left arrow keys.

@kstadlmayer Thank you, but your advice requires two hands.

1 best response

Accepted Solutions
best response confirmed by Therese_Solimeno (Moderator)
Solution

Ok, I found a "solution" to force Teams to use the notifications. 

 

Simple version: 
01. You go to your teams https://teams.microsoft.com

02. When it asks for notifications, give the permission and that's it.

 

As an App in your dock:

02. You copy the URL from your logged-in teams-tab (01.)

03. You install Epichrome

(Very useful, you can wrap a Website as a App and it appears in the dock. Basically is MS doing the same with their "App" except it uses Electron, Epichrome uses Chrome or Brave.)

04. Start it, go through the wizard, when it asks for the URL, give your Teams-URL and a fine name for it.

(Icon can be automatically downloaded)

05. Start the new app, log in, give permission for notifications. Since it is basically a browser, it is forced to use the default MacOS Notifications. Alt-Tab works again.

Alternatively, there is a way to make a WebApp with chrome. But I never use chrome.

 

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