Mac Teams Client - Main Teams window stops displaying after a few days

Copper Contributor

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?

46 Replies

@RichBaldry 

 

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?

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 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 ...

Forgot to mention that on my machine this occurs 1-4 times during a work day, so I miss messages quite often.

@_Diba_ 

 

Hi, are you on the latest version of Mac OS and have Teams fully up to date?

@PeterRising 

Hi, Peter 

 

Mac OS is 10.15.7 

Microsoft Teams was 1.3.00.24758 - now 1.3.00.15561

 

For essentials like OS and Office related things my machine is controlled from my university's IT department, so many updates are forced... i.e. I assume  managed deployment of Teams, and that it is part of the Office 365 we all have to use, but actually I don't know.

 

In addition, all IT managed machines come with a preinstalled "software center" (a Google/Fabric/Jamf thingy) we are supposed to use for SW downloads. Here I spotted a Teams SW too - apparently not previously installed as it read "Install" (I must have obtain the Teams version 1.3.00.24758 instance via other means, which I regreattably don't recall). And so I installed this to see of it was a newer version (Software Center had no information on version number).

 

All in all, I will have to wait a day or two to tell you if the problem persists.

 

I sorry to exhibit such bad debugging behaviour... :pensive_face:

@_Diba_ 

 

This is a really detailed explanation - thank you.  Not bad debugging at all!  :smile:

 

So your Mac is bang up to date,  I have Teams version 1.3.00.26266.  

 

Have you talked to your IT Team about the issue?  Could be something else on the Mac is causing the issues perhaps.

@PeterRising I have just realised that unfortunately the problem still persists - despite my is Teams 1.3.00.26266 (it was updated on 23/10/2020, i.e. three days after our last interaction).

 

I haven't involved my IT team yet. Partly because I prefer to talk F2F, which I can't right now (I work from home due to corona restrictions), partly because I have other challenges with my Mac, that I would rather prioritise (challenges I am also hesitant to talk to my IT team about - they are pretty Windows-centric :beaming_face_with_smiling_eyes:). 

 

I suppose I jumped into this discussion just looking for a "quick fix" if there happened to be one - which doesn't seem to be the case. So, I guess I will just live with this mildly irritating phenomenon ;p

 

Thanks for taking an interest 🙏🏻

@_Diba_ 

 

Yeah working on Mac with M365 can be frustrating at times, but it always gets there in time.  :lol:

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...

 

@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..

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....

Exact same problem(s +with my IT team) ... and having to re-start Teams :( as current "solutions"

Same problem on my side - "Microsoft Teams Notifications" invisible window means that I cannot CMB-Tab to Teams, and worse for my is that I cannot click on the Teams icon in the Dock. As a user of multiple monitors each with multiple mac OS workspaces, it can be very difficult to find where Teams is. Please fix!
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 Germany