How to Clear the Microsoft Teams Cache on Your Mac in 2026

To clear the Microsoft Teams cache on a Mac, quit Teams with Command-Q, then delete two folders: ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.com.microsoft.teams and ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.teams2. Reopen Teams and it rebuilds its cache. Microsoft warns that clearing won't fix missing messages, and it deletes the logs support needs.

I was ten minutes from a client call when Teams opened to a blank window, so I joined from my browser and dealt with the app afterward. That order is worth copying. Below you'll find the symptoms that justify clearing the cache, the exact steps in Terminal and Finder, one easy-to-miss character in the commands, and what to try when the cache isn't the problem.

Should you clear the Teams cache? Check your symptom first

Clear the Teams cache only for a problem with the app on your Mac. Microsoft's cache article, updated September 14, 2026, calls clearing a targeted step for a small number of local client problems and says it is not a general first step. The same article tells you not to clear it for chat or channel problems, because clearing doesn't fix them and it removes the evidence.

When a colleague changed their last name and Teams on my Mac kept showing the old one, that was the textbook case: the wrong detail was local, and nothing was missing. A missing thread is a different animal. I leave the cache alone for that one and go straight to logs.

How to clear the Teams cache on a Mac in Terminal

Terminal is the method Microsoft documents for the Teams cache on a Mac. It takes two commands, and you need to quit Teams first. If you might need support later, collect your logs before you start (the steps are further down), because this deletes them.

1. Quit Teams. Right-click its icon in the Dock and choose Quit, or press Command-Q. If Teams is frozen, use Option-Command-Esc to force it.
2. Open Terminal from the /Applications/Utilities folder.
3. Paste the first command below and press Return.
4. Paste the second command and press Return.
5. Reopen Teams. The first launch can take longer than usual while the cache files are rebuilt.

rm -rf ~/Library/Group\ Containers/UBF8T346G9.com.microsoft.teams
rm -rf ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.teams2

The backslash matters because Terminal treats a space as the end of a path. Apple's Terminal guide says a path containing a space needs quotation marks or a backslash, with My\ Disk as its example. Without one, rm receives two wrong paths, and the -f option suppresses the error for items that don't exist. You can get a quiet prompt back with the group container still sitting there.

There is no undo for rm -rf, because it skips the Trash. Read each line before you press Return, and use the Finder route below if you'd rather keep a way back.

Classic Teams used a different folder

Microsoft's older instructions for classic Teams remove ~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Teams. Classic Teams stopped being available on July 1, 2025, so the two commands above are the ones that apply to a Mac running Teams today. Plenty of older guides still lead with the classic path, and clearing it won't touch the new app's containers.

How to clear the Teams cache in Finder instead

Finder clears the same two Teams folders, and it sends them to the Trash, so you can put them back. Microsoft's article only documents Terminal, but this is the route I prefer when I'm helping someone who has never opened Terminal, because nothing is gone until the Trash is emptied.

1. Quit Teams with Command-Q, or force it with Option-Command-Esc if it's frozen.
2. In Finder, open Go > Go to Folder, or press Shift-Command-G.
3. Enter ~/Library/Group Containers/ and press Return.
4. Select UBF8T346G9.com.microsoft.teams and press Command-Delete to send it to the Trash.
5. Open Go to Folder again, enter ~/Library/Containers/ and press Return.
6. Select com.microsoft.teams2 and send that to the Trash too.
7. Reopen Teams and check whether the problem is gone. Empty the Trash once you're happy.

Two lookalikes deserve care. The UBF8T346G9 prefix isn't unique to Teams: Microsoft's Outlook troubleshooting page puts your Outlook profiles under ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office, so leave that folder alone. In Containers, one Microsoft Q&A poster also found com.microsoft.teams2.launcher, .notificationcenter and .respawn. Microsoft's instructions name only com.microsoft.teams2. If you can't spot that exact folder in the list, use the Terminal commands rather than guessing.

What clearing the Teams cache removes, and what it doesn't

Clearing the Teams cache deletes Teams' local cache files and its diagnostic logs, according to Microsoft. Microsoft says little beyond that, so this table separates what it states from what it leaves open.

Since those commands remove the whole folders, I plan for a fresh sign-in and a pass through my Teams settings, and I don't clear anything right before a call. Have your password and authenticator app handy. Treat this as caution, not a documented result. A Microsoft moderator's steps for removing stale accounts list Keychain entries separately from these folders, which suggests the folders may not hold your stored sign-ins.

Collect Teams logs before you clear anything

Collect logs first if there's any chance you'll need Microsoft or your IT team, since clearing the cache deletes the diagnostic logs. Microsoft says to gather logs as soon as an issue occurs, and that a support engineer will ask for them.

1. With Teams open, choose Help > Collect support files, or press Option-Command-Shift-1.
2. Wait for the Downloading web logs banner to go away.
3. Find the files in your Downloads folder.
4. Compress the MS Teams Support Log Files folder before uploading it. The Prod-Weblogs file is already compressed.

Note the time the problem happened and your time zone, too, as log times are in UTC and support will need to match them up. If you're signed in to several accounts, the logs cover all of them, which is worth knowing before you hand them to anyone outside your company. I press the shortcut out of habit now, since the bundle lands in Downloads and costs nothing if I never need it.

What to try when the cache isn't the problem

Several common Teams problems on a Mac have a fix unrelated to the cache. Run through the one that matches before you delete anything.

Teams is out of date

The Help > Check for updates menu item opens Microsoft AutoUpdate. If nothing happens, Microsoft says AutoUpdate may not be installed, and a blocked copy is one for your admin. Teams for Mac also never restarts itself to finish an update, so a Mac where Teams stays open for days can sit on a pending one until you quit. Clients more than three months old get a blocking page that offers an update, your IT admin or Teams on the web.

You can't sign in after a macOS upgrade

Restart the Mac. Microsoft documents this workaround for Macs with the Company Portal app that moved to macOS 15.3, where a single sign-on component stopped working correctly for some users. It costs a couple of minutes, and it's a better first move than deleting folders.

No Teams notifications at all

Open System Settings > Notifications, select Microsoft Teams and turn on Allow notifications. Microsoft's Mac page covers this because macOS asks once after install, and it's easy to dismiss that prompt.

Screen sharing won't start

Open System Settings > Privacy & Security > [Screen & System Audio Recording](https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/control-access-to-screen-and-system-audio-recording-mchld6aa7d23/mac) (just Screen Recording on older macOS) and turn on Microsoft Teams. Microsoft notes that the first-time flow requires restarting Teams and dropping from the meeting, so sort this out before a presentation if you can.

Messages are missing

Open Teams on the web at teams.microsoft.com and look there. If the messages show on the web, the fault is probably in the Mac app, and that detail will help whoever takes your ticket. If they're missing in both places, I wouldn't expect anything on the Mac to help. Either way, collect logs and contact your IT team or Microsoft support, as Microsoft advises against clearing for this.

"Operation not permitted" when clearing the Teams cache

"Operation not permitted" means macOS refused to remove the Teams folder from Terminal. Microsoft's cache article doesn't cover this error. In one Microsoft Q&A thread, a community moderator blamed System Integrity Protection and suggested turning it off from Recovery mode. I'd skip that advice. Apple describes SIP as protection against malicious software, and the protected areas it names (/System, /usr, /bin, /sbin, /var and preinstalled apps) don't include your home Library folder. A cache isn't worth weakening a Mac's security.

Try these first:

• Make sure Teams has really quit. If it's stuck, use Option-Command-Esc to force it, then run the commands again.
• Move the folders to the Trash in Finder, using the steps above.
• On a work Mac, ask IT. Your company's management software may be involved, and they can see what's enforced on your machine.

Teams still broken after clearing the cache?

If clearing the Teams cache didn't help, reinstall the app and keep working on the web in the meantime. Microsoft says you can uninstall Teams like any other Mac app, and the latest version is a download away. If you don't have permission to install software, your administrator will need to do it. Teams on the web remains the fallback on a supported browser.

Old accounts stuck on the Teams sign-in screen are a separate headache. A Microsoft moderator's answer from February 2026 adds deleting Microsoft Teams, idtoken, accesstoken, refreshtoken and com.microsoft.oneauth items in Keychain Access, then restarting. One commenter in that thread reported it didn't work, even after a reinstall, so try it knowing it's no sure thing. On a managed Mac, leave Keychain to IT.

Small habits soften the next Teams failure:

• Keep teams.microsoft.com bookmarked, so a broken app never costs you a meeting.
• Quit Teams now and then, so downloaded updates can install.
• Clear the cache after a call, not before, because the next launch can be slow.

And if the app is costing your whole team time, it may be worth seeing how Teams stacks up against Zoom and Google Meet or against Slack. Other Mac apps keep caches of their own, too: the Apple Mail cache works quite differently.