People may need to clear the Teams cache for many reasons; this could be the apps being slow, not loading things properly, or something like the app not letting them sign in properly. Clearing the cache is straightforward, but what some people want to know is whether or not chat history is deleted.
The answer to this question is no; chat history will stay after clearing the cache, like many other things on your Teams account. Other things that stay are the teams and groups you are in and meeting recordings. For this article, I will show you methods for doing this on Mac and Windows.
How to clear the Teams cache on a Mac device
- Close Microsoft Teams.
- Open “Finder.”
- On Finder, press “Go” on the apple search bar.
- Click “Go to Folder.”
- Enter the following “~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft.”
- Right-click on the Teams file and press “Move to bin.”
- Open “Spotlight Search” using “Command + Space.”
- Search for “Keychain Access.”
- Then search “Microsoft Teams.”
- Right-click on “Microsoft Teams Identities Cache.”
- Finally hit delete.
How to clear the Teams cache on a Windows device
- Right-click on the Teams icon
- Click “Quit”
- Use the Windows search bar to search “Run” or use the shortcut “Win+R.”
- Search for the address “%appdata%\Microsoft\Teams”
- Delete everything in the folders
- Open Microsoft Teams
Content list
- What is the Teams cache
- What does clearing the Teams cache remove
- Why do you need to clear the Teams cache
- How to clear the Microsoft Teams cache on Windows
- How to clear the Microsoft Teams cache on Mac
- Conclusion
What is the Teams cache
The Teams data cache contains data and information that the app has stored; this is the same thing that most websites and apps use to keep some information about you. Apps and websites can usually use it to allow the site or app to load faster; an issue with this is the cache can take up a large amount of space on your hard drive. You can usually see two options on websites or apps: “Clear Data” and “Clear Cache.” “Clear cache” allows you to remove temporary data when visiting a sight, while “Clear data” removes all user data from an app.
What does clearing the Teams cache remove
When you clear the cache in Microsoft Teams, it can help the system and deal with some of the problems that it can have. Some people may want to know what will be removed after the Teams cache is cleared, and that is things like logins for apps that are used on Teams, custom backgrounds used for Teams meetings, and some minor data will be removed. However, things like chat history, recordings of meetings, groups, and teams you are in, and personal files will not be removed after you delete the cache.
Why do you need to clear the Teams cache
There are many reasons Microsoft Teams may need to have the cache cleared; this could include the app being slow, things not loading correctly, and Teams giving user and sign-in errors. There could be problems with the software, so clearing the cache should be done to help fix these issues.
Some things stay on Teams after you clear the cache, and some things are removed; the things that stay are the apps chat history, teams and groups, and meeting recordings because they are connected by SharePoint. Things that are removed are app data and custom features and settings.
Once you have finished the cache clearing process, it would be best if you would restart Microsoft Teams; this will allow you to take a look over everything and make sure things are as they should be. Microsoft Teams will then re-authenticate the system and set up the settings to what they should be again.
I have made a step-by-step guide for both Mac and Windows for this guide.
How to clear the Microsoft Teams cache on Windows
This method will be how you clear the Microsoft Teams cache on a Windows device and contain a step-by-step walkthrough of how to do it.
- Close Microsoft Teams if you have it open using the right-click on the icon
- Click on the “Quit”
- Use the Window search bar for “Run” or the shortcut “Win+R.”
- Search for the address “%appdata%\Microsoft\Teams”
- Delete everything here.
- Reopen Microsoft Teams again.
Once you have followed the guide and deleted everything in the cache, it will take the app a while to load properly as it will need to bring the system back to its default settings and set things up like normal.
How to clear the Microsoft Teams cache on Mac
The method to clear the Microsoft Teams cache on a Mac is similar to the Windows guide, but you will need to do a few extra things due to the way Apple works, read on for screenshots for this guide.
- Quit Microsoft Teams.
- Using Launchpad or the taskbar, find “Finder.”
- Go on to Finder and click on the page anywhere to open the window, then press “Go” in the top left.
- After pressing “Go,” look through the list and press “Go to Folder.”
- Search this in the text bar.
~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft
- This will open a window called “Microsoft” in Finder, showing “Teams.”
- Next, put your cursor over “Teams” and right-click it, then press “Move to Bin.”
Before
After
- After deleting the “Teams” folder, you can close Finder. Then open “Spotlight Search” by pressing the magnifying glass in the top right or pressing “Command + Spacebar” and search “Keychain Access.”
- Once Keychain Access loads, click on the search bar and search for “Microsoft Teams.” It will then show “Microsoft Teams Identities cache.”
- You need to right-click this, then click “delete Microsoft Teams Identities Cache.” Then you need to open Teams again.
Conclusion
Many solutions to Microsoft Teams’ issues can be resolved by clearing the Teams cache, but one of the things that people want to know is if their account data like chat history or groups will be lost and everything else. The answer to this is no; things like chat history will not be removed from your account; only things like temporary data will be deleted.