We are experiencing an issue with the Microsoft Teams desktop client where a user is unable to access older chat messages.

Hi @Mian Mudasir Bari, 

Thank you very much for reaching out regarding the issue where older messages appear in search/preview but display “This message has been deleted.” when opened in the Teams desktop app. I appreciate your patience and the detailed troubleshooting steps you’ve already taken. 

A - What is happening 

This behavior is most likely caused by a corrupted or outdated local cache/index in the New Teams desktop app. Because New Teams stores its cache in a completely different location from Classic Teams, clearing the old %appdata% or %localappdata% folders does not remove the actual cache the new client uses.  

As a result, the desktop app continues reading stale local data and incorrectly shows “This message has been deleted.”, while the correct content still exists and appears normally on Teams Web.  

B - Recommended next steps 

Here are my recommendations, please follow the steps below: 

1/ Reset the New Teams app 

Fully quit Teams (Quit, not just close). 

• Go to: Settings > Apps > Installed apps > Microsoft Teams > Advanced options > Reset. 
• Reopen Teams and allow time for the chat history to resync. 

2/ Manually clear the correct cache folder 

Quit Teams completely (Quit). 

Press Win + R and open: 

%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Packages\MSTeams_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Microsoft\MSTeams 
Delete all contents inside the MSTeams folder. 

Restart Teams. 

3/ For macOS 

If users on macOS are affected: 

Quit Teams. 

Open Terminal and run: 

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

Reopen Teams. 

Optional additional steps: 

• Sign out and sign back in to refresh session tokens. 
• Test search/history using Teams Web in Incognito/Private mode to confirm it is strictly a desktop‑side issue.  
• Additionally, you can continue using Teams Web as a temporary workaround to access older conversations since it is not affected by this issue.  

For additional information, you can refer to these articles: 

• Clear the Teams client cache - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn 
• MS Teams Search / Message Search Not Working Properly - Here are the Fixes 

Please note that this information is being provided by the moderator solely for your convenience. The referenced sites are not managed or overseen by the moderator, and therefore we cannot guarantee the accuracy, security, or suitability of any software or content available there. We recommend reviewing all information carefully and ensuring you understand any associated risks before following suggestions from the provided link.  

C - Contact Microsoft Support   

If the issue persists even after these steps, it may stem from a deeper system-level cause. In this case, I recommend contacting your organization's IT administrator, who can submit a support request to Microsoft through the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. They’ll be able to access system-level information to investigate the issue thoroughly and provide assistance. At the very least, they can offer the most effective workaround to ensure your experience remains smooth and secure.      

We kindly ask for your understanding that, as moderators, we do not have access to the administrative tools or permissions required to investigate or modify these configurations. We also do not have the capability to initiate remote sessions for direct assistance. Our role is to guide users to the appropriate resources and support channels.     

I hope this information is helpful. Should you have any further questions or need additional assistance, feel free to reach out.   

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this. 

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have any extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".  

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The behavior described is consistent with how Microsoft 365 retention policies can affect what is visible in the Teams client versus what is still retained for compliance/eDiscovery.

Key points from the documented behavior:

1. When a retention policy deletes a Teams message, the back-end service issues a delete command that removes the message from the Teams app for all participants in the conversation.
2. After this delete, the Teams client shows the message as deleted (for example, with a system message such as “This message has been deleted”).
3. However, compliance copies of those messages can still exist in user mailboxes and remain searchable for eDiscovery until they are permanently deleted. The visible messages in Teams are not the compliance copies.
4. Messages deleted by a retention policy cannot be recovered in the Teams app, and their visibility in the app does not reflect whether they are still retained for compliance.

In addition, Microsoft documents that:

• Retention policies “dictate how long messages show in a chat or channel,” and when messages expire, they are replaced by a system message, including pinned or saved messages.
• When chatting with people outside the organization, the other organization’s retention policies can delete messages from the Teams app for all participants.

Given this behavior, the most likely root cause is:

• A retention policy (in the local tenant or a federated/other tenant involved in the conversation) is expiring and deleting the chat messages from the Teams service, which causes the Teams client to treat them as deleted.
• The fact that the content appears in certain previews/search or via other surfaces does not mean the messages are still available as live chat items; those may be compliance copies or search artifacts, not live, restorable chat messages.

Because the deletion is driven by retention policy at the service level, client-side actions (clearing cache, signing out/in, updating client, switching between classic/new Teams) cannot restore or change this behavior.

Recommended actions:

1. Verify retention policies for Teams
   • Have a Microsoft 365 compliance or Teams admin review all retention policies that apply to:
     • Teams chats and channel messages.
     • Any external organizations involved in the affected chats (if applicable).
   • Confirm whether there is a policy that:
     • Deletes chat messages after a specific period (for example, 30 days or 1 month).
2. Confirm expected behavior with IT/compliance
   • If a retention policy is configured to delete messages after a given time, the behavior in the desktop client is by design and cannot be overridden per user.
   • If the deletion period is not what the organization intends, adjust the retention policy configuration (for example, extend the retention period) at the tenant level.
3. Communicate limitations to users
   • Inform affected users that messages deleted by retention policies cannot be recovered in Teams and that the Teams app may show them as deleted even if compliance copies exist elsewhere.

If, after confirming, no retention policy applies to these chats, or the configured retention period does not match the observed one-month cutoff, the issue should be escalated through Microsoft support with full tenant and policy details, as client-side troubleshooting alone will not resolve a service-level retention behavior.

References:

• Messages in the Teams and Viva Engage apps are unexpectedly deleted by retention policies
• Microsoft Teams messages about retention policies
• My chat messages aren't loading in Microsoft Teams
• Embed Microsoft Teams in your app