Teams messages listed as deleted on Mac desktop app, but visible on web app and android app

Question

I am using the enterprise version of teams. In most of my chats on the desktop app, there are a huge number of messages that dissapeared. If I search for the message contents in the right-hand sidebar, it will find the missing message, but when I click it, the window will say "This message has been deleted." All of my messages are visible on the web and android phone app.

In all cases, the missing messages seem to fall within the past year, with the most recent message prior to them dissapearing being 1/12/26. Everything from 1/12/26 onwards is there, and everything roughly 1 year prior is there. For each chat, the specific month in 2025 where the messages begin to vanish differs, i.e., in some cases it is February, in others March, etc.

I have already worked through the solutions discussed here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/4412379/missing-messages-on-desktop-version-of-teams-but-m

I am running the latest version of MacOS (Tahoe 26.2) and did a complete re-install of the Teams desktop app to ensure I am usign the latest version, i.e., moved it to the trash, emptied the trash, and in a terminal, executed rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Microsoft/Teams to get rid of any residual cache, etc.

I then reinstalled (from here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/download-app)and launched the app and am finding the exact same behavior.

Can you advise?

Answer 1

Hi @RKL, 

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A forum.    

Thank you very much for reaching out regarding the issue where your Teams desktop app on macOS shows a large number of past messages as “This message has been deleted” while they remain fully visible on the web and mobile apps. I really appreciate your patience and the detailed steps you've already taken. 

Based on your description, the disappearing messages and the “deleted” placeholders only on the Mac desktop app strongly indicate a local client cache/indexing issue, not a data-loss or retention-policy deletion. This aligns with similar reported cases where the Teams desktop client displays incorrect deletion labels, while cloud-stored chat data remains intact (as verified by your browser and Android apps). 

Even though you already cleared the folder at: 

~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Teams  

this path is for Classic Teams. 

The New Teams app on macOS which most tenants now run uses different cache locations, and if those aren’t cleared, the issue can persist. Microsoft specifically documents the correct cache paths for New Teams on macOS. 

To fully reset the New Teams client, please follow these steps: 

1/ Quit Teams completely 

• Right‑click the Teams icon in the Dock > Quit (or press Command + Q) 

2/ Open Terminal, then run these two commands one by one: 

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

rm -rf ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.teams2 

These are the official New Teams cache containers. Clearing them forces Teams to rebuild a clean, correct chat index at next launch. 

3/ Restart your Mac 

This ensures no cached process remains locked in memory. 

4/ Open Teams again and sign in 

Teams will resync all chat history directly from the cloud. 

For detailed guidance, please refer to this article: Clear the Teams client cache - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn. 

5/ 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, please feel free to reach out.   

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this.    

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Answer 2

It seems that the issue you are experiencing with missing messages in the Microsoft Teams desktop app could be related to retention policies. Messages may be deleted from the Teams app due to retention policies set by your organization. Here are some points to consider:

1. Retention Policy Configuration: Your organization may have a retention policy that is configured to exclude certain locations or apply to only other locations. This could result in messages being deleted from the Teams app while still being available in other applications like the web or mobile app.
2. Compliance Copies: Even if messages appear deleted in the Teams app, they may still exist in compliance copies stored in mailboxes, which can be searched for eDiscovery until they are permanently deleted.
3. Different Visibility Across Platforms: The visibility of messages can vary across different platforms (desktop, web, mobile) based on how retention policies are applied. This could explain why you see messages on the web and mobile apps but not on the desktop app.

Given that you have already reinstalled the app and ensured you are using the latest version, it may be beneficial to check with your IT department to understand the specific retention policies in place for your organization. They may be able to provide more insight into why certain messages are not visible in the desktop app.

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References:

• Messages in the Teams and Viva Engage apps are unexpectedly deleted by retention policies