Can't get rid of 'file upload failed' messages

Question

I was trying to upload a few files, but they all failed. It wasn't that bad, as I could just reupload them. But despite that, these 'fail to upload' messages still stuck around.

I tried to long-press the red messages so i could delete them, but nothing popped up. I cleared the cache, and even reinstalled teams, but they're still there.

I don't want to have 6 of these failure messages stuck in my chats. So why can't I remove these messages no matter what?

Answer 1

Dear @DAWN LIM SIM ZHENG,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A. 

Thank you for reaching out, I completely understand why these persistent “file upload failed” messages feel annoying. When they stay stuck in the chat like that, it’s hard to ignore them, and of course anyone would want to remove them right away.

Based on what you described, this behavior is tied to how Teams mobile handles file‑upload failures. These red tiles aren’t actually normal chat messages, they’re local upload‑status events created by the mobile client. Because of that, the mobile app doesn’t offer a delete option when you long‑press and clearing the cache doesn’t remove them either.

I also tried to reproduce your scenario by intentionally forcing uploads to fail (large files, switching networks, backgrounding the app, etc.) and then attempted to remove the failed‑upload tiles. But for some reason I haven’t been able to recreate the exact situation you’re seeing. That suggests that something a bit unexpected happened in your session, causing those failure tiles to get “stuck” locally.

A few things might still help refresh the conversation view on your device. One option is to open the same chat in Teams Desktop or Teams Web. Those versions usually don’t display mobile‑specific upload‑failure tiles. Once the server refreshes the chat thread there, going back to your phone sometimes causes the mobile app to rebuild the chat history and drop the stuck messages.

If the messages remain, signing out fully from the Teams mobile app and signing in again gives the app a completely fresh session. This is different from reinstalling, and in many situations, it has a better chance of clearing out local stuck states like this.

Please understand that our initial response does not always resolve the issue immediately. However, with your help and more detailed information, we can work together to find a solution.  

I hope this information helps point you in the right direction. If you run into any issues while trying the steps, or if something still doesn’t feel quite right, please don’t hesitate to reach out again. I’ll do my best to support you however I can.  

Looking forward to hearing back from you with any updates or additional details. 

Warm regards, 

---

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

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.