remove an old account that I don't have access to in teams

Question

I am tring to remove old accounts that I don't have access to anymore from teams and then add in a new account.

Answer 1

Hello

Can you share a screenshot of this old account, how it presents in Teams so I can have some context? Feel free to edit to hide partial email to protect your privacy.

My goal is to know if this is a personal account on its own, or an old work/school account, or a personal account as guest user in an organization.

Answer 2

To remove old accounts from Teams and then use a new one, use the options available in Windows/macOS, Teams, and the browser depending on where those accounts are showing.

1. Sign out of the old account in Teams

• In the Teams desktop app (Windows or macOS) or in a web browser version of Teams:
  • Select the profile picture at the top of the app.
  • Select Sign out.
  • Sign back in with the desired (new) account.

2. Remove the old account from Windows (if it still appears there)

• For a personal Microsoft account:
  1. Select Start > Settings > Accounts > Email & accounts.
  2. Select the old account.
  3. Next to Remove account, select Remove.
• For a work or school account:
  1. Select Start > Settings > Accounts > Access work or school.
  2. Select the old work/school account.
  3. Next to Account settings, select Manage.
  4. In Overview, select Sign out everywhere.
  5. To remove the account completely from the organization, contact the organization’s IT admin.

3. Remove the old account from macOS keychain (if you used Teams there)
4. Open Finder > Applications > Utilities > Keychain Access.
5. Find and right-click the old Teams/Microsoft account entry.
6. Select Delete [account name].
7. Remove the old account from the browser (if Teams is using it there)
8. In the browser where Teams is opened, select the profile picture at the top right.
9. Select Sign out.
10. If prompted to choose an account, select the old Teams account to sign it out.
11. Close the browser, reopen it, and sign in to Teams with the new account.
12. If the old account is a Teams Free organization that is no longer needed If the issue is that an old Teams Free organization still appears when switching orgs:
13. In Microsoft Teams Free, go to Settings.
14. Choose Accounts and orgs.
15. Under Accounts and orgs, select Leave next to the organization to remove.
16. A browser window opens; under Organizations, select Leave again to confirm.
17. Wait a few hours, then sign out and back in to Teams. The old org should no longer appear.
18. If the old account itself must be fully removed Teams shares the underlying Microsoft account with other apps and services. To remove the Teams account entirely from use, the associated Microsoft account must be closed:

• Follow the guidance in How to close your Microsoft account (linked from the Teams sign-out article) to permanently delete that Microsoft account. This affects all Microsoft services that use that account.

After completing the relevant steps above, sign in to Teams with the new account and, if using Teams Free, verify under Settings > Accounts and orgs that only the desired account/organizations remain.

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References:

• Sign out or remove an account from Microsoft Teams
• Leave a work or school organization in Microsoft Teams Free