How to Leave a Team in Microsoft Teams | Digital Trends

Microsoft Teams is a great workplace collaboration platform, but there may be times when you need to leave a specific team. Whether a project has been completed, certain employees are changing roles, or simply joining a different team or project, exiting an existing Teams collaboration couldn’t be easier. We’ve also put together this step-by-step guide on how to complete this task, covering both desktop and mobile versions of Microsoft Teams.

How to leave a Microsoft team

Before you begin, make sure you need to leave a team or have permission from a team owner to do so. Leaving and joining teams without letting others know can cause confusion.

Step 1: Sign in to Microsoft Teams and select the Teams icon from the menu on the left. Navigate to the team you want to leave.

Step 2: To the right of the team name you will see an ellipse symbol with three dots. Select it to open the Teams menu. Here you’ll see several options, including hiding the team (if you’re not ready to leave it entirely) and managing the team if you’re the team owner. Do not confuse this with the team channel dropdown menus, which are subheadings within the team itself and do not include the option to leave.

Step 3: Choose Leave the team. Confirm that you want to go. The team will normally disappear from your Teams menu without further action.

Step 4: The major exception to this process is leaving an organization entirely or a specific organization-wide team that your administrator may have created. You can’t leave them alone. You will need to contact your administrator and ask them to remove you if they have not already done so.

Leave a Microsoft team on mobile

Leaving a Microsoft Teams works a little differently on mobile devices. So keep that in mind. If you’re using an iOS device like an iPhone, the menu is very similar, except the Teams list is at the bottom instead of on the side. In previous versions of iOS Teams you couldn’t leave a team, but this has since been updated so the process should be the same.

It’s similar with Teams on an Android device, where you’ll look for the “More Options” dots next to a team name that you can select Leave the team.

Important tips for leaving a Microsoft Team

• If you permanently leave a team, you will no longer receive notifications associated with that team. This includes any updates the team may explore or tag in channels. However, your chat options in Teams should still work. As long as a person is part of your Teams organization, you should still be able to contact them personally. However, team-wide video meetings will likely no longer be available to you.

• Leaving a team does not delete any messages or content you sent to that team. All of your old messages will still be visible to team members.

• Even if you leave a team, you are still part of the organization that founded the team. If you also want to leave the organization, you can visit yours My groups Section in the Apps Click the tab and select your profile to leave the organization. This is not available in every Teams setup. If you don’t see this option, contact your administrator for more information.

• In some cases, you may not be able to leave a non-organizational team. For example, students using the education version of Microsoft Teams cannot leave a team alone. If you are the last person on a team and have been automatically made a team owner or similar responsibility, you may not be able to leave a team until you delete it completely.

• If you’re moving to a new team as part of a reorganization, make sure you have the necessary joining information or a direct invitation before leaving your old team. Not all teams are public and many require invites or codes to join.

What happens if I accidentally left a team?

In the event that you accidentally removed yourself from a team, you are certainly not safe. The only thing you need to do is contact the owner of the said team and ask them to add you to the group again.

Why can’t I leave a team in Microsoft Teams?

As mentioned above, you can remove yourself from any team. However, if you are part of a larger organization or an organization-wide team, only the administrator of that group can permanently remove you from the larger organization.

How do I manage Teams settings as an administrator?

If you are the owner/administrator of a Microsoft Teams group, you can access your teams settings by going to the Teams admin center. All you need to do is log in to Teams with your admin credentials and click Teams admin.

This dashboard allows you to customize individual account settings and permissions, security features, and more.

Does your new team care about your Microsoft Teams status or use it as a sign of productivity? You may also be interested in our guide on how to ensure your status stays active in Microsoft Teams.

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