Teams Status Stuck on Offline? 7 Causes and How to Fix Each

If Microsoft Teams shows you as Offline while you are signed in and working, check your own status first. Appear offline is the only manual status that Microsoft says lasts "indefinitely" when you set it without a duration, so one click weeks ago can keep you grey today. Select your profile picture, then your status, then Reset status. If that is not it, Teams thinks no device is signed in: the desktop app was quit, the computer went to sleep, the web tab was closed, or the session expired. If only some people see you as Offline, they are probably in another organization, or looking at Outlook instead of Teams.

If you use Slack too, it goes grey for its own reasons, 10 minutes after your last input on the computer.

Why Teams shows you Offline, cause by cause

Fix 1: reset an Appear offline you set

Microsoft's admin docs on user presence list how long a manual status lasts when you give it no duration:

• • Appear offline: indefinitely.
• • Busy and Do not disturb: 1 day.
• • Any other status: 7 days.

So Appear offline is the one status that never clears itself. You also cannot choose Available on top of it and have it stick, because Teams lets you pick only a status that is "less available than the automatically calculated status," and a manual status overrides the calculation until you reset it.

• Select your profile picture at the top right of Teams.
• Select your current status.
• Choose Reset status.

Typing /available in the Teams search box has the same effect. If you wanted to appear offline on purpose, how to appear offline on Teams covers the side effects, such as messages that still arrive.

Fix 2: make sure Teams is signed in on a device

Microsoft's rule is short: "When users aren't logged in on any of their devices for a few minutes, they appear offline." These all count as not logged in:

• • You quit Teams from the system tray or menu bar. Closing the window only minimizes it, but Quit disconnects it.
• • The computer is asleep. Microsoft says presence "becomes Offline when the computer enters sleep mode." Locking only makes you Away.
• • Teams on the web lost its session. A closed tab, a browser that suspends background tabs, or an expired sign-in all disconnect you.
• • Your phone was your only device, and you had not opened Teams for 24 hours.

After the computer wakes, Teams needs a moment to reconnect. If you still show Offline a few minutes later, quit Teams fully and open it again. If Teams starts but will not stay connected, check that a VPN or proxy is not blocking it, which your IT team can confirm.

Fix 3: when other people see you as Offline

If your own picture shows Available but a coworker says you look Offline, find out where they are looking.

People in another company. Admins choose which external organizations can see presence. With privacy mode on, Microsoft says "presence is never shared outside your organization, regardless of your external access settings." Guests and partners then see you as Offline or unknown. Only your Teams admin can change that.

Outlook. Outlook shows Teams presence only for contacts in the same organization, and only when your account is in the Teams Only upgrade mode. Otherwise Outlook asks Skype for Business, which may show you Offline while Teams shows you Available. Mailboxes hosted on-premises can lag up to an hour. The full fix list is in Teams status not showing in Outlook.

Two accounts. If you switch between organizations in Teams, you can be Available in one and Offline in the other. Check the account in the top right.

Fix 4: clear stale presence and the Teams cache

If Teams shows Offline for everyone and none of the above applies, the local client is the usual suspect.

• Sign out from your profile picture, then sign back in.
• Quit Teams fully and reopen it.
• Clear the cache. For new Teams on Windows, open Settings > Apps > Installed apps, find Microsoft Teams, then Advanced options > Reset. Microsoft Learn also lists the cache folder, which you can empty with Teams closed:

%userprofile%\appdata\local\Packages\MSTeams_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Microsoft\MSTeams

On a Mac, quit new Teams and run these two commands in Terminal:

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

• Update Teams from the Settings menu.
• If it is still Offline, ask IT. A problem that affects the whole company sits with the admin or Microsoft, and your admin can check it on the Microsoft 365 service health page.

Clearing the cache resets your app settings, but your chats stay on Microsoft's servers. Microsoft advises against clearing the cache for missing messages or wrong unread counts, since it deletes the logs needed to find the cause, so keep it for presence and startup problems.

Offline vs Away vs Status unknown in Teams

• • Offline (grey circle with an x) means Teams is not connected on any device, or you chose Appear offline.
• • Away (yellow clock) means you are connected but inactive for about 5 minutes, locked, or on a phone with Teams in the background. If you are stuck there instead, see Teams status stuck on Away.
• • Status unknown means Teams could not get a presence at all, often for people outside your organization or while a profile loads. See Teams status unknown.

All the icons are in Microsoft Teams status icons meaning.

Teams offline questions

Why does Teams say I'm offline when I'm online? Most often you set Appear offline, which does not expire. Reset your status. If that is not it, Teams on this device has lost its connection; quit and reopen it.

How long does Appear offline last in Teams? Until you change it, unless you set a duration.

Why do external people see me as offline in Teams? Your organization does not share presence with theirs, or privacy mode is on. Only an admin can change it.

Does Teams show Offline when the computer is locked? No. Locking shows Away. Sleep shows Offline.