How to fully uninstall Microsoft Teams on Mac
Dragging Teams to Trash leaves behind Electron caches, login helpers, and a background updater daemon that runs at login. Here's how to remove everything.
10+
Leftover locations
500 MB – 3 GB
Typical leftover size
Yes — Teams login helper
Background helper
What Teams leaves behind
Teams is Electron-based, which means it stores data like a web browser — including GPU caches, IndexedDB storage, and service workers. It also uses Group Containers for sharing data with other Microsoft apps and installs a background updater daemon that runs at login:
| Location | Contents |
|---|---|
| ~/Library/Application Support/com.microsoft.teams/ | Teams user data, chat cache, and meeting files |
| ~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Teams/ | Additional Teams data and plugins |
| ~/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.teams/ | Electron browser cache and GPU data |
| ~/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.teams.plist | App preferences and notification settings |
| ~/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.teams.helper.plist | Helper process preferences |
| ~/Library/Saved Application State/com.microsoft.teams.savedState/ | Window positions |
| ~/Library/Logs/Microsoft Teams/ | Meeting logs and crash reports |
| ~/Library/HTTPStorages/com.microsoft.teams/ | Web storage and auth cookies |
| ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.com.microsoft.teams/ | Shared container data with other Microsoft apps |
| ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.microsoft.teams.TeamsUpdaterDaemon.plist | Background updater daemon |
Manual removal (step-by-step)
- 1. Quit Teams completelyRight-click the Teams icon in the menu bar → Quit, or press ⌘Q while Teams is focused.
- 2. Delete the app bundleOpen /Applications in Finder, drag Microsoft Teams.app to Trash.
- 3. Open Library in FinderPress ⌘ Shift G in Finder and type
~/Library. - 4. Delete these folders/filesNavigate to each location in the table above and delete the Teams files. Use ⌘ Delete to move to Trash.
- 5. Check Group Containers carefullyThe folder
~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.com.microsoft.teams/is shared with other Microsoft apps. If you still use Microsoft Office, review its contents before deleting — removing shared data may affect other Microsoft apps. - 6. Empty TrashOnce you're confident, empty the Trash to reclaim disk space.
Automated removal with Zapper
Instead of hunting through 10+ directories manually, Zapper finds everything in seconds:
- Before deleting Teams, drop
Microsoft Teams.apponto Zapper's window. - Zapper scans all 11 Library directories and shows every leftover file with its path and size.
- Review the list, check the files you want to remove, and click Zap.
- Files move to Trash — including the updater daemon and Group Container data. Restore with ⌘Z if needed.
Teams and Group Containers
Teams uses macOS Group Containers — a system feature that lets apps from the same developer share data. The container at ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.com.microsoft.teams/ may hold shared credentials, preferences, and cached data used by other Microsoft apps like Outlook and OneDrive.
Most uninstallers miss this directory entirely because Group Containers are not part of the standard Library cleanup paths. This means leftover Teams data can persist for months — taking up space and leaving stale authentication tokens behind.
~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.com.microsoft.teams/
Zapper's deep scan catches Group Containers automatically. It identifies which files belong to Teams and which are shared, so you can remove Teams data without breaking other Microsoft apps.