Remove old accounts from Teams Mac sign-in screen; cache reset did not help

Question

Remove old accounts from Teams Mac sign-in screen; cache reset did not help

David Eagan 0

On Teams for Mac, old accounts remain in “Pick an account” after removing both Teams cache containers. The accounts are already signed out, no Remove option appears, and OneAuth Keychain entries show only IDs. I need to remove selected saved identities without resetting my other Microsoft accounts.

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2 answers

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Answer 1

Hendrix 2,770 Independent Advisor

Hi David,

Based on what you shared, this is not a Teams cache issue. Because you want to preserve your other Microsoft accounts, do not delete OneAuth entries that display only GUIDs or internal IDs. Please try these steps instead:

Quit all Microsoft apps completely (Teams, Outlook, OneDrive, Word, and Excel, etc.)
Open Finder > Applications > Utilities > Keychain Access
Select the login keychain and search for the old email address, the old organization/domain name, or the account display name
Delete an entry only if it clearly identifies the unwanted account
Restart the Mac and check the Teams account picker

If this is an organization-managed Mac, please check Microsoft Single Sign-On for macOS > Advanced > if the obsolete work or school account is listed, use "Remove account from this device". This removes that account and its SSO tokens without deregistering the entire Mac (don't select "Deregister", since that removes device registration and disables SSO)

If neither Keychain Access nor Microsoft Single Sign-On identifies the account by email or organization, unfortunately there currently is no safe documented method to remove only that specific OneAuth identity. Deleting generic items such as OneAuthAccount, login.windows.net may clear the picker, but it signs out or resets all Microsoft accounts, which does not meet your requirement.

Hope this information is useful. Should you have any other questions, please feel free to share them in the comments of this post. I'm happy to assist you further.

David Eagan 0 Reputation points

2026-10-28T17:15:03.05+00:00

I am fine if I have to log back in with my current active accounts, should I just remove them all and 'start fresh'. I wouldnt loose any files right?
Hendrix 2,770 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-28T18:08:39.93+00:00

Hi David,

Yes, you can remove all the Microsoft/OneAuth sign-in entries and start fresh. This removes saved credentials and tokens only, not your files stored in OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams, or Outlook.

Before proceeding, please confirm OneDrive is up to date, save any open files, and make sure you can sign back into your active accounts, including completing MFA. Also, delete only the Microsoft-related entries, including OneAuth, OneAuthAccount, Microsoft, Microsoft Office, Teams, login.windows.net, authority_map and the old account’s email address or domain.
Hendrix 2,770 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-29T23:05:01.5233333+00:00

Good day, David

How are things going? If you need any further assistance, please feel free to reach out again,

Answer 2

Do not delete opaque OneAuth Keychain records individually; remove the old identity only if Keychain Access or the Microsoft single sign-on interface exposes it as a named account.

1. Try the supported Keychain removal

Microsoft’s documented macOS procedure is:

Quit Teams completely.
Open Finder → Applications → Utilities → Keychain Access.
Select the login keychain and All Items.
Search for the old email address, account name, or old organization domain.
If a result clearly identifies that account, right-click it and select Delete “[account name]”.
Reopen Teams and inspect Pick an account. ^1^

Do not delete entries identified only by an unfamiliar GUID or internal OneAuth ID. Microsoft identity libraries can share a Keychain across applications, so deleting shared credentials can remove tokens used by Outlook, OneDrive, and other Microsoft apps—the exact collateral reset you want to avoid. ^2^

Signing out of Teams does not remove a device-level identity: it removes Teams’ app data, while other applications and macOS single sign-on can continue exposing the account. ^3^

2. If this Mac uses Microsoft Platform SSO

Check whether Microsoft single sign on for macOS is installed and has an Advanced menu. This applies primarily to organization-managed Macs using Microsoft’s SSO configuration.

Open Microsoft single sign on for macOS.
From the macOS menu bar, select Advanced.
Look for Remove account from this device.
Use it only if the interface identifies the obsolete work or school account.

That operation removes the work or school account and its SSO authentication tokens from the device. Do not choose Deregister unless the intention is to remove device registration and disable SSO entirely. ^4^

If the Mac is managed and the control is unavailable or the old identity is provisioned by Platform SSO, the organization’s administrator must remove or adjust the applicable account/SSO configuration. Platform SSO requires MDM enrollment and is delivered through device policy. ^5^

When neither interface identifies the account

There is no documented, reliable mapping from the opaque OneAuth IDs in Keychain Access to the email addresses displayed by Teams. Because the Teams cache reset has already failed, repeating it or reinstalling Teams is unlikely to provide selective removal.

At that point, the safe choices are:

Leave the stale picker entry in place; it does not mean the account remains signed in.
Ask the current or former organization’s administrator whether the Mac has an SSO or Platform SSO registration for that identity.
Open a Microsoft support case for account-specific cleanup.
Use a full Microsoft identity reset only as a last resort, accepting that all Microsoft apps will require authentication again.

References