@-mention does not find the person
You type @Max and Teams shows you everyone except Max. Indexing lag, wrong tenant, or missing search scope.
Affected systems
Quick fixes
- Search with full email address rather than nickname
- Check tenant - the person must be in the current tenant or invited as guest
- Cross-check in the web client
How @-mentions work
When you type @, Teams searches an index of all members of the
current chat or channel, plus other people in your tenant. If your
target is not found, there are a few sticky spots.
Person is in the wrong tenant
If you are in Tenant A and Max is only in Tenant B, search will not find him. Switch tenant top right, retry.
Person is not an invited guest
In a channel chat of Team X you can only @-mention members of Team X. External people must first be invited as guests.
Search cache is stale
Sometimes the local people index lags. Type the full email instead of just the first name - this often bypasses the cache:
@[email protected]Tip: find via search, then @-mention
If @-mention fails:
- Search the person in the top search bar
- Start a 1:1 chat (person now appears in the search index)
- Retry @-mention in the original chat - works now
Cross-tenant @-mentions
In recent Teams versions you can @-mention people from foreign tenants if cross-tenant collaboration is configured. On older tenants it is not active - then you must invite the person as a guest in your tenant.