TeamsFixer
de en

Teams runs slow or hangs

Teams feels sluggish, eats RAM, or freezes briefly. The most effective levers, with per-OS paths.

Last verified:

Affected systems

windows macos

Quick fixes

  • Switch to the new Teams client (uses much less RAM)
  • Toggle hardware acceleration in settings (on or off)
  • Clear cache and minimize add-ins

Switch to the new client

The classic Teams client (Electron) is significantly slower than Teams 2.x. If IT allows the choice, enable “Try the new Teams” in settings - the new client typically uses 30-50 percent less RAM.

Hardware acceleration

In Teams: profile, Settings, General, “Use hardware acceleration”. Some GPUs benefit dramatically, others get worse. Try both.

Clear cache

Windows

Classic client:

%appdata%\Microsoft\Teams

New client:

%localappdata%\Packages\MSTeams_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache

macOS

Classic client:

~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Teams

New client:

~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.com.microsoft.teams

The first 30 seconds after reset are slow (sync), after that Teams typically runs noticeably faster.

Drop unused teams

Each team costs RAM for the channel list. Walk through your team list, hide or leave teams you no longer use.

RAM hunger in the background

Teams keeps running after close:

Windows

In Task Manager under Processes, end all “Microsoft Teams” entries. In the Startup tab, check whether Teams launches at startup - if not desired, disable.

macOS

In Activity Monitor search for “Teams”, Force Quit all processes. Under System Settings, General, Login Items, check the autostart entry.

Antivirus

Some antivirus tools scan every Teams operation. Adding Teams as an exception in the antivirus settings can cut latency in half. Common offenders: McAfee, Sophos, Trend Micro.

Related errors