Trying to delete people from Teams

Contacts shown in Microsoft Teams Free can come from two places:

1. Contacts synced from a device/other services (mobile, Outlook.com, Google, iCloud, Skype)
2. Contacts that are actual Teams contact relationships

Because the original device is no longer available, use these approaches instead:

1. Unsync/remove contact sources in Teams (desktop/web)
   • In Teams for Windows or Mac:
     1. Select Settings and more > Settings > People.
     2. Under Sync contacts, select Manage.
     3. Under Already synced, select Remove next to each source that was used (for example From your mobile device, From Outlook.com, From Google, or From Skype).
   • This stops syncing and removes those synced contacts from Teams. It does not delete them from Microsoft servers; they can be managed in Outlook.com instead.
2. Turn off device contact sync from mobile (if still signed in on any phone/tablet)
   • In Teams for iOS or Android:
     1. Go to Settings > People.
     2. Switch Sync my device contacts to Off.
   • Turning this off removes device contacts from Outlook.com and therefore from Teams.
3. Delete or manage the contacts directly in Outlook.com
   • Contacts synced via Teams (from mobile, Google, iCloud, Skype) are visible in Outlook.com under People in the My contacts area.
   • Go to Outlook.com People, locate the relevant contacts or folders (for example, a folder named after the old device), and delete those contacts there. Deletions in Outlook.com will be reflected in Teams where the same Microsoft account is used.
4. Remove Teams contact relationships (for actual Teams contacts)
   • For contacts that are real Teams relationships (not just synced address book entries):
     1. Block the user by hovering over the person in the Chat tab and using the block option (see the “block a contact” guidance linked from the export/delete article).
     2. Go to Settings > People > Blocked People.
     3. On mobile, select …; on desktop, select Manage.
     4. Select Delete for the blocked contact.
   • This removes the user from the exported contacts list. Chat history remains, and the contact would only reappear if a new two‑way relationship is established.
   • Changes can take up to 24 hours to appear in the Teams contact experience.

If the original device is gone, the key steps are: unsync/remove the old source under Settings > People > Sync contacts in Teams, and then clean up the underlying contacts in Outlook.com People.

References:

• Export or delete your data in Microsoft Teams Free
• Sync your contacts in Microsoft Teams Free
• Your Microsoft account, your data, your choices