How to Remove the Out of Office Status from Microsoft Teams

If Microsoft Teams is stuck on Out of Office even after you’ve returned, it’s likely syncing incorrect data from Outlook. This issue can also appear as “status stuck,” “unknown,” or persistent away messages. Here’s how to reset it across platforms.

How to Disable Out Of Office Status on Teams

1. Remove Outlook invites with Out of Office status

This seems to happen often when a new release of Teams is installed. If someone sends you a calendar invite with date ranges from today until the future with Out of Office selected, or if you create future Out of Office appointments, then Teams is somehow changing the status.

The easiest fix is to check if any invitation is mentioned as Out of Office. If you find such an invitation, then remove it from your calendar. Any difference now? If not, check out the following solutions.

2. Turn off Don’t send automatic replies

1. Go to Outlook Web App.
2. Click the gear button.
3. Click the View all Outlook settings link.
4. Choose Email from the left side menu.
5. Click Automatic replies.
6. Toggle the Automatic replies on the option to Off.
7. Click the Save button at the bottom of the respective screen.

3. Change your Status Message in Teams

1. Go to your profile at the top of Teams.
2. Click Set status message.
3. Then, type the message that you want to show to other people in the box.
4. Click Done and you’re all set. Teams will refresh.
5. You may now delete the status, by clicking on your profile again and selecting the recycle bin icon next to the status.

This overwrites and remove the Out of Office reply that is pulled from Outlook but only in Teams. This WILL NOT overwrite what is in Outlook.

Moreover, when you change your Status Message in Teams it will sync immediately.

4. Move or Delete Settings.json file

1. Click the X in the corner of the Teams window to close it.
2. Right-click the Teams icon found in the taskbar, and choose Quit.
3. Navigate to the location: C:/Users/*YourUsername*/AppData/Roaming/MicrosoftTeams
4. Look for the file Settings.json and move it to another location.
5. Next, sign in to Teams to see if the issue is solved.

5. Remove Custom Status Message in Teams

If you had a custom note like “Back Monday” or “Vacation until Friday”, it may still display even after your status changes.

• Go to your profile picture in Teams.
• Select Set status message.
• Delete the text or click Clear status message.

This step ensures Teams isn’t displaying outdated manual messages alongside your status.

6. Clear Teams App Cache

Sometimes, cached data causes Microsoft Teams to continue showing an incorrect status on desktop.

• Fully exit Teams by right-clicking the icon in the taskbar and selecting Quit.
• Open the following folder:
  C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Teams
• Delete all folders inside and restart Teams.

Clearing the app cache forces Teams to reload your status from the server.

NOTE

Replace the *YourUsername* entry above with the name of your User on the PC.

Other users also tried to uninstall Teams and closed all Office apps after reinstalling it or clearing its cache and were pleased by the results. Please note that these options are based on third-party suggestions rather than first-hand experience.

And if these steps seem too lengthy, you can always block a user on Teams and unblock them once that annoying status is gone.

FAQs related to removing out of office status in Microsoft Teams

Do you have further suggestions or questions? If so, welcome to post here. We are always here to further help you.