MY invites from Teams are not being rec'd.

Dear @Rob Van Craenenbroeck,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

I understand that technical issues can be frustrating, and I’d love to help you resolve this. Before giving you the best solution, could you please confirm these questions below to help me diagnose the issue more effectively: 

• Are the invites missing only for certain recipients, or is no one receiving them at all?
• Have you tried sending invites from a different device or platform (e.g., mobile app vs. desktop)?
• Are you receiving any bounce-back or delivery failure notifications? Are you seeing any error messages when sending invites or when contacts fail to populate?
• Are the contacts that fail to populate saved in your Outlook/Exchange address book, or are they external?
• Are you signed into multiple Microsoft accounts on the same device?
• Are you using Teams and Outlook on Windows, macOS, or web?
• Have you recently updated Teams, Outlook, or your operating system?

In this case, you're experiencing two related problems. First is Teams invites are not being received, even when entered manually. And second is Contacts appear but do not populate when scheduling meetings. These symptoms often point to sync issues between Outlook and Teams, cached data problems, or misconfigured meeting policies.

Here are some of my recommended troubleshooting steps:

Step 1: Clear Microsoft Teams Cache

• Corrupted cache files can prevent contacts from loading and interfere with invite delivery.
• Quit Teams completely.
• Navigate to %appdata%\Microsoft\Teams on Windows or ~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Teams on macOS.
• Delete all contents in the folder.
• Restart Teams.
• For more detailed instructions: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/microsoftteams/teams-administration/clear-teams-cache

Step 2: Check Outlook-to-Teams Contact Sync

If contacts show in Outlook but not in Teams, it may be due to missing metadata like tenantid. Therefore, I recommend you recreating affected contacts if sync issues persist

Step 3: Verify Meeting Policy Settings

If you're an admin or have access to the Teams Admin Center:

• Go to Teams Admin Center → Meetings → Meeting Policies.
• Check if anonymous or guest users are allowed

Step 4: Use Teams Channel Email for Group Invites

If you're inviting a large group via a Teams channel, I recommend you use the channel’s email address. This ensures the invite reaches all members and appears on their calendars.

You can try to create a meeting for the team's General channel which includes all members:

• Select Calendar > New meeting > Add channel > choose General channel for the team which you want to have meeting with from the list.
• Add details.
• Select Send.
• If you want to join an ongoing channel meeting, select Join on the meeting.

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can work together to resolve this.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.

I'm looking forward for your reply.

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Dear @Rob Van Craenenbroeck,

Thank you for your response! I truly appreciate your update.

If the issue still persists, here are some methods I recommend you try:

Method 1: Import the contacts again

First, make sure that Outlook contacts are synced with Teams otherwise, this problem is a must. However, if it is already synced, yet the contacts are not showing, then import them again. To do the same, follow the below steps.

1. Launch Outlook, go to the Home tab, and click on the Address book option.
2. Click on the account that you are using currently, and then on the Select All option.
3. At last, go to the File tab, and then select Add to contacts option.
4. Wait for the contacts to sync, and hopefully, contacts will be showing in Teams.

Method 2. Disable Scope directory search

If contacts are not visible on the screen, ask your admin to disable the Scope directory search. Scoped search option is the feature that helps the admin narrow down the search results; however, this feature may create this issue, therefore, contact the admin, and ask them to disable it. Once disabled, see if the issue persists or not.

For reference: Limit who users can see when searching the directory in Teams - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn

Method 3. Clean the Team’s cache

• Hit Win+E to open File Explorer.
• Now, navigate to the following location in File Explorer: C:\Users<YourUserName>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Teams
• After that, in the opened location, delete all files in tmp folder, blob_storage, cache, GPU cache, databases, and local storage folders.
• Next, open the IndexedDB folder and delete the .db file.
• Finally, restart the PC and look up the issue.

Method 4. Remove the Team’s settings file

• Click Win + R to open the Run dialog box and then type the following and hit the Enter button:
• Control folders
• In the View tab, go to the Hidden files and folders option, and then check the box next to the Show hidden files, folders, and drivers option.
• Now, select Apply and Ok Button.
• Open Explorer, and search the following path: %appdata%\Microsoft\teams Or C:/Users/username/AppData/Roaming/MicrosoftTeams
• Search and right-click on the settings.json folder and select the Delete option.
• After deleting the JSON file, restart your computer, and if possible, reboot your computer and then see if the issue is resolved.

Method 5. Update Teams or Reinstall Teams again 

To update Microsoft Teams app, click on the Settings and more button that is present beside the profile picture. Now, press the Check for updates option to let the app download and install available updates. Now restart the app and see if the contact is visible or not.

Method 6. Repair or Reset Teams

• Open Settings.
• Go to Apps > Installed apps or Apps & features.
• Search for Microsoft Teams.
  • Windows 11: Click on the three vertical dots and select Advanced Options.
  • Windows 10: Select the app and click on Advanced Options.
• Click on the Repair button.

You need to wait for some time as Windows repair the app in question. Once the process is completed, check if the issue is resolved. In case, the issue persists, go to the same panel, but this time, click on Reset. This will reset your settings to default.

Workaround:

Use Teams Channel Email for Group Invites. If inviting many people, use the channel’s email address to ensure delivery.

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can work together to resolve this.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.

I'm looking forward for your reply.

If my answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".   

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.