I recently reused a Microsoft 365 user account for a new employee, using the same email as the previous user. In Azure AD and Exchange, the Display Name reflects the change correctly, and it displays properly when I view the account in Teams. However, other users are still seeing the old employee's display name for this account in Microsoft Teams, especially in old chats. Is there a way to force Teams to update the display name or will starting a new chat fix this?
6 Answers
Check if the old display name shows up in Outlook Web App as well as the desktop app. Teams has some weird caching issues that can cause this. If it's just in Teams, that might be why. But if it’s in OWA too, it could be a deeper issue with account propagation.
You can also try clearing the Teams cache on their local machine to see if that helps speed up updates. There are specific folders you can access in File Explorer to do this, but make sure everyone does it.
This is exactly why you should avoid reusing accounts! The best solution here is to delete the reused account and create a new one. Trust me, any attempts to force an update just lead to more problems down the line.
If it's mainly about old chats, that's the expected behavior. New users shouldn't be linked with past conversations. Starting a new chat could help, and using Ctrl+N is a good way to create a fresh chat without losing any history.
Awesome, that makes sense! I’ll try starting a new chat.
Reusing accounts can lead to a lot of headaches, including this display name issue. Microsoft Teams caches information for up to 30 days, which is likely causing the old name to show up. It's generally not recommended to reuse accounts due to security and compliance concerns. You might want to just create a new account to avoid ongoing issues.
So, deleting the old account and making a new one is definitely the way to go, huh?
Right, I get that now—thanks for pointing that out!
It’ll usually take some time for everything to propagate throughout O365. You've got to wait and see how it updates, so don't panic just yet. Changes can take a week sometimes!
Thanks! I didn’t realize it took that long.
I’ll look into that! I hope it’s just a Teams issue.