Trying to Disable Microsoft Teams Phone for a user who has left the organization can be puzzling, especially if you haven’t done it before. It is quite integrated with M365 and there is a process to it. You are probably doing it this way….

Back in the day when a user left your organization, it used to be quite easy. It was done this way:

• You would disable the account in AD
• Forward their email to someone else in the organization
• Perform any modifications necessary in your VOIP phone system
• Change the VM greeting to let users know the user was no longer with the company
• Reroute their calls for awhile.

You can still do that in M365 but if you disable the account first, the user disappears in Teams Admin and you can’t do any further modifications!! If done right, it is as easy as adding a number in Teams. Here are the steps to the proper process.

How To Disable Microsoft Teams Phone

Note: Make sure you do this before you disable the account in AD. When it syncs to the Cloud the users Team’s account will disappear!!!

1. Keep the users licensing active in the M365 portal.

• Start by forwarding all calls to voicemail:

• Then, establish a VM that notifies people – the user must have a default greeting set to “<user> is no longer with <Company Name> effective <Date>. Please contact <Manager> at <Teams Phone Number>.”.

• Hide the user from the GAL. You can do this in the portal but if you operate in a hybrid environment, go to the user account in AD and set the attribute MSExcHideFromAddressLists to TRUE
• Disable the account in AD or block sign-in in the portal.
• Have your IT Ticketing system remind you to remove the licensing after a certain period in O365 portal, so you don’t needless pay for a license you are not using.

The important thing to remember is NOT disable the user M365 account until after the Teams configuration is done. Wen done right, even tough the user has disappeared from teams, people will be properly notified when they call.

Happy IT’ing

Dan

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Dan

I am an IT professional with over twenty years experience in the field. I have supported thousands of users over the years. The organizations I have worked for range in size from one person to hundreds of people. I have performed support from Help Desk, Network / Cloud Administration, Network Support, Application Support, Implementation and Security.