Top 6 Fixes for Polls Not Working in Microsoft Teams for Windows

Microsoft Teams has revolutionized how teams communicate and collaborate with its wide range of features. One of these is the ability to conduct polls, which can help teams gather feedback, make decisions, and ensure everyone’s voice is heard. However, you may be unable to do any of this if Microsoft Teams polls stop working on your Windows 10 or 11 PC.

When this happens, Microsoft Teams may display errors like ‘Something went wrong’ or ‘Unable to reach app’ on your Windows PC. To help out, we have listed a few useful troubleshooting tips that should help fix the underlying issue. So, let’s take a look.

1. Close and Reopen the Teams App

You can start by closing the Teams app completely and reopening it. This will address any temporary issues that may have caused polls to stop working in Teams chat.

Step 1: Press the Control + Shift + Escape keyboard shortcut to open Task Manager.

Step 2: In the Processes tab, locate Microsoft Teams on the list. Right-click on it and select End task from the resulting menu.

Reopen the Teams app after this and see if you can create and respond to polls.

2. Check Your Internet Connection

A weak internet connection might be why Microsoft Teams is not displaying polls on your Windows computer. Hence, it’s a good idea to test your internet connection before moving on to any advanced fixes. To do so, open a browser and run a quick internet speed test.

If your internet seems slow or unreliable, switch to another network connection and try again.

3. Clear Teams App Cache

Microsoft Teams collects and stores temporary files on your PC to improve its performance. However, if this data becomes old or corrupted, some of the app’s features, such as polls, may stop working. To fix this, you will need to clear the existing Teams app cache on your PC. Here are the steps for the same.

Step 1: Right-click on the Start icon to open the Power User menu and select Run, or press the Windows key + R keyboard shortcut to open the Run dialog box.

Step 2: Type %appdata%\Microsoft\Teams in the Open field and hit Enter.

Step 3: In the File Explorer window that opens, press Control + A keyboard shortcut to select all the files and folders. Then, click the trash icon at the top to delete them.

Restart the Teams app after this and see if the polls are working.

4. Update the App

Using an outdated version of the Teams app can also cause such problems. This can happen if you have disabled automatic app updates on your PC and haven’t checked for updates in a while.

Open the Microsoft Teams app and click the menu icon (three horizontal dots) in the top-right corner. If a newer version is available, select ‘Update and restart Teams’ to install it.

Wait for the Teams app to apply the available updates, then check if the issue remains.

5. Check if Teams Is Down

There’s a chance that the polls not working issue has nothing to do with the app but rather with Teams’ servers. If that’s the case, the Teams app won’t show or create polls, no matter what you do. You can visit Microsoft’s service status page to see if there is a widespread outage.

Microsoft Office Service Status

If you see a red X icon next to Teams, wait for Microsoft to fix the problem on their end. Companies usually to fix such server-related issues, so you should not have to wait long.

6. Switch to Teams for the Web

If you still can’t view or create polls, try switching to the web version of Microsoft Teams as a last resort. This should allow you to access your polls and determine whether the issue is specific to the app.

If you can use polls on Teams for the web but not on the desktop app, some of the core app files on your PC may be corrupt. In that case, consider uninstalling Microsoft Teams from your PC and proceeding with a fresh installation.

Empower Collaboration With Teams Polls

When used thoughtfully, polls can benefit team collaboration, promoting engagement, and making informed decisions. Hence, it can be frustrating when polls don’t work as intended in Microsoft Teams for Windows. Hopefully, that is no longer the case, and one of the above tips has helped solve the issue.