How do I activate sound on Teams?

Activating notification sounds in Teams on Mac requires configuring two places: Teams itself and macOS System Settings. Miss either one and you'll get silent notifications. This is a quick setup walkthrough — for broader troubleshooting, see our Teams notification sounds on Mac hub.

Part 1: Enable sound in Teams

1. Open Microsoft Teams on your Mac.
2. Click your profile picture (top-right) and select Settings.
3. Go to Notifications.
4. Find "Play sounds with notifications" and make sure it's turned on.
5. Review your notification preferences below. For each category (Chat, Meetings, etc.), check that your preferred notifications are set to "Banner and feed" rather than "Only show in feed" if you want audible alerts.

Part 2: Enable sound in macOS

1. Open System Settings (Apple menu → System Settings).
2. Click Notifications.
3. Scroll to Microsoft Teams and click it.
4. Turn on "Allow Notifications" if it isn't already.
5. Turn on "Play sound for notification".
6. Set the notification style to Banners or Alerts.

Part 3: Verify it works

1. Go back to Teams → Settings → Notifications.
2. Click "Test notification".
3. You should see a banner and hear the Teams notification sound.
4. If you see the banner but hear no sound, double-check the macOS "Play sound for notification" toggle — it's the most commonly missed setting.

Quick checklist

• Teams → "Play sounds with notifications" → On
• macOS → Notifications → Teams → "Play sound for notification" → On
• macOS → Notifications → Teams → Style → Banners or Alerts
• Focus mode → Off, or Teams in allowed apps
• Audio output → Correct device, volume up

Want different sounds for different notifications?

Teams on Mac doesn't support custom sounds — every notification plays the same tone. Chirpy changes that. It's a native macOS menu bar app that lets you assign unique sounds to specific people, channels, or keywords in Teams. Set it up once and you'll hear the difference immediately.