Microsoft 365 Error Codes

Fix Duplicate proxyAddresses Error When Restoring a Teams Group

Chanuka Geekiyanage Oct 23, 2026 869 views

Question details

The user needs to resolve an error preventing the restoration of a deleted Microsoft Teams group due to an email address conflict.

How to Fix the Duplicate proxyAddresses Error When Restoring a Teams Group

Product: Microsoft 365
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Restoring a deleted Microsoft Teams group within the 30-day recovery window.
Observed behavior: An error occurs stating that another object already has the same proxyAddresses value, blocking the group restoration.

Before you start

Ensure you have the Exchange Online PowerShell v2 module installed and are logged in with Exchange Administrator privileges.

Solution 1Recommended

Identify and Remove the Conflicting Email Address

Use Exchange Online PowerShell to find the exact object holding the conflicting SMTP address so you can remove or change its alias.

This error happens when the Teams group email address has been reassigned to another Microsoft 365 or Exchange recipient, such as a new distribution list, before the restoration process.

Open Exchange Online PowerShell

Launch PowerShell as an administrator and connect to Exchange Online using the command 'Connect-ExchangeOnline'.

Search for the Conflicting Object

Run the following command, replacing the placeholder with the actual email address: Get-EXORecipient -ResultSize unlimited | Where-Object {$_.EmailAddresses -match '<conflicting SMTP address>'} | Format-List Name,RecipientType,EmailAddresses

Remove the Alias

Once the command identifies the conflicting object (e.g., a distribution list), go to the Microsoft 365 admin center or use PowerShell to remove or change that object's alias.

Restore the Teams Group

After confirming the email address is completely unassigned, attempt to restore the Microsoft Teams group again.

Identify and Remove the Conflicting Email Address

Recovery Window: Deleted groups are generally recoverable for 30 days unless specific retention or hold settings apply.

Solution 2

Contact Microsoft Support for Urgent Recovery

If the conflicting object cannot be found or the 30-day recovery window is closing quickly, escalate the issue to Microsoft support.

Free Microsoft Office alternative

Enhance Your Productivity with WPS Office

While Microsoft 365 handles complex backend administration, WPS Office provides a lightweight, highly compatible, and free suite for all your daily document creation needs.

Fully compatible with Microsoft Office formats including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files.Lightweight application that uses minimal system resources.Familiar user interface makes switching easy with zero learning curve.Includes a powerful built-in PDF toolkit for free.

microsoft office alternative - wps office

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the duplicate proxyAddresses error occur?

This happens when the email address originally assigned to the deleted Teams group has been assigned to a newly created object, like a distribution list, before you attempted to restore the group.

How long do I have to restore a deleted Teams group?

Generally, deleted Microsoft 365 groups can be recovered within 30 days of deletion, provided no special retention policies have purged it permanently.

Can I find the conflicting email address without PowerShell?

While you can manually check active users, groups, and distribution lists in the Microsoft 365 admin center, PowerShell is the fastest and most accurate method to search across all Exchange objects simultaneously.

What if the PowerShell query returns no results?

If no object is found, the conflicting item might be a soft-deleted object or a hidden recipient. In such cases, contacting Microsoft 365 Support is highly recommended to access backend recovery tools.

Microsoft Office Error Codes