Use your own custom Teams background

While Microsoft is always working on expanding the capabilities of its Teams app, the rapid acceleration in the use of MS Teams during the global COVID-19 pandemic has also accelerated implementing some of the features on the backlog in an effort to compete with other group conferencing applications like WebEx and Zoom. Some of these capabilities include allowing the user to blur the background during video calls, as well as changing the background and increasing the number of video participants visible in the gallery.

One of the latest changes is the ability to pick a custom background, but as of the writing of this article, you are limited to the backgrounds provided by Microsoft. While it is pretty obvious that the ability to add your own custom background will eventually be available from the UI, it is possible to add your own background now, if you know where to store them. If you follow the instructions below, they will become available for selection in the app.

Here are the steps to display your own custom background:

On Windows:

• Create or download your background. I’ve heard there might be limits on resolution or size, but I haven’t seen anything official and haven’t run into any issues.

• Copy or save your image to

  %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Teams\Backgrounds\Uploads
  

• In the MS Teams desktop app, click the background option. Your custom image will be included along with the stock images from Microsoft.

On Mac OS:

• Create or download your background. Again, I’ve heard there might be limits on resolution or size, but I haven’t seen anything official and haven’t run into any issues.

• Place your image in

  /users/<username>/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Teams/Backgrounds/Uploads
  

• In the MS Teams desktop app, click the background option. Your custom image will be included along with the stock images from Microsoft. FULL DISCLOSURE: I do not have a Mac, so I found this location online. I hope it is correct since I can’t test it.

Stay tuned!