Teams meeting backgrounds

Setting a background effect

To set a background effect during a Teams meeting, click on the '...' menu item and click on 'Show background effects'. This will open a settings window at the right where you can select one of the default images.

You can click on an image and click on 'Apply' to replace the background of your webcam feed with the selected background. You can also try out the images using the 'Preview' button, this will display a small video feed window in the background setting menu where you can see what your video feed will look like.

Keep in mind that during previewing backgrounds your video feed to other attendees will be stopped, and you either have to switch it back on manually (when you just stop the preview), or it will be automatically switched back on when you click on the 'Apply and turn on video' button.

Custom backgrounds

There are a lot of images to choose from, but what if you have a great picture you would like to use, or want to use a Centric swirl image as your background?

Well, currently Teams doesn't have an option to upload custom images through the Teams client itself, but there is a way to add custom images.

Open the Windows Explorer and paste the following path in the 'address bar':

%AppData%\Microsoft\Teams\Backgrounds\

This will open a folder with a couple of background images, and there is an 'Uploads' folder. Click on the 'Uploads' folder to open it, and copy your image to that folder.

That's all! When you go back to your Teams client, reopen the 'Background settings' menu, and scroll to the bottom of the list of backgrounds, your custom image will be shown there, and you can select it just like any other background image.