Enable your custom background on Microsoft Teams
Microsoft just shipped an update for Microsoft Teams. It has the option to insert one of a set of predefined images. And a hidden one to add your own!
![Enable your custom background on Microsoft Teams](/content/images/size/w2000/2020/04/unnamed.jpg)
Update: Now you can add new images directly with a simple add button:
![](https://jessehouwing.net/content/images/2020/06/image-11.png)
If that is not available to you yet, you should still be able to use the steps below.
Update: Works on mac too. Thanks Albert Brand!
With a lot of people working from home now, we're giving the world a peek into our homes. It may not always be the most representative. You may not have a dedicated room (like me) and sit at the kitchen table. The option to inject a picture of your office or your favorite spot in the mountains is super useful.
![](https://jessehouwing.net/content/images/2020/04/Background-selection.png)
And they note that custom images are coming "soon". It turns out it's here already, but may not have the required user interface elements yet.
I stumbled upon this little tweet on how to do this:
Individual backgrounds are already possible. Save the image to c:\users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Teams\Backgrounds\Upload
— Stefan Häfliger (@s_haefliger) April 13, 2020
To add your own images. Make sure they have the following dimension: 1920x1080.
![](https://jessehouwing.net/content/images/2020/04/image.png)
Then, the only thing you need to do is to save the image in the following (hidden) directory in jpg format in Windows:
%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Teams\Backgrounds\Uploads
And on a Mac:
/Users/<account>/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Teams/Backgrounds/Uploads
![](https://jessehouwing.net/content/images/2020/04/microsoft-teams-custom-backgrounds-folder-1.png)
then enable your custom background from your meeting settings:
![](https://jessehouwing.net/content/images/2020/04/microsoft-teams-backgroound-effects.png)
Your custom images will show up at the bottom of the list.
![](https://jessehouwing.net/content/images/2020/04/pick-and-preview-your-custom-background.png)
And as you can see, this puts me back in the office, with my virtual colleagues. Or in a fun Fantasy setting!
The fantasy series! pic.twitter.com/Wd3vGfxiPf
— Jesse Houwing (@jessehouwing) April 15, 2020
Show your cool backgrounds in the comments!