Teams Custom Backgrounds

In Microsoft Teams you can upload a custom background image for your meetings via the Client Interface. I share here a tip how to add custom backgroung images on your Windows PC via the File Explorer.

Status quo

How to change your background image in Microsoft Teams client

In Microsoft Teams you upload a custom background image using Add new in the Background Settings:

This will add the image file one by one.

If you want to reuse copy/paste multiples image files in one step it isn't possible this way.

Background Images Location

Another way to add background images to your Microsoft Teams client is to open this file location:

%AppData%\Microsoft\Teams\Backgrounds\Uploads

You can open this folder by copy/pasting the path highlighted above in the file explorer address bar: %AppData% will expand to its environment variable value. 

For me it looks like C:\Users\<myuid>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Teams\Backgrounds\Uploads

Key advantage

Key advantage of knowing this - going via the File Explorer - is that from here you can upload/ copy/paste multiple images in one step. It is very useful if you want to reuse files from a shared common library. 

Tip: If you share standard background images in a SharePoint Online Document Library, you can open this library in the File Explorer using the Sync feature.

Teams Shortcuts Implementation

To support this handling, two menus are implemented in the Teams Shortcuts PowerTool.

Right-Click on the Teams Shortcuts System Tray Icon and select "Custom Backgrounds" in the Context Menu to access following functionalities.

Open Custom Backgrounds Folder

This will open the before-mentioned file location (which is else pretty hard to remember) - where you can add or remove custom background images.

Open Custom Background Library

You might have in your organization a shared location where you store standard background images.

You can configure this location in the PowerTools.ini file (located on the root PowerTools installation folder)

This is the parameter with the value TeamsCustomBackgroundsLibrary

[MicrosoftTeams]

TeamsMentionPersonalize = True

TeamsCustomBackgroundsLibrary = https://xxx.sharepoint.com/:f:/r/teams/team_10000035/Shared Documents/Collaborate/TEAMS Background Pictures

Open it, Sync it and copy/paste reuse background images from the Library to your Teams local folder.

Let's go and share your preferred background images with your colleagues/friends!