October 20, 2023

Import Teams Meeting Backgrounds (Teams New)

In the Teams New Client the import of Meeting Backgrounds works differently.
I have implemented some features in the Teams PowerTools to support it.

Limitations

The new Teams client has some regression in the handling of background files. It forces to name the files with a GUID and make them not so nicely identifiable in the client, since mouse-hovering a custom background will display its file name which looks quite encrypted.




Implementation

Algorithm

From a user input folder, the image files will be processed.
Files ending with _thumb. are skipped. This allows to import backgrounds from Teams Classic folder conveniently.

Files are renamed with a GUID.

Files already copied are skipped. MD5 Checksum is checked for these.
This allows a seamless update procedures and avoid duplicating files.

Thumbnails are generated automatically using the Gdip library.

AutoHotkey Implementation

You can find the code in this gist:
Main code is available in the Teams Library Lib/Teams.ahk, in the functions named Teams_Background*

New Teams Backgrounds upload

To upload meeting backgrounds in the New Teams Client by copying of file (see Backgrounds - Microsoft Community Hub), you need to upload the files to a specific location.
You need to provide the _thumbnails as well and the file naming shall follow a GUID.
If you don't follow these constraints, the backgrounds won't be visible in the client.

In the Classic client you could use any file naming and you didn't have to provide the thumb files: they were generated by Teams automatically. See older post: Teams Custom Backgrounds | Thierry Dalon's Blog

Handling in PowerTools

Teams Shortcuts

You can find a new menu in the Teams Shortcuts System Tray icon menu under Custom Backgrounds

Teamsy Launcher

To import backgrounds from a folder use the keyword 'bgi' (background import)

See also

Backgrounds - Microsoft Community Hub

Teams Custom Backgrounds | Thierry Dalon's Blog

No comments:

Post a Comment