One Teams feature that’s both particularly interesting and useful is the change background feature. If you’re in a meeting, you can remove anything distracting happening in the background by blurring out everything in your video that’s not you, or completely changing your backdrop. Microsoft Teams’ built-in intelligence can detect what needs to be obscured without any help from you.

This can be extremely useful for users who don’t have their own offices—allowing them to participate in video calls without the distracting hustle and bustle of the office behind them—or users who work remotely and have a less-than-stellar home office set up. Whatever the situation, users can participate in video calls without worrying about what’s going on around them.

How to Set Your Background When Joining a Microsoft Teams Video Call:

  1. First, join the meeting and turn on your camera from the preview screen.
  2. Then, click on the Background Filters next to the camera toggle.
  3. You will be prompted with different background options, or you can upload your own background image.
  4. You can preview different backgrounds before clicking Join Now.
Set your video background when joining a Teams meeting.

How to Set Your Background While in a Microsoft Teams Video Call:

  1. Select the ellipsis to view more actions and select Apply Background Effects to choose from the different background options.
  2. Click Preview to see your new background and select Apply and turn on video to set your new background.
Change your video background during a Teams meeting.

Turn off your Background in a Microsoft Teams Video Call:

  1. To turn off your background, choose the ellipsis to view more options and select Apply Background Effects.
  2. From here, you have the option to turn off your background effects.
Turn off your video background in a Teams meeting.

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11 Comments

  • PRASAD says:
    April 19, 2020 at 12:19 am

    I dont have the option of “Blur the Background” in my teams account . How to get that option

    Reply
    • Stephanie Hamrick says:
      April 20, 2020 at 10:41 am

      Hi Prasad, there are many reasons you may not have this feature. First, note that this feature has changed to say “Show Background Effects,” and you’ll need to click that to choose the “blur” option. Second, you won’t have this feature unless you’re using the desktop app. It’s not supported on the web application. Third, this feature requires your PC to have a processor with Advanced Vector Extensions 2 (AVX2) support–most reasonably new devices have this.

      Reply
      • Naresh says:
        April 27, 2020 at 12:54 am

        Can I customize my Own picture as a background?

        Reply
        • Stephanie Hamrick says:
          May 4, 2020 at 9:49 am

          Hi Naresh, yes you can. Navigate to %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Teams\Backgrounds on your computer. Then upload your custom background to the Uploads folder.

          Reply
      • Krish says:
        April 29, 2020 at 10:53 pm

        but I do have the desktop app and I still don’t have background effect

        Reply
        • Stephanie Hamrick says:
          May 4, 2020 at 9:54 am

          Hi Krish, If you’re using the desktop app and don’t have the Background Effects feature, it’s likely that your computer is not compatible with this feature. Background effects require a processor with Advanced Vector Extensions 2 (AVX2) support, which is pretty standard for newer PCs. However, if your computer is more than 5 or so years old, you may not have this.

          Reply
  • Peter says:
    June 29, 2021 at 2:54 pm

    I got Microsoft Teams Version 1.4.00.13653 (64-Bit) and I got an Intel Core i7-4700MQ (supports AFAIR AVX2).
    I also got no blurring option.

    Reply
  • charlesmyron009 says:
    June 21, 2022 at 2:56 am

    Hey! Thanks for wonderful quick guide. Just what I’ve been looking for.

    Reply

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