Providing Corporate-Approved Backgrounds to End Users
Updated: September 17, 2021
Message center notification MC249777 (April 9, updated May 25) covers the introduction of organization-wide background images for Microsoft Teams. Roll-out of the preview is ongoing and is due to complete in early July.
Nice as it is to be able to use your own photo in meetings, organizations have long asked to be able to distribute a set of curated backgrounds to users. You know, pictures like carefully framed photos of the corporate HQ with the logo prominent in the foreground. This is what MC249777 is all about.
Uploading Organization Images
Organizations can upload up to 50 images through the meeting policies section of the Teams admin center. The ideal size image size is 1920 x 1280 pixels with a maximum of 3840 x 2160, less than 10 MB, JPEG or PG format. Pretty well every device capable of capturing a digital photo today creates images with more pixels, so I use the Windows Paint utility to resize to 1920 x 1280 pixels. When your images are ready, select Customize meeting images (Figure 1) to upload your images.
Figure 1: The Customize meeting images option in Teams meeting policies
The interface to upload photos is simple (Figure 2). Note the advice that only users with the Teams Advanced Communications license will see the images. This will be true when the preview moves into general availability, but for now, anyone with AllFilters or BlurAndDefaultBackgrounds in the VideoFiltersMode setting of the Teams meeting policy assigned to their account can see the corporate images.
Figure 2: A set of organization custom images loaded into the Teams admin center
Testing Corporate Images
Figure 3 shows the standard Teams meeting setup screen with the set of available background images shown. In order, these are:
The standard No filter and Blur effects.
Corporate images. You can see 3 of the 4 images seen in Figure 2. It takes about a day before clients learn of the existence of a new corporate image.
Microsoft curated images. These images are stored on a CDN.
Custom images uploaded by the user.
If the user selects a corporate or Microsoft image, a copy is downloaded to the device to the %AppData%\Microsoft\Teams\Backgrounds\Uploads folder and loaded into Teams from there.
Figure 3: Selecting an organization custom image to use for a Teams meeting
Organization images are also available for the Teams mobile clients. In Figure 4, I’m selecting a background image to use with the Teams mobile client for iOS. After the standard Blur image, the next five images are published by the organization with the following set being the standard curated images from Microsoft.
Figure 4: Organization images are amongst those available to Teams mobile users
There’s no way for an organization to restrict user choice to its images. Perhaps that capability will come later, but there’s no trace of it in the preview or in Microsoft 365 roadmap item 80193.
Advanced Communications?
Corporate backgrounds aren’t the only feature enabled through the Teams Advanced Communications license. Microsoft introduced the Advanced Communications license in July 2020, but many of the features covered then are now available in mainline Teams, like large meetings with overflow capabilities. Some controversy erupted when Microsoft said that the license was needed to integrate Teams with ISV-provided compliance recording or contact center solutions. In any case, Microsoft withdrew the license to reconsider and plans to launch it again in July 2021 at the start of their new fiscal year. So far, apart from saying that the Teams Advanced Communications license is needed for organizational background images and custom group policy assignments, Microsoft has not shared any further details about features or pricing of the new license.
Update: Microsoft is relaunching the Teams advanced communications license. Its features are currently available to all to test in preview and will require a license from January 1, 2022
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After adding some backgrounds the page doesn’t load anymore. It keeps showing a purple turning “loading” circle.
Do you know how to delete the background images with PowerShell?
Hi Tony, do you know if images deployed like this will be accessible from all devices or just Windows? We’re looking for a solution for iOS. Thanks, Ryan.
Thank you and sorry realise now that testing must have been there in the article all along :/
The Roadmap item only mentioned desktop and web so nice to see some over-delivery 🙂
PS. Strange how only the first two corporate images in your screenshot have a x to remove.
I have my new image loaded, and everyone can see it – but do you know if their is a way to FORCE all users to use this automatically and disable their ability to change it (like in Zoom)?
Where do the corporate-deployed background images live? I know that the end user can add remove their own images to %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Teams\Backgrounds. But on the user’s laptop, I can’t see/find the backgrounds deployed by IT.
Does anyone know if their is a way to FORCE all employees to use a certain background? I know in Zoom you can, but I haven’t found a way in Teams
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There isn’t at present.
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Sorry if I already posted this… I didn’t see the post show up. I’m trying to find where these images are on the client machine after deployment with the Teams Admin Center. Can’t find them. 🙁
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After adding some backgrounds the page doesn’t load anymore. It keeps showing a purple turning “loading” circle.
Do you know how to delete the background images with PowerShell?
I don’t. I would ask Microsoft.
I did, they don’t know either 🙂
Hi Tony, do you know if images deployed like this will be accessible from all devices or just Windows? We’re looking for a solution for iOS. Thanks, Ryan.
Org photos are available on the iOS client. I see my org images on my iOS client, so that must mean they work!
And I even went and tested and included some text and a screen shot in the image to show how it works for iOS.
Thank you and sorry realise now that testing must have been there in the article all along :/
The Roadmap item only mentioned desktop and web so nice to see some over-delivery 🙂
PS. Strange how only the first two corporate images in your screenshot have a x to remove.
I’m sure that’s just a glitch…
I have my new image loaded, and everyone can see it – but do you know if their is a way to FORCE all users to use this automatically and disable their ability to change it (like in Zoom)?
Do you know if their is a way to force these to be used by users? (Like Zoom) where users can’t change it out and must use the company one?
You can control the background effects people can use https://office365itpros.com/2020/05/11/microsoft-delivers-control-teams-video-effects/ but I don’t think you can force people to use a specific image.
Hi Tony, after enabling the feature and adding pictures, how long does it take for the pictures to appear on the Team Client
Have all users got the appropriate Teams advanced communication licenses? I think they are now needed for organization images.
Can you define the order of the company images you upload?
You mean the order in which the images appear when viewed by users? I think it’s alphabetic.
is there a way to sort the org backgrounds so they show up on top of the list, in the order they were added. Newer ones first I mean.
I don’t believe so.
Where do the corporate-deployed background images live? I know that the end user can add remove their own images to %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Teams\Backgrounds. But on the user’s laptop, I can’t see/find the backgrounds deployed by IT.
I believe the corporate images are stored by Microsoft, just like the default images.
Does anyone know if their is a way to FORCE all employees to use a certain background? I know in Zoom you can, but I haven’t found a way in Teams
There isn’t at present.
Sorry if I already posted this… I didn’t see the post show up. I’m trying to find where these images are on the client machine after deployment with the Teams Admin Center. Can’t find them. 🙁
Hello Tony!
How to Add Motion Blur Effect to Video in Blender?
I have no idea!