Are you having trouble changing your background in Teams?
Sadly, this is a common issue and can be super annoying when it happens, especially when you’re working from home.
But, don’t worry. With the help of this article, you’ll be able to solve this issue in no time.
Try these 5 simple fixes if you can’t add a background in Microsoft Teams:
Read on to fix this problem today!
Microsoft Teams has become the most popular collaboration platform thanks to its extremely useful features.
With Teams, we can call our colleagues and clients, share documents and images, create announcements, customize our backgrounds, and much more.
Sadly, these features tend to fail quite often. You wouldn’t believe how many people I’ve seen struggle with not being able to chat with their team, share files, or change their backgrounds.
But, what if I told you that you can easily fix most of these issues by simply updating Microsoft Teams?
Yes, that’s all it might take.
You see, Microsoft is always making changes and improvements to the app to make sure you be productive while enjoying the process.
Updates often fix any bugs or crashes that were preventing you from changing your background or using other features.
Microsoft Teams usually installs any available updates while you work. However, sometimes a bad Internet connection can interrupt this process.
But, don’t worry. You can manually update Teams. You’ll just need to make sure you’re connected to a strong Wi-Fi signal. Then, follow this quick guide:
Desktop app:
iPhone:
Bear in mind that this feature is only available for the Microsoft Teams desktop app (Windows or Mac) and mobile version (iOS). If you’re using the web version, you won’t be able to change your background.
Once you’ve updated the app, try changing your background again. Follow these simple steps to do it:
Desktop app:
Mobile app:
Moving on, I’d like you to get rid of any corrupted files by clearing your cache.
You see, Microsoft Teams stores information, such as images or fonts, in a reserved storage location in your device called “cache”. This way, every time you launch the app, it can access it quickly from your cache folder instead of loading it from its servers.
Although your app’s cache has great benefits, it may also be the reason you can’t change your background.
You see, sometimes the files stored in your cache folder can become damaged and may not match the ones from the web.
If this happens, Teams won’t be able to work as expected. But, don’t worry, clearing your cache can solve the issue.
Follow these simple instructions to do it:
Windows PC:
Mac:
If you’re using an iPhone, you’ll need to reinstall Teams to clear its cache. To do it, please go to the home screen, press and hold the Teams icon, and tap on “Remove App”. Then, download it again from the App Store.
Once you’ve cleared your cache, please launch Teams and try changing your background again.
As you may already know, Microsoft servers are in charge of handling information and giving millions of users a high-quality service.
Unfortunately, they aren’t perfect.
You see, human errors, bugs, and hardware/software issues can affect how Microsoft Teams works and cause multiple issues such as not being able to change your background.
You can easily check if the platform’s servers are down by entering downdetector.com/status/teams/ and checking the color and spikes of the graph.
You’ll know if Microsoft Teams is down if the graph is red or orange and if it has high spikes.
But, don’t worry. Microsoft’s IT team is no stranger to this issue and usually solves it within a couple of hours.
If you still can’t add images from your computer to use them as your virtual background, you might want to keep reading.
Hundreds of users found that manually adding the image they’d like to set as their background to their “Backgrounds” folder on their computer solved the issue.
Follow these simple steps to do it:
Windows PC:
Mac:
Once you’ve done that, please fully close Microsoft Teams and open it again. Then, try changing your background. You should be able to see the image you manually added to the Backgrounds folder.
If you’re using an institution account (school or work), there’s a very good chance the administrator disabled the background feature.
You see, institutions use meeting policies to prevent users from uploading offensive images and avoid distractions.
Sadly, if the administrator of your institution disabled this feature, the only thing you can do to solve the issue is to ask them to enable it.
But, if this isn’t possible due to their strict policies, you’ll need to use your personal account to change your background.
There’s nothing more annoying than not being able to add a background. After all, Microsoft Teams should make our lives easier, not the opposite.
Hopefully, with the help of this article, you’ll be able to leave this situation in the past.
If you take anything away, please let it be that the easiest way to add a background is by updating Microsoft Teams, clearing your cache, and checking the Backgrounds folder. But, if that doesn’t work, remember to ask your IT admin if they’ve disabled the background future.
Thank you so much for reading this article. If you ever have a different issue while using Teams or any other platform, don’t forget to visit our site. We love solving all sorts of tech problems.
Have a wonderful day!