MS Teams Select Background outside of conference call

[jamiejunior]

Is there a way in MS Teams to change or 'try on' different backgrounds before or without starting a new meeting?

I have been able to upload backgrounds and test them during conference calls, but have not been able to view them outside of meetings.

[#2]

@PeterRising  This is not true for the Ubuntu version. I cannot find anywhere where to do this, and my job requires it. I would not like to install a different operating system but looks like I will have to. 

[#3]

Sadly if you are running Ubuntu this will not work. In fact none of the ways work. Either blurred or one of the preset backgrounds they have.

[#4]

@ChristianBergstrom normally someone (or am I not normal or not someone?) wants to prepare for meetings by having their 'stuff' set up. And for some it might sound strange... but even at a moment where you have no upcoming Teams Meeting Appointment.
What I'm trying to say is... it is STUPID to only be able to set your background image when you're in the progress of joining one or already in a meeting. 

[#5]

Yeah that works @Hvchapade, I know and it's how I do it now. But sometimes things are not about the pragmatic solution, but about the principle of it. Let's hope someone at MS picks this up and they'll find a way of improving the integrating of video meetings with the actual main screen of Teams.

[#6]

"Meet Now" should be "Start Meeting" instead. and backgrounds should definitely be added to the Devices settings. Better yet have Video( or Camera) and Audio settings instead of or in addition to Devices

[#7]

It remains a mystery to me how easily people accept workarounds rather than to push a company to do the things properly.

[#8]

on the menu left side of the window, just go to "Teams" and in that window, to the right top right corner, you will see the option of "Meet". go into that, and click "Meet Now". then you will get all the option to select background outside of conference call.

[#9]

Thanks for this! Congrats to @Pernille-Eskebo for *** once again *** frustrating users who are simply trying to accomplish what should be a very simple task. :(

[#10]

@Tali_Polke probably long-answered, but if not, try this setting...

 

[#11]

Absolutely right. Like many other MS product. That's why people like Apple products. I don't understand why MS employees don't learn.

[#12]

It's no wonder nearly everyone has this program but nobody wants to use it.
It's the least intuitive, least user friendly, and most readily available platform on the market!

[#13]

@CinBoulder Microsoft in a nutshell 

[#14]

Haha well put

[#15]

@Joetuna_Smokes Thanks for this.  Teams is the worst software since Lotus Notes.

[#16]

I can't believe it's been 3 years, and the the best response from this thread is still the best option... Is MS on this website at all? It's a commonly searched question according to Google.

[#17]

What does that say about @microsoft listening to their costomers  @Jason_KW ?

[#18]

@Ralph_Mbeki What does it say about @Microsoft listening to their customers? It says they don't care as long as they can take your money. They figure they have such a huge market share it doesn't matter and they are untouchable. They need to remember that IBM was once in same position as them until Microsoft came along and took it away. Who's next?

[#19]

@jamiejunior You can go into settings > devices > and make a test call. Not the most elegant because you only have a short window to be in the test call, but there's no limit to how many test calls you can make. 

[#20]

Teams is a complete and utter steaming pile of nonsense. It hardly works, its not intuitive, there's no consistency of behaviour and it's impossible to find settings easily to fix it yourself. What a complete failure it's been by MS. And every single peer and colleague I mention it to echo's my feelings. Do the people that work on these products ever even use them or heaven forbid test changes with focus group users before implementation? It feels like all actions taken by MS (and everyone else in Silicone Valley now) for development are for data harvesting first and foremost while user experience sits somewhere at the bottom of the list.