There’s no way for a tenant to mandate that clients should use a background effect. Likewise, if you enable video, the effect returns (it’s persistent). If you turn off video in a meeting, the effect disappears. You know that the feature works if you start a meeting with video enabled and see the last selected background displayed by the client (Figure 1).įigure 1: Testing a persistent background effect in Teams
The change means that after you choose a background effect in a Teams meeting, Teams keeps track of the chosen background and applies it automatically to all future meetings until you decide to select a different effect (blur or an image). Persistent backgrounds also work with the Teams Mac client, but although you can use background blur with the Teams client for Linux, background images are not supported. I’ve tested it and the feature works as advertised with the current Teams desktop client on Windows. Microsoft says that the update is available across Office 365 for all desktop clients running the latest release. The news about this change came as a surprise, but it’s a welcome update that will be popular with Teams users. The background you choose will now persist in all of your meetings and calls, until you decide to change it.” The support article for background images has been updated. In an August 15 update for the Teams User Voice request for a default background for meetings, Microsoft’s Alex Olsen said that: “ I’m happy to share that the default background feature is live. Once You Choose a Background Effect, It Stays Until Changed