Complete Video Transcript

You can now blur your video background to remove distractions while in a Microsoft Teams meeting.

I’m going to join this meeting to demonstrate. One cool feature is that you can choose to blur out your background from the moment you join a meeting with this icon.

If I toggle it, I’ll see what this looks like before I join. The camera I’m using is to the side of the monitor I’m working on, but you can see even without me being centered in front of or aligned perfectly with the camera, Teams does a great job of deciphering what’s me and what isn’t.

I’m going to join this meeting without my background blurred, though, so we can see this whole process once we’re already in a meeting.

All I need to do is select the Ellipsis icon from the Meeting Options and choose Blur My Background.

To unblur it at any time, I just repeat these steps.

And that’s all there is to it. It takes less than three clicks to blur your background for less distracting video calls in Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft Teams Announces New Features

Microsoft has been announcing some exciting new features for Microsoft Teams at Microsoft Ignite this week. One feature that’s both particularly interesting and useful is the new blur background feature. If you’re in a meeting, you can now remove anything distracting happening in the background by blurring out everything in your video that’s not 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, more users will be able to participate in video calls without worrying about what’s going on around them. What’s even better is it takes less than three clicks! Microsoft Teams’ built-in intelligence can detect what needs to be obscured without any help from you.

One thing to note is that as of this posting, you cannot blur out your background on mobile—though the Teams app does offer robust participation capabilities for mobile users with most of their other features (even screen sharing).

How to Blur Your Background on a Video Call in Microsoft Teams:

First, start your video from a meeting.

Then, click on the Ellipsis icon from the meeting options and choose Blur My Background.

Un-Blurring Your Background

To un-blur your video, choose the Ellipsis icon again and select Don’t Blur Background.

Pro Tip: when you join a meeting or call with your video on, you can choose to have your background blurred from the moment your video is shown to other people. Toggle the Video Blur icon to remove distractions from the start.

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10 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

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