How to Use Background Blur in Microsoft Teams

Microsoft responded to Slack’s growing popularity with the introduction of Microsoft teams in 2016. And the software giant continues to add new features to meet consumer demand. In addition, it has quickly adapted to a growing trend in video calling applications when many have to deal with messy backgrounds or inadequate lights during a call. In this article, we’ll show you how to add background blurring for video calls in Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft Teams recently introduced video backgrounds to allow you to hide or change the background during video calls.

The Background blur option in the Microsoft Teams app detects your face and lets you blur the background during video calls. One of the appropriate ways to hide your background and make it look a little nice. Well, this is not a new feature, as Skype also offers similar background blurring functionality with virtual backgrounds.

You can use the background blur option to hide the background to keep it blurry. In addition, you will find more tips on video calling for Microsoft teams in this post. Let’s start.

Where is the background blur option in Microsoft teams

Microsoft Teams allows you to create multiple channels in a team and add members to it. From any channel, you can use the Meet Now option to start the group video call with members.

When you hit the Meet Now button in a channel, you’ll have the option to add a topic and start the video call. From the video call screen, you will see lots of options in the floating menu, as shown in the screenshot below. Tap the three-dot menu and it will open another submenu of advanced video functions for Microsoft Teams.

Select Show Background Effects from the context menu and this will open the Background Settings side menu. You will also find a bunch of options for the video background.

Tap the second blur effect and the teams will ask you to preview or apply the effect directly in the video.

I advise you to preview the effect first, as it may not work as advertised in some situations.

The good news is that other participants won’t be able to see the live effect while you test the background with a live preview option.

Note: When using the background blur or any background blur during video calls, try not to move too much during the calls. It will leave a dazzling effect around the face. Your video stream will therefore appear rather strange.

Tips to improve the video call experience

You can always make meetings better and more efficient rather than letting them build up a list of random video calls. Here are a few tips.

Add a topic to meetings

When you create a meeting with members of the chain, you must add a subject before starting the meeting. This may seem like a small detail, but it will make the video call easily searchable. Very useful when you want to find a specific meeting or a detail related to it at the end of a month.

I like the way Microsoft Teams lets you invite members of the other channel to the current video stream. You can also take a look at the participants from the side panel.

To take notes

During video calls, you may want to take notes (meeting minutes) for future reference. During the call, you can tap the three-dot menu in the bottom bar and select Show meeting notes. Type in the meeting notes and press the Enter key. Microsoft offers a text personalization ribbon at the top to allow you to choose options such as Bold, Italic, Highlight, etc.

After the meeting is over, members can view these notes in the discussion channel with the subject of the meeting as their title. During video calls, you can also chat with team members. We use it all the time. Whenever our developer meeting takes place, interns and junior developers use the chat feature to ask doubts and questions to the senior developer handling the video call.

The presenter / organizer checks and responds to these messages if concerns are shared during a meeting. Practice makes the entire conversation seamless – no need to disturb the administrator during video calls. The good news is that the entire chat during the video call is recorded in the channel.

Share screens during meetings

Microsoft also offers a screen sharing option, which can be incredibly useful in certain situations. When you have a conversation with hundreds of members during a video call, you can share the screen with them to discuss a certain topic in detail.

In the video call screen, tap the share screen button, and it will allow you to select from the multiple options. You can share the current screen, present the PowerPoint presentation, open files from OneDrive or PC, or use the Whiteboard feature to display the topic via a drawing.

Use Microsoft teams like a pro

Background blurring during video calls in Microsoft Teams can be helpful when you attend the digital meeting from anywhere. You don’t have to worry about the background after blurring it in your video stream. You can also use the change background option if you don’t want other family members to intervene and disrupt the meeting accidentally.