How to Fix GIF Previews Not Working in Microsoft Teams

To fix Teams GIF previews that load but stay still on Windows 11, turn on Animation effects in Windows accessibility settings. If GIFs are missing or fail to load, check your Teams GIF settings, then quit and reopen the app. The Windows steps below use Windows 11 menus.

Turn on Windows animation effects

Start here when GIF thumbnails appear but do not move before you send them in the Windows desktop app. Select Start > Settings > Accessibility > Visual effects, then turn on Animation effects. Reopen the Teams GIF picker and check a preview.

This fix addresses loaded but static previews, so check the GIF settings below if the picker is missing or results will not load. The former Teams Turn off animations setting has been removed from the current client; use the Windows animation control for this symptom.

Find the GIF picker and enable GIFs

On desktop or the web, select Emoji, GIFs and Stickers on the right side of the message box. Search for a GIF or browse the galleries, then select a result to preview it in the compose box. Select Send when you are ready to post it.

For iOS and Android, select GIF beneath the message box, then search or browse. Use this mobile route instead of looking for the desktop picker’s label.

In personal Teams on desktop, open Settings > Privacy and turn on Optional Connected Experiences. That setting enables the cloud-backed GIPHY service. Return to the picker and check whether GIFs are available.

With a personal Teams account on mobile, select your profile photo, then open Settings > Messaging. Turn on Send and receive GIFs and return to your conversation. This setting controls GIF availability, rather than animation playback or speed.

With a work or school account, open Teams Settings > Privacy and enable Optional connected experiences. Your organization must allow this setting before you can use it. If organizational policy prevents you from enabling it, ask your administrator to review the controls below.

Have your administrator check restrictions and service health

If your work or school account has restricted GIF access, ask your administrator to open Messaging policies in the Teams admin center. They should select your assigned policy, select Edit, and turn on the setting that allows Giphy in conversations. They should also review Giphy content rating, whose options are No restriction, Moderate, and Strict, because filtering can explain missing search results. They must select Save, ensure the intended policy is assigned to you, and ensure optional connected experiences are enabled.

If GIFs already sent or received do not display, ask your administrator to check the separate display control. In the MicrosoftTeams PowerShell module, AllowGiphy permits access and posting, while AllowGiphyDisplay controls display of sent or received GIFs. Your administrator can run the following command after replacing <assigned-policy-name> with your actual policy name; optional connected experiences must also be enabled.

Set-CsTeamsMessagingPolicy -Identity <assigned-policy-name> -AllowGiphy $true -AllowGiphyDisplay $true

If organizational policy blocks optional connected experiences, ask your administrator to configure Allow the use of additional optional connected experiences in Office in Cloud Policy service for Microsoft 365 to permit them for affected users. You can then return to Teams Settings > Privacy and enable Optional connected experiences. You cannot override organizational messaging restrictions through your own Teams settings.

For GIF restrictions in a channel, ask the team owner to select More options for the team, then open Manage team > Settings > Fun stuff. Have the owner review the GIPHY permissions there. These team permissions, including those for class teams, are separate from organization-wide messaging policies. Owners of private and shared channels can also configure GIPHY settings for their own channels, so ask the channel owner to check as well. In a shared channel, the owner can select More options > Manage channel > Settings > Fun stuff.

If several people in your organization are affected at the same time, ask an administrator to open the Microsoft 365 admin center and select Health > Service health. They should review Microsoft Teams incidents and advisories and follow the recovery guidance when the symptoms match. Administrators can also view Service health in the Microsoft 365 Admin mobile app.

Restart and update Teams

On Windows, right-click the Teams taskbar icon and select Quit, then reopen Teams. On a Mac, right-click its Dock icon and select Quit, or press Command + Q, then reopen the app. Check the picker again before moving to a more involved fix.

When an update appears at the top of the desktop window, select Update > Update and restart Teams. Reopen Teams yourself if it does not reopen automatically. Updating is a general troubleshooting step, so it does not guarantee a GIF-specific repair.

If restarting and updating leave the problem unchanged, try refreshing your Teams session. On Windows, macOS, or the web, select your profile picture and choose Sign out. Sign back in with the same account and check the GIF picker again.

On mobile, select More > Settings > Sign out. Sign back in, then return to the GIF picker to check whether the session refresh helped.

Compare the web app and check your connection

Open Teams on the web in a browser and sign in with the affected account. Open the same conversation and test the GIF picker. Working previews there help narrow the problem to the app you were using.

When GIF loading fails alongside other connection problems, open another website to check your internet access. If Teams uses a VPN, turn the VPN off and back on, then test again. Restart your Wi-Fi modem if connectivity remains unreliable.

For loading problems in Teams on the web, disable the ad blocker affecting Teams and test again. If previews work in the browser but continue to fail in the desktop app, proceed to local app recovery.

Repair Teams on Windows

Open Start > Settings > Apps > Installed apps. Find Microsoft Teams, select More > Advanced options, then select Repair if available. Reopen Teams and check a GIF preview.

If Teams does not offer Repair, continue to the current-client cache procedure below when you suspect a local app problem. App repair is a general recovery measure rather than a dedicated GIF setting.

Clear the current Teams cache

Use cache deletion when you suspect a local desktop client problem, such as previews working on the web but failing in the app. The locations below apply to current Teams; classic Teams uses different cache locations. Quit Teams completely before following the procedure for your computer.

Clearing the Teams cache can remove diagnostic logs. On Windows, press Windows + R and enter this location:

%userprofile%\appdata\local\Packages\MSTeams_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Microsoft\MSTeams

Select OK to open the current Teams cache directory. Deleting its contents clears the local cache and can remove diagnostic logs. Delete that directory’s contents, then restart Teams and check the GIF picker.

On macOS, the following commands delete the current Teams cache directories and can remove diagnostic logs. With Teams closed, open Finder > Applications > Utilities > Terminal. Enter the first command, then press Return:

rm -rf ~/Library/Group\ Containers/UBF8T346G9.com.microsoft.teams

The second command deletes the other current Teams cache directory and can remove diagnostic logs. Run it and press Return again. After it finishes, restart Teams and test the picker.

rm -rf ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.teams2

Reset the Windows Teams app

Resetting Teams deletes local app data, including personalization. To reset the current packaged Windows client, open Settings > Apps > Installed apps and search for Microsoft Teams. Select More options (...) > Advanced options.

Under Reset, select Reset, then restart Teams. Check the same GIF picker again to see whether the local app recovery resolved the problem. If the desktop issue persists after these steps, try reinstalling the app.

Reinstall the desktop app

Uninstalling removes the Teams app from your computer. On Windows, open Start > Settings > Apps > Installed apps, find Microsoft Teams, and select More > Uninstall. Alternatively, open Start > All apps, right-click Microsoft Teams, and select Uninstall.

On macOS, moving Teams to the Trash removes the app. Right-click Teams in the Dock, hold Option, and select Force Quit. Open the Application Folder, select Microsoft Teams, and move it to the Trash.

Get the current app from the official Microsoft Teams download page and select the download for your platform. On Windows, select Download Microsoft Teams for Windows. After reinstalling, check your GIF previews again; if the web version worked during the comparison, it remains an alternative way to use Teams.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Teams on the web need a manual update?

Teams on the web updates automatically. You do not need to follow the desktop update procedure when using it in a browser.

How do you update Teams on an iPhone or Android phone?

Microsoft directs mobile users to download and install Teams again from the iOS App Store or Google Play Store. This is general update guidance, not a guaranteed fix for GIF previews.

Can you switch back to classic Teams to fix GIF previews?

Classic Teams became unavailable on July 1, 2025. Use current Teams or its web app instead.

Does the personal Teams desktop privacy setting affect anything besides GIFs?

The Optional Connected Experiences setting enables both GIPHY and URL Preview services in personal Teams on desktop. Changing it affects both services, so its scope extends beyond the GIF picker.