Microsoft Teams: Add Custom Chat Emojis

Key insights

• Video summary
  This YouTube tutorial demonstrates how to add and use custom emojis in Microsoft Teams, shows where to upload images, and offers practical tips to keep chats both fun and professional.


• What custom emojis are
  Custom emojis are tenant-wide images or GIFs that users can send as emojis or reactions in chats, channels, and meetings to add tone, clarity, and personality to messages.


• How to upload
  Open the emoji picker in the message box, choose the "Your org’s emoji" section, click Add emoji, and upload the image; you can also add custom emojis when reacting to messages.


• File types & sizing
  Teams accepts JPEG, PNG, and GIF files; use square images and keep files under 256 KB for best display and performance.


• Admin controls
  Admins manage the feature in the Teams Admin Center: enable or disable custom emojis, restrict who can create or delete them, and enforce policies to keep content appropriate.


• Uses and limits
  Custom emojis boost team culture, reinforce branding, and speed up quick reactions; tenants can store up to 5,000 emojis, external recipients can see and use emojis sent to them but cannot add them to their own menus, and EDU tenants currently do not get this feature.

Quick Summary

In a concise how-to video, Pragmatic Works walks through the process of adding custom emojis to Microsoft Teams. The piece explains where to upload images, which file types and sizes work best, and how admins can control usage. Consequently, teams can make chats more expressive while keeping a professional tone.

Moreover, the video shows practical examples and offers straightforward tips for image sizing and formatting. As a result, organizations can adopt the feature quickly and thoughtfully. This report summarizes the key points, outlines benefits and tradeoffs, and highlights common challenges.

What the Feature Does

Microsoft Teams now allows organizations to upload images and GIFs that become part of each tenant’s emoji library. Users can add these items to messages and reactions so that everyone in the same tenant sees and can use them, and external users can view and react to those emojis when they receive them. Thus, the update expands expressive options beyond the default emoji set.

Additionally, the video clarifies technical basics: supported formats include JPEG, PNG, and GIF, and images should be square and remain under 256KB to maintain performance. Admins may grant or restrict permissions for creating and deleting emojis through the Teams Admin Center. Therefore, the capability balances flexibility for users with oversight controls for IT teams.

Benefits and Practical Uses

First, the feature enhances tone and clarity in written chat by enabling visual shortcuts that convey emotion or status quickly. For instance, teams can create reaction emojis for approvals, milestones, or internal jokes that strengthen culture and speed up decision signals. Consequently, conversations become more human and efficient at the same time.

Second, companies can reinforce brand identity by including stylized logos or mascots as emojis, which in turn helps internal recognition and reduces reliance on long explanatory messages. Yet, because emojis are embedded in everyday chat, their design and use can subtly guide behavior—so organizations should plan what they add rather than upload everything indiscriminately. This preserves clarity without overwhelming the emoji menu.

Tradeoffs and Governance Challenges

Although custom emojis offer clear cultural and communicative wins, they introduce governance tradeoffs that administrators must manage. On the one hand, broad permission enables creativity and rapid adoption; on the other hand, unrestricted uploads risk clutter, off-brand imagery, or inappropriate content. Therefore, teams must balance openness with policies that maintain a respectful workspace.

Performance and discoverability also present tradeoffs because large libraries can complicate searching and increase management overhead, and the 5,000-emoji tenant limit means thoughtful curation becomes essential as usage grows. Furthermore, consistency across federated or cross-tenant interactions can vary: external partners can see and use custom emojis sent to them, but they cannot add those emojis to their own menus, which may create minor inconsistencies in shared channels.

Admin Controls and Technical Limits

The video highlights that administrators retain control through tenant-level settings, including who can create or delete emojis and whether the feature is enabled at all. Admins can therefore implement approval workflows or designate a small group of emoji managers to keep the catalog organized. Consequently, governance can scale with organizational needs without removing user benefits entirely.

Practically, the uploader must respect file limits and image dimensions to avoid display problems, and the feature is not available for all tenant types, such as EDU environments where different policies apply. Thus, IT teams should test the behavior in pilot groups, confirm file-size compliance, and document naming conventions before a broad rollout to reduce confusion and technical friction.

Tips, Challenges, and Next Steps

The video closes with simple, actionable tips for teams: use square PNGs for best results, compress files to stay under the size limit, and adopt a small set of agreed-upon emojis to start. In addition, training employees on acceptable use and naming conventions prevents misuse and helps maintain a professional environment while still allowing playful expression.

In summary, Pragmatic Works presents custom emojis in Microsoft Teams as a low-friction way to humanize digital conversation, but it also cautions that success depends on governance, curation, and clear policies. Therefore, organizations should pilot the feature, gather feedback, and scale deliberately to capture the benefits while minimizing the risks.

Keywords

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