Simple steps to set up Microsoft Teams avatar

Read time: 5 minutes

In the contemporary landscape of remote work, video conferencing has established itself as the standard mode of communication for businesses to engage with their teams and clients. Nevertheless, not everyone may feel at ease or have the capability to activate their camera. This is where Avatars for Microsoft Teams come into play, offering a feature that enables users to establish their presence without requiring camera activation.

By offering the freedom to express themselves with distinctive avatars that mirror their individual tastes, users can experience a heightened sense of ease and self-assurance during virtual meetings. In this session, we will explore the realm of avatars, guiding you through the simple process of setting up avatars for Microsoft Teams, and demonstrating how this can potentially transform remote collaboration within your organization.

Steps for setting up Microsoft Teams avatar

Setting up MS Teams avatar is a simple process that requires 2 necessary steps. Get ready to take the best decisions in Microsoft teams with your avatar.

• Step 1: Allowing the Microsoft Teams avatar
• Step 2: Whitelisting essential URLs

Teams guarantees that all members can reap the advantages of avatars within Microsoft Teams and interact with each other efficiently by providing these functionalities to organizations.

Follow these simple steps, which are broken down into easily understandable sections, to make sure that the avatars for the Teams app are accessible to all users in your organization.

To enable the Microsoft Teams Avatar feature for a particular set of users, you must include this functionality within the application setup policy that is assigned to these users. To accomplish this, please adhere to the following steps.

• Access the Teams admin center & navigate to Teams apps > Manage apps from the left-navigation bar.
• Search for Avatars under the Search by name text box, & hit Enter.
• Choose to Allow the feature.

At this point, the Microsoft Teams Avatar feature is available to use. However, if you want to pre-install the feature for users, an additional set of steps are required.

• Return to the Teams admin center & navigate to Teams apps. Click on Setup policies.
• Choose the desired policy to edit or create a new one with a new name.
• From Installed apps, choose the option Add apps.
• Search for Global with Search based on the app permission policy & select it.
• Search for Avatars & add it to the policy.
• Tap on the Save button to save changes to the app setup policy.

Pinning of the app for users in Microsoft Teams is a simple process that can be done through the Teams admin center. This feature gives users a more personalized experience with Teams by allowing them to pin the apps that they use frequently for easy access. Follow these steps to pin app for users:

• Open the Teams admin center & navigate to Teams apps > Setup policies. This will lead you to the app setup policies page.
• Select the policy under which you want to enable the user pinning feature. This could be the Global policy, representing the org-wide default policy, or a custom policy if one has been created.
• Locate the User pinning option. This option is default to “Off”, so click on “On” to enable it.

After you’ve finished these steps, users will have the ability to view the app’s avatars while browsing through their apps. They can conveniently pin it for quick access and even include the app’s avatar in their Pinned apps list for automatic pinning.

In order to establish a functional avatar for Microsoft Teams and guarantee seamless operation, it is essential to enable the passage of TCP ports 443 and 80 through your firewall or proxy server. Additionally, the following URLs must be granted permission for this specific purpose:

1. clients.config.office.net: Enables the app to access client configurations from Microsoft Office.
2. global.profile.prod.collab.mixedreality.microsoft.com: Facilitates collaboration with mixed reality solutions.
3. js.monitor.azure.com: Accountable for monitoring JavaScript performance.
4. catalog.meshxp.net: Helps in catalog management, particularly for Microsoft cloud offerings.
5. browser.events.data.microsoft.com: Enables the app to capture browser events data for analysis & insights.
6. avatars.meshxp.net: Supports the functioning of avatars with Microsoft cloud services.
7. static2.sharepointonline.com: Responsible for providing static content from SharePoint Online.
8. statics.teams.cdn.office.net: Contains essential static data from Microsoft Teams.
9. substrate.office.com: Provides the app with insights into Microsoft’s substrate service.
10. csp.microsoft.com: Supports Microsoft Teams Security Practices & Policy.
11. avatars.mesh.microsoft.com: Ensures the app’s ability to interact with Microsoft’s avatar service.
12. noam.events.data.microsoft.com: Helps capture events data from North American regions.
13. eu-mobile.events.data.microsoft.com: Stores events data from the European Union regions.

Furthermore, it is crucial to permit TCP port 80 for automatic redirection to TCP port 443. Enabling these URLs and ports ensures the smooth functioning of the MS Teams avatar.

Wrapping up

Skillfully configuring your Microsoft Teams avatar represents the initial phase in ensuring the success of your online meetings with clients or colleagues. By dedicating some consideration and following these straightforward steps, you can prepare your profile for optimal readiness.

If you need any extra help during your migration into Teams or any kind of advanced capability, then you might wish to consider using Kernel Microsoft Teams Migration Tool for support. It supports fast, reliable & secure migrations with minimal effort & maximum performance. So, give it a try today.