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Fix Microsoft Teams Not Displaying Images and GIFs

January 17, 20210

Microsoft Teams users can quickly upload images and GIFs in their team chat. By default, both static and animated images are displayed as a preview thumbnail.

But sometimes, Teams may fail to display images. The image is not visible in the chat. Only a grey or purple rectangle appears instead of the preview thumbnail. Or the images that users attached completely disappear, and Teams does not show any placeholder.

This problem usually affects the desktop client. As a quick workaround, you can switch to the web version of Teams to view the images. But this approach doesn’t permanently solve the problem.

How to Fix Microsoft Teams Not Loading Images

Clear the Cache

If Microsoft Teams won’t show images, log out from your account, and close the app. Then relaunch Teams, and log back in. This quick workaround will flush the client cache. Check if Teams successfully displays images and GIFs now.

If the issue persists, perform an in-depth cache cleanup. Follow the steps below to clean your desktop app cache.

  • Sign out of your Teams account.
  • Then type %appdata%Microsoftteams in the Windows search bar.
  • Open the following folders one by one and delete all the files stored there: %appdata%Microsoftteamsapplication cachecache.%appdata%Microsoftteamsblob_storage.%appdata%Microsoftteamsdatabases.%appdata%MicrosoftteamsGPUcache.%appdata%MicrosoftteamsIndexedDB.%appdata%MicrosoftteamsLocal Storage.%appdata%Microsoftteamstmp.
    • %appdata%Microsoftteamsapplication cachecache.
    • %appdata%Microsoftteamsblob_storage.
    • %appdata%Microsoftteamsdatabases.
    • %appdata%MicrosoftteamsGPUcache.
    • %appdata%MicrosoftteamsIndexedDB.
    • %appdata%MicrosoftteamsLocal Storage.
    • %appdata%Microsoftteamstmp.
    • Restart your computer. Launch Team and sign back in. Check if the images are loading properly now.

    If the image problem also affects Teams’ web version, you need to clear your browser cache.

    For detailed instructions, see How to Clear the Cache in Google Chrome.

    Disable Hardware Acceleration

    Another solution that worked for many users consists of disabling hardware acceleration.

    Some users confirmed the issue did not come back after they re-enabled hardware acceleration.

    Other Fixes Suggested by Users

  • Click on your browser menu.
  • Then go to History, and click on Clear browsing data.
  • Select all three options, including Cached Images and Files. Hit the Clear data option.
  • Launch Teams and go to Settings.
  • Click on General and uncheck Disable GPU hardware acceleration.
  • Restart Teams and check if the image problem is gone.
    • Update Microsoft Teams. Ensure you’re running the latest app version on your machine.

    Let us know if images are now visible in the Teams chat.

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