How to Turn Your Camera On and Off in Teams (and Fix It When It's Black)

Nobody wants to be the black square with initials in it, unless they've chosen to be. Here's how to control your camera in Teams and what to do when it refuses to work.

In a meeting, click the Camera button in the toolbar. A line through it means it's off.

Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + O (Command + Shift + O on a Mac).

On the preview screen before you join, use the Camera toggle. Teams remembers whether you joined with it on or off.

1. Click ⋯ Settings and more (the three dots at the top right of Teams) and choose Settings.
2. Click Devices.
3. Scroll to Camera. You'll see a live preview.
4. Use the drop-down to pick a different webcam if you have more than one.

You can also click Make a test call on the same page to check your microphone and speakers.

Click ⋯ More > Settings > Device settings and pick the camera from the list. This is where the built-in laptop camera and an external webcam get mixed up.

Under ⋯ More > Video effects and settings you can:

• Blur your background or pick an image.
• Turn on Adjust brightness for a dim room.
• Turn on Soft focus to smooth out a tired face.
• Mirror my video so text on your side looks the right way round to you.

Black screen or "Your camera is unavailable". Another app is probably using the camera. Close Zoom, Skype, your browser tabs with video, or the Windows Camera app, then turn the camera off and on again in Teams.

Teams can't find a camera at all. On Windows, go to Settings > Privacy & security > Camera and make sure camera access and desktop apps are both allowed. On a Mac, go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Camera and tick Microsoft Teams.

Privacy shutter. Many laptops have a sliding cover or an F-key that disables the camera. Check it before anything else — it catches everyone out at least once.

The picture is frozen or laggy. Turn the camera off and on again. If it keeps happening, close other apps, move closer to the Wi-Fi or use a cable.

The wrong camera comes on. Set your preferred webcam under Settings > Devices and Teams will use it by default.

Ctrl + Shift + O toggles your camera, Settings > Devices lets you test it, and a black screen almost always means another app has grabbed it or a privacy shutter is closed.