Teacher Tech blog with Alice Keeler

Paperless Is Not a Pedagogy

Alice Keeler

Google Meet: Customize Your Background

Google Meet: Customize Your Background
YouTube video

A new feature in Google Meets (and not this can be disabled by your Apps Admin) is to add a custom background to Google Meet. I have been using Alexes Terry’s virtual backgrounds for Black History Month, it was so easy to add to Google Meet.

Google Meet screenshot with custom backgrounds

3 Dots

If you are a Google Apps Workspace user you should always get excited about 3 dots!! A 3 dots menu means… More options! In the bottom right of Google Meet is a 3 dots menu.

Change Background

Under the 3 dots menu there is an option to “Change background.” The default is no background. The next two buttons are a slight blur or a heavier blur of your background. If the Apps Admin permits it, you will also see a button with a plus on it to allow you to add your own background.

Admin Settings

In my EDU account I did not have the ability to add a custom background. Since I am the super admin I went to http://admin.google.com and searched Meet at the top and went to “Meet video settings.” Backgrounds was enabled however, “Let users select custom images” was not enabled.

Any Image

Clicking the plus button to add a custom background allowed me to choose any PNG or JPEG on my computer. The image is cropped to fit the frame.

Image Saved

After adding a custom background to Google Meet, the next time I log into Meet the image is still there for me to choose from.

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