GIFS in Teams Chat not previewing

Anneliese Jennings 340

When utilizing teams chat, I have the ability to send gifs to whomever. However, I have lost the ability to preview the full GIF before sending it. I now have to send it in order to see what the full GIF is. As a district we have already checked off the ability to allow for Optional connected experiences, so I don't believe this is the issue. Is anyone else having an issue with GIFS not automatically loading/previewing before being sent in Teams chat?

Rion Kolosieke 45 Reputation points

2025-12-01T18:45:11.65+00:00

Noticed the same issue - M365 business account. Started about a week ago. Would to get see Microsoft fix this.

Local desktop application, Windows 11 Enterprise, All settings in M365 Admin Center allow GIFs.

Again, sending GIFs works, but when searching the preview is broken and when in the text box before sending the GIF is a still as well. No preview of what the GIF is has made for some awkward interactions within the company.
Harry Judd 20 Reputation points

2025-12-01T20:13:59.73+00:00

I have the same issue at our organization. Local desktop app, Windows 11 25H2 Enterprise
Sean F 86 Reputation points

2025-12-03T18:38:01.5233333+00:00

Experiencing the same issue here as well. Not sure when it started, but seems like a similar time.
J N 5 Reputation points

2025-12-04T04:04:51.83+00:00

having the same issue here in australia. they work once posted, but you can't preview them until after you've posted them.
Ernst 15 Reputation points

2025-12-04T10:10:08.3233333+00:00

Had the same problem, after deleting folder %userprofile%\appdata\local\Packages\MSTeams_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Microsoft\MSTeams it worked again for me.
Sean F 86 Reputation points

2025-12-04T13:08:31.1266667+00:00

Thanks @ernst this worked for me. I was going to look into it, but hadn't had the time to find the location just yet.
Sean F 86 Reputation points

2025-12-04T16:28:32.75+00:00
Not my answer, but from @ernst

Had the same problem, after deleting folder

%userprofile%\appdata\local\Packages\MSTeams_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Microsoft\MSTeams

it worked again for me.

This also worked for me.
Anneliese Jennings 340 Reputation points

2025-12-04T16:30:16.7533333+00:00

This wouldn't work on all devices on a business account though, just your account?
Sean F 86 Reputation points

2025-12-04T16:35:17.22+00:00

Fair point. The best I can say is try it on yours and see and then go from there.
JPryor 20 Reputation points

2025-12-04T17:03:13.7633333+00:00

I tried to delete the folder, but it did not work for me. The GIFs do work correctly on my Teams app on my phone though.
Rion Kolosieke 45 Reputation points

2025-12-04T17:06:54.38+00:00

Tried this today - it did not solve the issue for me. Microsoft Teams version 25318.201.4113.9830.
Rion Kolosieke 45 Reputation points

2025-12-04T17:07:58.36+00:00

Same - did not solve the issue at all. Teams even had an update for my yesterday, still have the issue. Preview does work on mobile, for now.
J N 5 Reputation points

2025-12-04T21:27:18.25+00:00

Ernst, your method worked temporarily, however after about an hour the problem returned and now my gifs are not previewing again
J N 5 Reputation points

2025-12-04T21:28:01.2033333+00:00

This temporarily resolved the issue for me, however i noticed the original issue again within an hour of deleting that folder.
Sean F 86 Reputation points

2025-12-09T14:45:35.3833333+00:00

This has recurred for me as well.
User 5 Reputation points

2026-04-01T07:54:50.6666667+00:00

Its worse... The preview is currently not even resizable, also it is critical that when a user double‑clicks a GIF, it can be expanded to display at its full dimensions, in the same way static images behave, but this is also not working too.

At present for example, sending animated technical diagrams is effectively unusable, as the content cannot be viewed correctly. Implementing a feature that is fundamentally broken in its current state provides no practical value.

Is there a timeline on when this bug going to be resolved?

Answer recommended by moderator

Joseph Quiros 70 Microsoft Employee

Moderator note... Converted from comment to Answer April 24, 2026

Hi everyone.
I am a Teams Support Engineer and I have dealt with an issue where Gifs can be sent and visualized, but it doesn't animate when shown in preview. Is that the issue here?
In my scenario, the gifs can be visualized but it doesn't move/animate, it was static until you send it and play it.
We figured out that it was being affected by a config at OS level.
If that is the case, you can go to Windows > Settings > Accessibility > Visual effects > Animation effects. It should be turn on. User's image Please keep us informed if that solved the issue or if the issue is different, not showing at all the gif, for example.

JPryor 20 Reputation points

2025-12-10T16:08:52.0866667+00:00

This fixed the issue for me!!!!!!!!!! I was able to see the Gif, but not the animation in preview. Now that I adjusted my settings, it works again. Thank you!
Anneliese Jennings 340 Reputation points

2025-12-10T16:13:28.9633333+00:00

[Moderator note: personal info removed] •

Follow

0 Reputation points• Microsoft Employee

Dec 10, 2025, 10:57 AM

Hi everyone. I am a Teams Support Engineer and I have dealt with an issue where Gifs can be sent and visualized, but it doesn't animate when shown in preview. Is that the issue here? In my scenario, the gifs can be visualized but it doesn't move/animate, it was static until you send it and play it. We figured out that it was being affected by a config at OS level. If that is the case, you can go to Windows > Settings > Accessibility > Visual effects > Animation effects. It should be turn on.

Please keep us informed if that solved the issue or if the issue is different, not showing at all the gif, for example.
Harry Judd 20 Reputation points

2025-12-10T17:24:32.3533333+00:00

This worked for me. Deleting the folder in AppData temporarily fixed as well, but the issue came back. After changing the Accessibility setting, the GIFs preview now play
Joseph Quiros 70 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2025-12-11T15:12:24.4+00:00

So glad to hear, @Harry Judd
Thanks for confirming.
Marie 10 Reputation points

2025-12-11T16:07:49.0533333+00:00

Thank you! This resolved my issue!
Nathan 5 Reputation points

2025-12-15T14:04:58.63+00:00

This worked for me too!
Dunn, Patrick 0 Reputation points

2025-12-15T19:19:55.5833333+00:00

This fixed it for me. Not sure how that even got disabled in the first place. The odd this is if I ran a repair then it would work for a day, then after rebooting it stopped. Will have to test it out tomorrow.
Sean F 86 Reputation points

2025-12-15T19:53:41.6966667+00:00

Did this last week. So far, so good.
BJ Kehoe 0 Reputation points

2025-12-17T16:51:06.3733333+00:00

Fixed for me as well. I don't remember shutting off that setting, but it was off!
Charlotte Weber 0 Reputation points

2025-12-18T08:48:18.28+00:00

Yes, this fixed it! I noticed this wasn't a Teams only issue, but had no idea what could've caused it.

I've never changed this setting as far as I know, so strange that it changed for me but not my colleagues!
Daniel Brito 0 Reputation points

2025-12-31T09:14:02.35+00:00

Looking for so long and this is what actually fixed it, weird that that seeing was turned off.
Laura K 0 Reputation points

2026-01-07T19:10:34.92+00:00

This was the fix. After I tried deleting cache and reinstalling Teams.
IM 0 Reputation points

2026-01-16T16:01:05.65+00:00

This worked for me, thanks!
Tara 0 Reputation points

2026-01-21T23:02:29.8433333+00:00

I don't have the animations option anywhere in any of my settings? Any other suggestions?
Sean F 86 Reputation points

2026-01-22T13:42:03.6466667+00:00

The comment by @Joseph Quiros seems to fix the issue permanently and he should get credit for that and it should be marked as the answer. Unfortunately he didn't put it as an answer, but a comment.

@Joseph Quiros Follow 20Reputation points Dec 10, 2025, 10:57 AM Hi everyone. I am a Teams Support Engineer and I have dealt with an issue where Gifs can be sent and visualized, but it doesn't animate when shown in preview. Is that the issue here? In my scenario, the gifs can be visualized but it doesn't move/animate, it was static until you send it and play it. We figured out that it was being affected by a config at OS level. If that is the case, you can go to Windows > Settings > Accessibility > Visual effects > Animation effects. It should be turn on. Please keep us informed if that solved the issue or if the issue is different, not showing at all the gif, for example.
Boyd 10 Reputation points

2026-01-26T14:39:54.46+00:00

I solved my issue! hope it helps you!

I've been annoyed by this for so long. LSS in my case, it's a windows setting.

Settings>Accessibility>visual effects>animation effects. toggle on.

I thought it was a teams setting because that made sense, it was not and that setting seemed to have disappeared on an update from everything i found.. the animations worked on my phone without a problem that made me think to look at my windows 11 settings. because nothing else was making sense to me.

edit: I just scrolled up. saw the post 2 above me. yup. same thing.
Eric G 0 Reputation points

2026-01-29T13:44:33.92+00:00

This was exactly my issue. I tried the other two fixes, which worked in times past just not this time.
AW 0 Reputation points

2026-02-09T15:01:16.1866667+00:00

This also worked for me, but that setting was toggled off for a reason on OS level. Teams definitely changed something around Dec 2025-ish timeline. Nothing like pinning that setting to taskbar and toggling when gifs need sent 😐😑
Georgy Johnson 0 Reputation points

2026-03-05T20:35:49.7133333+00:00

This worked for me as well. Thanks
Sergio Del Franco 15 Reputation points

2026-03-06T13:58:56.6633333+00:00

Why an animated gif panel share a setting with an useless start menu animation? Irrational.
Jose R. Garcia 0 Reputation points

2026-04-01T13:24:30.1133333+00:00

The comment Joseph shared is what ultimately fixed the issue. At first, I thought it was a Teams problem, but it turned out to be a setting on my Windows 11 device. Once I went to Settings > Accessibility > Visual effects and turned on Animation effects, everything started working. All GIFs now display correctly.
Sean F 86 Reputation points

2026-04-01T13:42:08.38+00:00

I agree @Joseph Quiros answer, not @Anonymous has the correct answer. I've tried downvoting that answer as it is only a workaround. For some reason it seems you can't try to mark a comment as an answer, so Joseph's answer doesn't get the proper credit.
j-hap 5 Reputation points

2026-05-21T12:12:01.8566667+00:00

a little user feedback: I hate this very much, I want gif preview, but I do not want window minimize animations. Teams should not make decisions if gif preview is enabled by this system setting.
Mathias Buchwald 0 Reputation points

2026-06-15T11:57:50.78+00:00

I don't get why disabling silly annoying animations in Windows is linked to playing GIF animations in Teams desktop application AND web browsers...

5 additional answers

Anonymous

2025-12-01T16:14:28.53+00:00
Hi @Anneliese Jennings,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum. I noticed your post is tagged under the Education channel, may I kindly confirm whether you’re using a Microsoft 365 Business/Education account (provided by your organization or school), or a personal Microsoft account?

In addition, to better understand the issue and assist you effectively, could you please share a bit more detail:
- Are you unable to preview GIFs on the Teams desktop app only, or does the same behavior occur on the web version? How about on mobile?
- Does this happen for all GIFs, or only certain ones?
- Is this issue affecting other users in your organization, or just your account/device?
If you have any updates, please feel free to leave a comment under this post. I truly hope to hear back from you so we can continue investigating together and suggest the most appropriate next steps.

Thank you so much for your time and collaboration!

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.
Was this answer helpful?
Anneliese Jennings 340 Reputation points

2025-12-01T16:19:34.4766667+00:00

Hi @Anonymous We are using Microsoft 365 Business/Education accounts.

Are you unable to preview GIFs on the Teams desktop app only, or does the same behavior occur on the web version? How about on mobile?

This behavior is occurring on Desktop as well as web version. It seems to be working on mobile version.

Does this happen for all GIFs, or only certain ones?

Happens for all gifs.

Is this issue affecting other users in your organization, or just your account/device?

This is affecting everyone within the district.

Thank you so much for your time

JPryor 20 Reputation points

2025-12-04T16:21:26.5033333+00:00

I am experiencing the same issue. Is it possible to be notified when a solution is found?

Alex Salazar 0 Reputation points

2025-12-10T18:17:30.3666667+00:00

Greetings,

I have also noticed I'm unable to preview GIFs before I send them. I'm currently working from a MacBook Pro, and I use the Teams desktop application version.

I can still send a GIF, I just can't preview it like I used to.

Confirmed GIF preview is not viewable from the Teams web version

Confirmed GIF preview is not viewable from the Teams desktop application

Confirmed GIF previews are viewable on the mobile app version

Thanks for your assistance,

Jose R. Garcia 0 Reputation points

2026-03-10T16:14:34.3566667+00:00

It's March of 2026 and Joseph's fix worked for my issue. This fixed it!
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GIFS in Teams Chat not previewing

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