Microsoft is in the process of upgrading all Microsoft 365 accounts. Until yours has been upgraded, the only way to change your Lync picture is from the Microsoft 365 portal (after the service upgrade, you can change it from My Picture options, in Lync).
Important: You can tell whether you have the service upgrade from the header at the Microsoft 365 portal. Sign in to the portal (https://login.microsoftonline.com). If the header at the top of the page is white and includes the navigation terms Home, Outlook, and Team Site, you have Microsoft 365 pre-upgrade—keep reading; this topic is written for you. If the header is blue and includes the navigation terms Outlook, Calendar, and People, you have the upgrade. See Change your Skype for Business (Lync) picture for the details you need.
This topic describes how to change your picture on the portal and also how to hide your picture in Skype for Business (Lync), hide your picture in all Office programs, and hide others’ pictures in Skype for Business (Lync).
Notes:
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Your Lync picture also appears in other Office programs you might use, including Outlook.
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After you change your picture it might take some time before the new one appears in Lync.
Change your picture on the Microsoft 365 portal
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Open the Microsoft 365 portal (https://login.microsoftonline.com), and, if you’re not signed in automatically, type your Microsoft 365 user name and password, and then click Sign in.
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On the header, click My profile.
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On the My profile page, click Change photo.
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Click Browse to locate a picture on your local computer that you want to use as your profile picture. Your photo can’t be larger than 10 KB and must have a .jpg, .gif, .png, or.bmp extension.
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Click Save.
Hide your picture
You can hide your picture in Lync. Lync users will see a blank representation instead of your picture.
You can also hide your picture from everywhere it appears in Office programs, including Lync.
To hide your picture in Lync
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In the Lync main window, click your picture.
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In My Picture options, under My picture, click Hide my picture, then click OK.
To hide your picture in Lync and other Office programs
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In the Lync main window, click the Options button
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In My Picture options, under My picture, click Edit or Remove Picture. If this button is not available, open the Microsoft 365 portal instead.
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Sign in to the Microsoft 365 portal, if you’re not signed in automatically, and then click the Delete (x) icon or Remove picture.
Known issue with Outlook 2013 and pictures
Outlook 2013 doesn’t always detect that you have removed your picture. This is a known issue that we’re working to address. In the meantime, here’s how to help ensure your picture won’t continue to display in Outlook:
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In Outlook 2013, click File, and then click Options.
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In Outlook Options, click People, and then, under Online status and photographs, clear the Show user photographs when available (requires restarting Outlook)check box.
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Close Outlook, and then open it again.
Hide everyone’s picture in Lync
You can stop Lync from displaying pictures, for example, if you want to see more text in the Lync main window.
Important: This procedure removes your picture and everyone else’s from your view, but it doesn’t remove your picture from the view of others’. To hide your picture from other users, see the previous section.
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In the Lync main window, click the Options button, and then click Personal.
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In Personal options, under Show pictures, clear the Show pictures of contacts check box.
