Send an emoji or GIF in Microsoft Teams Free

Add an emoji

To add an emoji to a message:

1. Tap Emoji, GIFs, and Stickers in the message box.

2. Choose Emojis beneath the message box or use Search  to look for something specific (example, "cats playing piano") or browse the collection of popular GIFs.

   1. Select an emoji from Recent.
   2. Scroll through the galleries or you can tap on the bottom icons for a specific gallery. The emoji gallery includes Smilies, Hand gestures, People, Animals, Food, Travel and places, Objects, Activities, and Symbols.
   3. To find faster results, you can use Search .

3. Choose the emoji that you want and hit Send .

Add a GIF

You can add an animated GIF to any chat, group chat, or community chats.

To send a GIF: 

1. Tap Emoji, GIFs, and Stickers  in the message box.

2. Choose GIF beneath the message box or use Search  to look for something specific (example, "cats playing piano") or browse from the collections of popular GIFs.

3. Once you select the GIF, you can:

   1. Add to message- It will attach the GIF and you can add a message before sending.
   2. Create meme- You can add text on the top and bottom of the existing GIF before sending. Tap Done and it will attach the GIF to your message.
   3. Send- Will send the GIF without adding a message. 

Send an emoji

To insert GIF in a chat, group chat, or community message: 

1. Choose Emoji, GIFs, and Stickers on the right side of the message box. You can select an emoji from: Smilies, Hand gestures, People, Animals, Food, Travel and places, Objects, Activities, and Symbols.

   Tip

   • Under All, you can choose from popular emojis.
   • We’re updating the emoji shortcut in Teams to make typing smoother. Type colons to open emoji suggestions while you compose. If you haven’t used the parentheses shortcut to insert an emoji in the last 45 days, that shortcut will be turned off. New accounts use colons only. Availability can vary by version.

2. Now you can: 

   1. Select an emoji from Recent.
   2. Scroll through the galleries or you can tap on the bottom icons for a specific gallery. The emoji gallery includes Smilies, Hand gestures, People, Animals, Food, Travel and places, Objects, Activities, and Symbols.
   3. To find faster results, you can use Search .

3. Choose the emoji that you want, and it will appear in the chat compose box. When you’re finished, hit Send .

Use an emoji shortcut

In the compose box, you can insert emojis by using colons (for example,. :smile:). This will add the emoji, even your custom ones, to your message.  

Under Emoji, GIFs, and Stickers , you can also search for emojis by using the keyword search box at the top of the gallery. 

Add a GIF

You can also add an animated GIF to any chat, group chat, or community chats.

To send a GIF: 

1. Choose Emoji, GIFs, and Stickers  in the message box. Select GIF to view your options.

   Tip

   • Under All, you can choose from popular GIFs.
   • We’re updating the emoji shortcut in Teams to make typing smoother. Type colons to open emoji suggestions while you compose. If you haven’t used the parentheses shortcut to insert an emoji in the last 45 days, that shortcut will be turned off. New accounts use colons only. Availability can vary by version.

2. Select a GIF by:

   1. Browsing one of the collections of popular GIFs by selecting one of the topics that include Trending, Reactions, Greetings, Perfect, Welcome, Congratulations, Thank you, or Excited.
   2. Use the Search at the top of the window to look for something specific (for example, "funny cats")

3. Once selected, the GIF is attached to your chat and you can add a message. When you’re finished, hit Send .

Personalize your emoji and default emoji reactions

If an emoji has a gray dot in the corner, it can be personalized for different skin tones. Just right-click on any emoji with a gray dot to open a series of variations for that emoji and choose the one that you want to send.  

You can also update your personalization options: 

1. Choose Emoji, GIFs, and Stickers  on the right side of the message box, then select the Emoji.

2. Next to the search box, choose Customize default reactions . There you can:

   1. Customize your default emoji reactions- Choose a current reaction and then choose a replacement emoji from the gallery.
   2. Personalize skin tone- select a skin tone and select Save.