Teams Custom Emojis Not Working? Fixes That Actually Help
First separate a missing upload control from a rejected file or an emoji another person cannot find. Each needs a different check.
Miles Crawford
1. Check the Picker and Your Upload Permission
Open Emoji, GIFs and Stickers, choose Emoji, then select Your org's emoji. Microsoft's user guide places Add emoji there; its admin guide describes a Custom category with a Plus button. If neither is available, ask your admin to check the tenant-wide Use custom emojis setting and your Upload custom emojis messaging policy. The missing button alone does not prove which setting is responsible. Microsoft's admin guide currently excludes EDU tenants.
2. Check the Actual File
Microsoft lists JPEG, PNG, and GIF, recommends square images, and advises files under 256 KB because Teams compresses them. Library downloads vary. Open your actual file in the size checker rather than ruling out the file because it came from Teamsmoji. If it cannot be decoded, download a fresh copy. Keep the original before cropping or resizing in the maker.
3. It Uploaded but Nobody Else Sees It
Custom emoji are available across the organization, not just in the chat where you uploaded them. Confirm that both people are in the intended organization and search in Your org's emoji. People outside the tenant may see an emoji sent to them without having it in their own picker. Reopening the client is a reasonable troubleshooting step, but we cannot promise a sync time or that signing out fixes the issue.
4. Compare the Client and Account
If the control is missing on your phone, compare the same account and organization in Teams desktop or web. A difference helps narrow the issue to the client or its available controls. The Microsoft pages cited below do not give us a reliable universal mobile-upload rule, so we do not treat the phone alone as proof that uploads are blocked.
Still stuck?
Record the exact error, file format and size, client, and organization. Give that information to your Teams admin along with whether another permitted user can add the same file. Do not share confidential images in a public support thread. These checks narrow the problem; they do not guarantee a fix.
Sources and limits
Checked October 28, 2026 against Microsoft's user instructions and Teams admin controls. We did not test your tenant or verify a particular error. Start with the upload guide if you need the normal path.