Introducing Image Search in Microsoft Teams

[Introduction]

You can now search for images in Microsoft Teams — whether it’s a screenshot, whiteboard photo, or any other visual shared in chats or channels. Images can be found by person name or message content in Autosuggest, while the Search Results Page also shows the chat or channel where the image was shared for added context.

This message is associated with Roadmap ID 505443.

[When this will happen:]

• Targeted release: Rollout begins early November 2025 and completes by mid-November 2025.
• Worldwide and GCC: Rollout begins mid-November 2025 and completes by early December 2025.
• GCC-H and DoD: Rollout begins early December 2025 and completes by mid-December 2025.

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected:

All Microsoft Teams users across Worldwide, GCC, GCC-H, and DoD environments.

What's new:

Teams users can now search for images shared in chats and channels directly from the search bar. Image results are powered by message content, people involved, and on the Search Results Page, chat or channel location for added context.

• Image suggestions in Autosuggest: Start typing to reveal image results based on the sender or message keywords. 

• Screenshot 1: Image result suggestions in Autosuggest for a message keyword

  

• Clicking an image opens it in a lightbox with a carousel to browse related images.

• Screenshot 2: Image search results with Lightbox carousel

  

• New Images filter in Autosuggest: Click to view image suggestions only. This works with typing and in zero-query mode and can also be accessed using the is:image keyword.

• Screenshot 3: Image result suggestions on application of Image Filter

  

• Images tab on the Search Results Page: With the Images filter selected, pressing Enter opens a dedicated tab where each image result shows the message and chat/channel it was shared in. Clicking any image result also opens the carousel. 

• Screenshot 4: Image search results on the Search Results Page, showing message context and chat/channel location to help clarify relevance.

  

Note: Image search currently does not support text within images (OCR).

[What you can do to prepare:]

No preparation is needed. The new search capability is enabled up by default, but you may want to draw attention to these new capabilities in Teams.

[Compliance considerations:]

No compliance considerations identified, review as appropriate for your organization.