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Mac 101: 3 volume control tips

by TJ Luoma Feb 25th 2010 at 1:00PM

Adjusting the volume on your Mac via the keyboard is pretty easy: there are 3 buttons, one for Volume Down, one for Volume Up, and one for Mute.

When you adjust the volume, a sound is played to help you determine when it is loud enough or quiet enough. Most times I find this helpful, but sometimes I want to adjust the volume without hearing the noise. To temporarily disable the "volume change" sound, hold down the shift key while you adjust the volume. You will see the visual indicator on-screen, but no sound will come out.

For example, on my iMac keyboard, I can increase the volume by pressing fn+f12, but if I press fn+ shift+ f12 it will increase the volume without making any sound. Very handy especially if you are in a meeting or working in a library, etc.

(Thanks to TUAW reader @webgalpat for that tip!)

But what If you never want to hear the sound when you adjust the volume? Go to "System Preferences.app" and then click on the "Sound" preference pane, and UNcheck the box next to "Play feedback when volume is changed" (That tip and others were covered in our recent 5 Tips for Switchers article.).

Now let's combine those two tips: what if you have changed the preference so that the sound is not normally played when you adjust the volume but you decide that just this once you want to hear the sound level changes? In that case, just hold down shift while adjusting the volume and it will make the noise.

Bonus tip: you can use the keyboard to adjust the volume of your Mac, or mute/unmute it, even when the screensaver is on -- without entering your password or disabling the screensaver.



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Adjusting the volume on your Mac via the keyboard is pretty easy: there are 3 buttons, one for Volume Down, one for Volume Up, and one for...
 

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18 Comments

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gatorbat44

I have a question about volume some of you could answer. I frequently plug my macbook into a receiver stereo using a "Mini-to-RCA stereo audio cable", and since installing snow leopard last summer I get a pop from the stereo about 30 seconds to a minute after pausing music or videos on my macbook. It is as if the sound transmitter is turning off and sending a small sound pop through as it turns off. Any suggestions?

February 25 2010 at 9:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
opitz

when you switch off the volume changing sound using the pref pane pressing shift while changing volume will bring it back temporarily!

February 25 2010 at 5:45 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mark

I like holding alt + shift the pressing volume up/down to turn it up by fractions - useful if one whole block is too much!

February 25 2010 at 5:04 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Sebastian

http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/13/mac-101-fine-tune-your-macs-volume/

Is way more useful, you could have just re-posted this as it also tells you how you get that half dot in the volume bezel.

February 25 2010 at 4:00 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
yianker

For Christ's sake. OBVIOUS things are NOT tips.

i.e You can lower the sound of the speakers through the MENU BAR icon as well! Yeah! This thing rocks! I'm a Mac genius! NOT.

February 25 2010 at 2:58 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to yianker's comment
mikehild

Didn't read, did you? That wasn't what the tip was about. The tip was about changing the volume without the "click" sound. I personally didn't even know about that, despite having use OSX for years.

February 25 2010 at 5:59 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
John.B

Mac 101 is for *new* Mac users. If that's not you, move along to the next article. Sheesh!!!!

February 25 2010 at 8:11 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
fm

What I'd love to know is if there is a way to set a fixed start up volume level?

The volume levels I use throughout the day varies considerably, and if I forget to reset it then the next mornings start up routine often includes a loud child waking "bong" that I'd like to avoid.

February 25 2010 at 2:25 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to fm's comment
Dan

there's an app for that... couldn't resist.

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/16425

StartupSound.PrefPane it works like a charm, i think it has been reviewed on this site as well, but not positive.

February 25 2010 at 2:39 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mulder

How about a tip to set your volume at a certain level for example, every morning I use Awaken to start my internet radio player but if I had sound really low the night before, when the Mac wakes and plays the internet radio, it's really low.

I'd like to be able set sound for example at the mid point automatically.

February 25 2010 at 1:58 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
bdfortin

Bonus tip: You can get a *really* quiet volume by bringing your volume all the way down, then pressing the mute button.

You can test it out by playing a really loud file in VLC and bringing the volume to 400%.

February 25 2010 at 1:23 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ryan Leone

I just wanted to make a point to this. I did the shift + FN + F12 and i did not lower the volume quietly what it did was slowly animate the widgets in an out of my screen. Just holding shift and F12 is what i need to do to raise my volume. I am working on a wireless keyboard with my MBP so i dont know if there is a difference. Either way keep up the awesome work!

February 25 2010 at 1:20 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Chris

EXCELLENT Mac101!

February 25 2010 at 1:16 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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