Quick Tip: Increase/Decrease Your Mac’s Volume With More Precision
Written on November 03, 2008 by Brandon Eley and 20 people have commented
Sometimes you need more precise adjustments to your Mac’s volume. The volume up/down buttons on the mac have 16 settings, but if you’re in a quiet room sometimes even the first full setting is too loud.
I often listen to music in the office, but need to hear if someone says something to me. It’s just background music for me while I code or read email, so I want it to be really quiet.
If you need more precise control of your volume, simply hold down Shift+Option and then volume up or down. You will have a total of 64 volume levels (4 levels for each square), giving you the ability to get the volume perfect for your own needs.
Also, if you hold down just the Shift key while changing the volume, it silences the volume change “click” sound.
Guillom on November 3rd, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Oh, thank you so much ! I’ve been looking for something like this for months !
bjzaba on November 3rd, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Handy tip, that. Thanks!
A.Fruit on November 3rd, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Nice. A true nugget.
Fabian Pimminger on November 3rd, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Thanks … nice tip
Ulysse on November 3rd, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Really nice & cool, thanks.
Wolfie on November 3rd, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Is this a Leopard only tip, because unless I’m being really dense (always a possibility) I can’t get it to work on Tiger.
Brandon Eley on November 4th, 2008 at 5:43 am
Wolfie, I don’t have anything other than Leopard to test on. It’s quite possible it only works on Leopard. Anyone else have Tiger they can test this on?
Andy on November 4th, 2008 at 7:35 am
The Shift + Option is not working on Tiger (for me) – but hiding the “tick” sound with Shift works for me on Tiger.
Obsidian on November 4th, 2008 at 7:44 am
Thanx for the great tip, you just solved a nagging problem for me.
Brian Warren on November 4th, 2008 at 8:03 am
Nice tip! Super handy. I’m totally going to be using this.
One microtip here: In the Sound preference pane I have the “Play feedback when volume is changed” box unchecked. Holding down just the Shift key while adjusting the volume, it reverses the effect, producing the sound.
darek on November 4th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Very interesting, nice work :D
Darrell Etherington on November 4th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
This is incredibly handy, thanks!
roman on November 4th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
I’ve been looking for this for a long time. Excellent tip.
Eimantas on November 6th, 2008 at 12:31 am
i think this tip was quite a while ago on macworld.com’s tips’n'tricks section
DameEdithDivine on May 22nd, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Thank you a million! You have no idea what this tip means to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you.