Hotkeys and Mouse Control

Hotkeys and Mouse Control

How hotkeys are built

Each hotkey row combines three things:

• a trigger — a keyboard combination, a mouse button, a wheel direction, or a mouse action inside a defined screen area
• an action — volume up/down, mute, switch device, mute alternative device, brightness, run a task, and others
• a parameter — which device or application the action applies to, where the action needs one

Most "can Volume² do X?" questions come down to picking the right action and parameter.

How do I mute the microphone with a hotkey?

1. Settings → Main → set your microphone as the Alternative device.
2. Settings → Hotkeys → add a hotkey.
3. Action: Mute On/Off (alternative device)
4. Parameter: your microphone.

The tray can show a separate microphone icon alongside the playback icon, so the mute state is visible at a glance.

If an animation or indicator for mic mute stopped appearing after a Windows reinstall, re-enable the OSD and notification options — settings do not travel with the operating system.

How do I control the volume of one application?

Set the Alternative device to Change volume for → Specified applications (or to a specific device), then bind hotkeys to the alternative device. This gives one independent volume channel — a game or a browser, for example — controlled separately from system volume.

Limit: there is one such channel. A game, Discord and a browser cannot have three independent hotkey pairs at the same time. Tracked in issue #262.

Can I control system volume and an application at the same time?

Yes. Use the Alternative device with Change volume for: Specified applications. The main device continues to handle system volume while the alternative handles the application.

How do I change screen brightness?

Add hotkeys using the Brightness+ and Brightness- actions. Volume² uses the standard Windows API where it can and changes brightness programmatically where it cannot.

On external monitors this changes the monitor's own brightness via DDC. A software dimming overlay that leaves the monitor's setting untouched is not available.

Can I use the Fn key in a hotkey?

No. Fn keys do not generate codes that can be hooked, so Volume² never receives them (FAQ #6). Use the multimedia keys or another combination instead.

Wheel control over the taskbar and screen edges

This is the signature feature, and behaviour depends on privilege level.

If wheel control works in some windows but not over the taskbar, the Start menu or elevated applications: Volume² does not have permission to hook those windows. Enable Settings → System → Run as Administrator plus startup As Task, then restart (FAQ #1).

If it works only after you click the tray icon: the hooks are being dropped. Enable Settings → System → Restart the hooks every 500 ms (FAQ #5).

On some laptop touchpads, two-finger scroll is recognised only over certain windows and not over the taskbar, regardless of version or privilege level. Check the touchpad driver's own scroll emulation settings, which generate the wheel events Volume² receives.

Volume changes by accident in games or the Start menu

If the wheel changes volume or the middle button mutes when you did not intend it:

• Narrow the active areas so wheel control applies only to the taskbar or one screen edge, not to the whole screen or to all window title bars.
• Require a modifier key (for example Ctrl or Win + wheel) instead of a bare wheel.
• Check for a duplicate or leftover hotkey row that still matches the bare wheel.
• Disable conflicting gestures in your mouse vendor software (see below).

Known software conflicts

From FAQ #7:

• Logitech SetPoint — smooth scrolling must be disabled.
• A4Tech OscarX7 — does not work correctly.
• StrokePlus — sometimes only one of the two programs works.

Anything else that installs a global mouse or keyboard hook — gaming mouse suites, macro tools, accessibility utilities — is a candidate when wheel control behaves erratically.