Keyboard shortcut to always mute and not unmute

Discussion & Questions
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1

I want a keyboard shortcut that will always mute. So if the system is currently muted, it should not unmute. I always want my laptop muted when I'm not in front of it, so I want a simple shortcut to lock and mute.

I've tried Advanced Trigger Conditions, but I can't find an option that works. I can enable my trigger only if the system volume is not 0, but when the system is muted, the volume is not 0. I can also set the system volume to 0, but then I cannot "unmute" with the regular mute key.

Maybe I need to trigger an apple script which can check if the system is muted, and if not, mute it? Is there a better way to achieve this inside BTT?

2

You can use the "Set System Volume" action and just have it always re-set to 0.

3

Thanks for the speedy reply. I tried to address that suggestion in my original post.

My tests indicate that setting the system volume to zero is not the same as a mute action. If I set the volume to zero, then pressing the standard system "mute" button doesn't do anything. It doesn't "unmute" back to my previous volume level.

That's my specific goal. To be able to always mute. Or in other words, to toggle mute only if mute is not currently true. Then I can unmute with the standard mute toggle, and have my volume restored to its previous level.

Is there any way to achieve this with BTT?

4

For some additional context:

osascript -e 'get volume settings'
output volume:50, input volume:50, alert volume:100, output muted:false

I want to toggle the output muted: false to true. But I don't want to change output volume:50 to something else.

5

In that case, you could use this Apple Script:

	set volume with output muted
6

My last post got me thinking, and I found a solution here which is to run the following apple script:

if output muted of (get volume settings) is false then
	set volume with output muted
end if

This always sets the mute flag to true. Or, even simpler, one can also just use:

set volume with output muted

I'm not sure if there's any downside to setting the mute flag to true when it is already true or not.

7

I don't think there is a downside, it won't do anything if it is already muted.