How to Use the Windows 11 Volume Mixer

The volume mixer is one of the most useful tools built into Windows 11. It allows you to set a custom volume level for each app on your PC. You can use this to your advantage by reducing the volume for apps that send lots of notifications and increasing it for the apps you actually want to hear, like your music player. While the volume mixer has been a part of Windows for many years, Microsoft has been working on revamping it. The updated volume mixer is now available to every Windows 11 user: here's how to make the most of it.

How to use Windows 11's volume mixer

The easiest way to launch the new Windows 11 volume mixer is through a keyboard shortcut: Windows-Ctrl-V. You'll see the volume mixer in the bottom-right corner of the screen, just above the clock in the taskbar. You can also open to volume mixer by right clicking the speaker icon in the taskbar, which is around the same area. Once it's open, you'll see the following sections:

Output device

Spatial sound

Volume mixer

We're after the volume mixer section, so scroll down to use it. You'll see a few app icons and a volume slider next to each. Move the slider to adjust the volume for each app. The first slider to the left is for system sounds, including alerts, so you can use it to reduce loud sounds in Windows 11. If you the app you want to adjust isn't listed, click the gear icon next to Volume mixer. This will open Settings and show you its own volume mixer section. You should see your app here, but if you don't, press Crtl+Alt+Del to open Task Manager and double check that it's running.

Use your scroll wheel to adjust volume in Windows 11

I recently discovered a faster way to adjust the volume on my Windows 11 PC. If your keyboard has media buttons, first press volume up or down. In Windows 11, this opens a tiny popover menu that shows you the current volume level. Move your cursor to this menu and use the scroll wheel on your mouse to adjust the volume quicker than the media keys would normally allow.

Alternatively, move your cursor over the volume button in the taskbar and scroll up to increase the volume and down to decrease it.