Windows 11 Will Have New Shortcuts to Mute or Unmute the Microphone

Microsoft recently released a Windows 11 preview update with a new taskbar feature that lets you quickly mute and unmute the microphone. In addition, Microsoft has introduced a new experimental feature that lets you share content from other applications to Teams in Windows 11 while in a meeting.

The latest version of Windows 11 includes a new keyboard feature that lets you mute or unmute your device's microphone with just one click. Currently, the keyboard shortcut Win + Alt + K works only in Microsoft Teams, and can also be toggled by clicking the microphone icon displayed in the system tray.

Initially, this universal Windows 11 mute feature required users to manually click the microphone icon on the taskbar. The icon appears next to the Wi-Fi or Ethernet, volume, and battery icons, and you can simply click it to mute and unmute the microphone in just one second.

New keyboard shortcuts

Microsoft has updated the mute toggle in the taskbar to support the new keyboard shortcut WIN + Alt + K. To use the new mute feature in Windows 11, simply press WIN + Alt + K to do so.

As mentioned at the beginning, you will need to be in an application that supports the mute button to work. Currently, only Microsoft Teams is supported, but Microsoft says that third-party apps will also get support for Windows 11's new taskbar mute toggle.

Other improvements to the taskbar

Microsoft is also working on a new taskbar feature that will allow users to share content from Microsoft Teams meetings directly from the taskbar. This will eliminate the need to manually switch windows in Teams meetings and users will be able to focus on their meetings in Teams.

In addition, Microsoft is testing support for taskbar drag-and-drop inside Windows 11, but this feature is only expected to be available in the next major Windows update.

Free backup software is recommended

No matter how Windows 11 updates the taskbar or other items, data protection is always an important thing to do. It is highly recommended to try the free backup software for Windows 11/10/8/7/XP - AOMEI Backupper Standard. 

This freeware offers practical backup features like file backup, system backup, scheduled backup, event-trigger backup, etc., and many helpful tools like bootable media creator, backup image mounting, storage management, and so on to help users better protect or manage Windows.

AOMEI Backupper has earned a good reputation due to its professional backup solution and user-friendly interface among worldwide users over the last 15 years. You may want to download it to have a try.