Skip to main contentMic Drop

Setting a keyboard shortcut

What is a keyboard shortcut?

A keyboard shortcut or “hotkey” is a combination of keys that, when pressed at the same time, causes your computer to do something. Examples you’re probably familiar with are ⌘C (Command + C) for copy, or ⌘Z for undo. (Always a popular one.)

Mic Drop ships with ⌘⇧M (Command + Shift + M) as its default shortcut, but you can change it to whatever you like! ✨

How does Mic Drop’s universal keyboard shortcut work?

Any time you use Mic Drop’s keyboard shortcut, your microphone will toggle on and off. This happens at the system level, which means that it doesn’t matter what app you’re using, or what you’re currently doing, or which headphones you have in. When you press your keyboard shortcut, your microphone will immediately toggle, muting (or unmuting!) you.

How do I record a custom keyboard shortcut?

Open Mic Drop’s preferences by clicking on its icon in the Mac menu bar on the top of your screen. Select the keyboard shortcut recorder field and type your key combination. The keys you’ve selected will highlight in the field.

What keys can I use in my shortcut?

Your shortcut must start with at least one modifier key (unless you’re using a function key).

These are the available modifier keys:

  • ⌘ (Command)
  • ⌥ (Option)
  • ⌃ (Control)
  • ⇧ (Shift)

You can type in as many modifier keys as you’d like.

Then use a regular key after your modifier key(s). You can only use a single regular key, and it must be at the end of your shortcut.

Example combinations:

  • ⌘ ⇧ M (Command + Shift + M)
  • ⌃ Space (Control + Space)
  • ⌥ ⌥ (Option + Option)

If you’d like to use a function key (F6, F10, etc), you don’t need a modifier key—you can use the function key on its own.

What’s this “double tap”?

Instead of using a modifier key(s) + a regular key, you can choose to use a single modifier key, repeated twice. This won’t work with push-to-talk, but it does make it easy to toggle your microphone with one finger!

Can I use the function (fn) key to mute my Mac?

You can use any of the function keys (F10, F7, etc) the same way you would any other key combination. If you’d like to use the “fn” key itself, this is also possible, but it requires a workaround.

Technically, the “fn” key on a MacBook keyboard is actually a special key that isn’t available to modern keyboard APIs used by Mic Drop, so we don’t have a good way to support it natively yet.

If you’d like to use it, you can try using BetterTouchToolExternal link or Karabiner-ElementsExternal link to customise your keyboard behaviour, mapping the “fn” to another key that Mic Drop supports.

This doesn't answer my question!

Send a message to micdrop@octopusthink.com and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

Back to help

We send out a newsletter sporadically—usually around once a quarter. Expect general updates, new things we’re working on, and invitations to beta programmes when we’re ready to test a new app.

Made with ❤️ and 🐙 by Octopus Think