i3 FAQ - Individual question feed

How to change the systems volume?

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 10:36:14 +0000

Hi there! I am on a laptop that allows adjusting its volume only with softkeys. When using gnome or unity I can use these softkeys out of the box, is there any way to enable the keys in i3? Or at least have a "tray icon" where I can change the volume like you can with windows?

Answer by fernandotcl for
Hi there!

I am on a laptop that allows adjusting its volume only with softkeys. When using gnome or unity I can use these softkeys out of the box, is there any way to enable the keys in i3? Or at least have a "tray icon" where I can change the volume like you can with windows?

Sat, 16 Jun 2012 01:28:02 +0000

For PulseAudio, I recommend [pa-applet](https://github.com/fernandotcl/pa-applet). It displays a tray icon, allows you to control the volume level in a number of ways (including using the multimedia keys in your keyboard), and allows you to change the configuration (say, from built-in speakers to HDMI) with two clicks.

Comment by michaelc for
For PulseAudio, I recommend pa-applet. It displays a tray icon, allows you to control the volume level in a number of ways (including using the multimedia keys in your keyboard), and allows you to change the configuration (say, from built-in speakers to HDMI) with two clicks.

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 17:55:36 +0000

Works for me fine on Ubuntu 13.10. I've enabled it in ~/.i3/config: exec pa-applet Building it required: libglib2.0-dev libgtk-3-dev libnotify-dev libpulse-dev libx11-dev autoconf automake pkg-config

Comment by yulrizka for
For PulseAudio, I recommend pa-applet. It displays a tray icon, allows you to control the volume level in a number of ways (including using the multimedia keys in your keyboard), and allows you to change the configuration (say, from built-in speakers to HDMI) with two clicks.

Fri, 24 Oct 2014 09:17:45 +0000

I found this to be the easiest solution for me. sorry can't upvote

Comment by Ruben G for
For PulseAudio, I recommend pa-applet. It displays a tray icon, allows you to control the volume level in a number of ways (including using the multimedia keys in your keyboard), and allows you to change the configuration (say, from built-in speakers to HDMI) with two clicks.

Sun, 01 Mar 2015 09:04:18 +0000

A word of warning for Ubuntu 14.04+ users, when switching audio output the sound stops and can't be recovered with the applet, I recovered entering a normal Unity session and resigning output to a correct device. Dunno exactly what is going wrong sorry.

Comment by chadillac for
For PulseAudio, I recommend pa-applet. It displays a tray icon, allows you to control the volume level in a number of ways (including using the multimedia keys in your keyboard), and allows you to change the configuration (say, from built-in speakers to HDMI) with two clicks.

Mon, 28 Jul 2014 14:12:22 +0000

awesome, thanks for the recco, works like a charm.

Comment by Avis for
For PulseAudio, I recommend pa-applet. It displays a tray icon, allows you to control the volume level in a number of ways (including using the multimedia keys in your keyboard), and allows you to change the configuration (say, from built-in speakers to HDMI) with two clicks.

Mon, 14 Jul 2014 15:07:54 +0000

works great out of the box for me, though building it was a bit of a chore.

Answer by josephbales for
Hi there!

I am on a laptop that allows adjusting its volume only with softkeys. When using gnome or unity I can use these softkeys out of the box, is there any way to enable the keys in i3? Or at least have a "tray icon" where I can change the volume like you can with windows?

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 17:27:05 +0000

For Fedora 18 beta, note the use of sset instead of set. bindsym XF86AudioRaiseVolume exec amixer -q sset Master 5%+ unmute bindsym XF86AudioLowerVolume exec amixer -q sset Master 5%- unmute bindsym XF86AudioMute exec amixer -q sset Master toggle

Comment by demil133 for

For Fedora 18 beta, note the use of sset instead of set.

bindsym XF86AudioRaiseVolume exec amixer -q sset Master 5%+ unmute
bindsym XF86AudioLowerVolume  exec amixer -q sset Master 5%- unmute
bindsym XF86AudioMute exec amixer -q sset Master toggle

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 03:07:47 +0000

I had it to "master" instead of "Master". If I haven't seen it here I would have installed another WM because I was getting out of options. Thanks

Answer by Jens Erat for
Hi there!

I am on a laptop that allows adjusting its volume only with softkeys. When using gnome or unity I can use these softkeys out of the box, is there any way to enable the keys in i3? Or at least have a "tray icon" where I can change the volume like you can with windows?

Sun, 19 Oct 2014 15:18:01 +0000

On systems with changing output device (for example headphones, docked and laptop speakers), you need to read the active sink before changing volume: set $sink `pactl list short sinks | grep RUNNING | cut -f1` bindsym XF86AudioRaiseVolume exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-volume $sink -- +10% bindsym XF86AudioLowerVolume exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-volume $sink -- -10% bindsym XF86AudioMute exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-mute $sink toggle

Comment by cemaleker for

On systems with changing output device (for example headphones, docked and laptop speakers), you need to read the active sink before changing volume:

set $sink `pactl list short sinks | grep RUNNING | cut -f1`
bindsym XF86AudioRaiseVolume exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-volume $sink -- +10%
bindsym XF86AudioLowerVolume exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-volume $sink -- -10%
bindsym XF86AudioMute exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-mute $sink toggle

Sat, 05 Sep 2015 04:52:15 +0000

With `grep RUNNING` this method doesn't work when there's no sound playing. Is there any side-effect if I remove this part?

Answer by Michael for
Hi there!

I am on a laptop that allows adjusting its volume only with softkeys. When using gnome or unity I can use these softkeys out of the box, is there any way to enable the keys in i3? Or at least have a "tray icon" where I can change the volume like you can with windows?

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 18:14:59 +0000

In case you are using PulseAudio: bindsym XF86AudioRaiseVolume exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-volume 0 -- +10% && killall -SIGUSR1 i3status bindsym XF86AudioLowerVolume exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-volume 0 -- -10% && killall -SIGUSR1 i3status Killing i3status with SIGUSR1 will trigger an immediate refresh. This works with i3status ≥ v2.7.

Comment by eddie-dunn for

In case you are using PulseAudio:

bindsym XF86AudioRaiseVolume exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-volume 0 -- +10% && killall -SIGUSR1 i3status
bindsym XF86AudioLowerVolume exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-volume 0 -- -10% && killall -SIGUSR1 i3status