[Doublej]

I have an old Apple Magic Keyboard, model A1644. There is no function key for microphone mute. On newer Magic keyboards it's the f5 key. The f5 and f6 keys on my keyboard are blank. When I press them nothing happens.

Is there an easy way to make f5 a microphone mute key?

I am running the latest version of MacOS.

P.S. I have an Apple USB wired keyboard that looks the same as the Magic keyboard. f5 does nothing on it either.

[Nick B]

Call Apple support at (800) 275-2273   They’re always very helpful

[GentleBender]

I haven’t tried this, but here is an article about mapping keys.
https://www.powermax.com/how-to-remap-keys-on-your-mac/

[Doublej]

Thanks folks. I contacted Apple support through chat and after researching the issue, the support tech said it could not be done. I guess the bean counters at Apple decided that they would sell a billion new keyboards if they didn't add this function to older keyboards.


I will live without it.

[brj]

It's changed over the years, but Apple has typically sold multiple keyboards at once - a more minimalist option that traded auxiliary keys and a number pad for small physical size and a larger options with all of those extra keys available.

You can likely still accomplish your goal using the free, Apple provided Automator to assign mute/unmute to the key or key combination of your choice.  Example link:

https://medium.com/macoclock/how-in-the-bleep-do-i-mute-my-mic-anywhere-on-macos-d2fa1185b13

Lots of options along these lines.  I went a step further and used (also free) AppleScript to control Roon using a Flic smart button.  That way, I just have a small, non-descript button sitting by my listening chair instead of a keyboard or needing to pull out my phone. 

[Doublej]

Thanks brj, the script seems to work. The next step, if possible, is to get a visual indicator of the state. Do you know if/how this can be accomplished? I am looking to create something like the mute speaker icon that pops up when one presses the f10 mute/unmute speaker button.

[brj]

More involved, but step-by-step:

https://logfetch.com/toggle-mute-microphone-on-macos/

(I haven't tried it... I just had a good idea what to use for search terms.)

[Doublej]

More involved, but step-by-step:

https://logfetch.com/toggle-mute-microphone-on-macos/

(I haven't tried it... I just had a good idea what to use for search terms.)

You searching abilities are top notch. I just updated my script and now the microphone input is toggled on/off and I get a visual indicator of the state of the microphone when I press f5 (the key I assigned the script to)

Thanks!

[brj]