OS X Tip #91
To set your Mac’s system and alert volumes you first need to add the volume control to the menu bar. If it is not there already. You will see the little speaker on the right side of the menu bar at the top. If you do not see the little speaker on your menu bar, add it there.

Here’s how:
Go to Apple menu -> System Preferences -> Sound Preference pane

Check the “Show volume control in menu bar” box

Incidentally, you can also control the Front Row (if your Mac has this) volume as well as the alert sound volume.

What is nice about having the volume control in the menu bar is you can get a visual of what your Mac’s volume is set for.

This shows the volume is all the way up.

This shows the volume is all the way down.

Control volume in menu bar
To control the system volume in the menu bar, simply drag your cursor over the speaker icon and ajust the slider control.

If you Option + click the volume icon, and you can quickly set the volume of the alert sounds without changing the system’s overall volume setting or having to go into the System Preferences -> Sound Pane!

    | Tags: alert, mac tips, sound, volume