Picture this: you’re in the midst of a crucial virtual meeting, fully engaged and ready to contribute, only to realize, to your horror, that you’ve forgotten to unmute yourself. It’s a blunder we’ve all experienced at some point, and for me, it became an unfortunate running joke in our daily standup meetings. But instead of resigning myself to this embarrassing fate, I decided to take matters into my own hands. And that’s when inspiration struck – what if a footswitch could be the secret weapon to solve this all-too-common problem? What started as a half-joking idea quickly turned into a quest to revolutionize my virtual meeting experience. Little did I know that this unconventional tool would become my secret weapon, transforming my meetings into seamless, efficient, and stress-free affairs.
After repeatedly forgetting to unmute myself, I joked that I should buy a footswitch to solve his problem. While it may have been a joke at first, it got me thinking – could a footswitch really be a useful tool for virtual meetings? The recent launch of the Elgato Stream Deck Pedal shows others are thinking along the same lines. This solution is more basic than Elgato’s, but also far cheaper!
Musicians have been using footswitches for years to control sound effects and switch between different tones on their instruments. The idea translates to remote meetings.

A footswitch, a device commonly employed to control electronic equipment, allows you to activate certain functions by pressing a pedal with your foot. These versatile tools come in various shapes and sizes, and you can even program some of them to execute specific actions, like muting and unmuting your microphone. I ordered one from ebay for £12.
Configuration
The product comes with configuration software that is used to assign the switch to a key or command. Computers have additional function keys that go beyond F1-F12 you can see on the keyboard. I used F21 as I have already allocated F13 to F20 to an 8 key macro pad.
Once the footswitch was bound to F21 I used Autohotkey to bind the command to the teams mute toggle shortcut (Control + Shift + m
). Binding to a function key allows you to change the binding for different uses. On my personal PC I can use the switch to control starting and stopping recording when I’m playing guitar.
Adding commands with Autohotkey
Autohotkey is a fantastic program that enables some great key mapping functionality as well as text expansion and macro creation. Its a great way to enhance productivity and speed up annoying things to type.
Now with mute is taken care of, I took it further by adding some other commands with additional key presses. Holding the control key while pushing the footswitch toggles the camera, shift and footswitch raises my hand. The full range of Teams shortcuts can be viewed here or viewed by pressing Control + .
whilst in teams.
Autohotkey commands / Teams controls
F21::^m ; mute toggle teams
^F21::^+o ; + control key = camera toggle teams
+F21::^+k ; + shift key = raise hand teams
Enter Power Toys
Using the MS Teams shortcuts enables the control of the application with the footpedal, but only if the teams call window is that active window at that time. If you start typing notes in another application or looking something up on the web the shortcuts stop working.
Power Toys is a bundle of applications that boost productivity for Windows users. You can read more at the official documentation. There are several usual modules, but the one that we need is called Video Conference Mute. The shortcuts here are global settings so that you can be working in any application and the controls will work.

The AutoHotKey script can then be updated with these options to enable the footswitch to work regardless of the window in focus.
Summary
If you’re interested in using a footswitch for your virtual meetings, there are several things to consider. First, you’ll need to find a footswitch that is compatible with your computer and the virtual meeting platform you’re using. Some footswitches come with software that allows you to configure them to perform specific actions, such as muting and unmuting your microphone.
Once you have your footswitch set up, using it during your virtual meetings can be a game-changer. No longer will you have to worry about forgetting to unmute yourself or fumbling around with your mouse or keyboard to find the mute button. With a footswitch, you can simply press a pedal with your foot to mute or unmute your microphone, making it a much more seamless experience.

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