How to Enable Push‐to‐Talk on Skype on PC or Mac

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Last Updated: August 18, 2019

This wikiHow teaches you how to use Push-to-talk mode in a Skype call, and disable your microphone whenever you're not speaking, using Windows and Mac.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Using Windows

1
Open Skype on your computer. The Skype icon looks like a white "S" in a blue circle. You can find it on your Start menu.
- If you're not automatically logged in to your Skype account, sign in with your email, phone, or Skype ID, and your password.
2
Click the Tools tab. This button is located on a tabs bar in the upper-left corner of your Skype window. It will open a drop-down menu.

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3
Click Options on the Tools menu. This will open your app settings in a new window.
4
Click Advanced on the left panel. Find the Advanced category on the left-hand side of your Options window and click it. This will expand sub-categories under it.
5
Click Hotkeys under the Advanced category.
6
Check the Enable hotkeys box. This box is located at the top of the Hotkeys settings. When this option is enabled, you can use keyboard shortcuts in your Skype calls.
7
Check the Toggle Mute (Push-to-talk) option on the list. This will open a new pop-up window, and allow you to set a hotkey keyboard combination for using the Push-to-talk feature.
8
Select a hotkey combination for Push-to-talk. You can select multiple keys, or assign a single key, such as ⇧ Shift, for this feature.
9
Click the blue OK button. This will save your new hotkey combination for Push-to-talk.
10
Click the blue Save button. It's located in the lower-right corner of the Options window. You can now use Push-to-talk in your Skype calls with your new hotkey combination.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Using Mac

1
Open Skype on your computer. The Skype icon looks like a white "S" in a blue circle. You can find it in your Applications folder.
- If you're not automatically logged in to your Skype account, sign in with your email, phone, or Skype ID, and your password.
2
Start a call. Push-to-talk is a hidden feature in Skype's Mac version, and you don't need to enable it from your settings before starting your call.
3
Press Control+⌥ Option+⌘ Command+↑ Up on your keyboard. This combination will automatically switch you to Push-to-talk mode in your current call.
4
Press Control+⌥ Option+⌘ Command+↑ Up to speak in your call. Once you're in Push-to-talk mode, you will have to press this keyboard combination every time you speak.
5
Click the muted microphone icon to quit Push-to-talk. You can leave Push-to-talk and go back to your regular microphone mode by clicking this button at the bottom of your call screen.