Change Google+ Hangouts volume and more with Hangout Toolbox

In our earlier post, you were introduced to Google+ Hangouts and why it's one of the best video calling experience currently on the web. Well that doesn't mean that it's perfect. Hangouts currently leaves a lot to be desired in terms of features.

One of the most basic tasks you would want to do when you are in a video call is to adjust the volume. But you will find no such feature by default in Google+ Hangouts. Ridiculous, isn't it? It's because Hangouts controls the volume automatically depending on your microphone input volume, background noise etc. But fear not, it's possible to manually adjust the volume. In this article, I will show you how.

How to change the volume in Google+ Hangouts

If you need a feature and it's not there out-of-the-box, there's an app for that as the saying goes. You will need an app for Hangouts to achieve what you want, called Hangout Toolbox. Click on its link and install it. You can also set the Hangout Toolbox to automatically load every time you start a Hangout.

Once it is installed, you will notice its icon in the left pane of the Hangouts window. Click it and on the right side, you will get several settings to control your Hangout. Click the speaker icon, the second from the left and you can change your volume and even mute or unmute with 1 click.

Lower Third, Comment Tracker and Meme Faces - Oh My!

The Hangouts Toolbox addon also has other features. You can put a professional looking banner and your brand logo at the bottom of your video like there is on TV. This feature is weirdly named "Lower Third" which doesn't make it obvious as to what it does. It also has a "Comment Tracker" to keep track of who is commenting on your Google+ or even YouTube page. Finally, it has a feature called Meme Faces, that overlay an internet meme icon on your face. It's one of those silly but fun effects that make Hangouts fun to use.

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Author: Gaurav Kale

Gaurav is a software enthusiast from India and Classic Shell tester & UX consultant. He started with Windows 95 and is good at software usability testing. He firmly believes that user experience is just as important as software code quality and architecture for software to be successful.

2 thoughts on “Change Google+ Hangouts volume and more with Hangout Toolbox”

  1. Hangouts won’t let me video call anyone I can’t turn on my micphone and camera can u please turn it on for me

  2. why did you hide the date at the very end of the article? It should be prominently at the top so the reader knows if the article is relevant to the specific topic it is addressing.

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