How do I set the volume on a Windows app that makes intermittent sound?

Question

I am getting blasted by email notifications from MS Outlook. Note that I have Windows system sounds set to 'None', so it is not the "system" email notification that I am hearing. It is coming directly from Outlook. However, I can only set app-specific relative volume while they are actively playing a sound. I don't want to send myself an email and race to the sound mixer to try and catch it / set it. Is there way to set relative app volume directly? Ie, without having to have them running and playing sound? Or, as a work-around, is there some way I can put Outlook into a sound-playing loop so that I can easily catch it?

Answer 1

Partial workaround using Volume Mixer: Find a long wav file from somewhere, and set that as the sound to play. Wait for it to trigger, or set it off manually. This will give you time to open the Volume Mixer and change the volume for Outlook specifically.

However I've found this doesn't work for adjusting the sound played when you check/complete a Task in Outlook. There's currently no option within Outlook to turn this off or modify it. Changing the volume (or muting) other Outlook sounds via the above method has no effect on it.

Setting Windows to No Sounds also has no effect.

The only option is, as Microsoft suggests in one of its articles, to mute all sounds in Windows... which is obviously completely impractical if using Teams or Zoom or similar for video/audio calls.

It appears Microsoft are proud of this sound. Shame they didn't provide a way to adjust the volume or turn it off.

Answer 2

Look at each application the the System Sound CPL:

Note that on the PC used for this screenshot, Microsoft Visual Studio had been uninstalled, yet the settings for various sound notifications remain. There should be similar settings for MS Outlook, whether or not it is active.

Answer 3

Have you checked this option in your Systerm settings?

Answer 4

See the Support article Turn sound effects on or off in Outlook:

When you receive a new message in Outlook, you can receive alerts with sounds, a message pop-up notification, or simply a change in the Outlook icon in the status bar.

To change these settings, use the following steps.

1. Click the File tab.

2. Click Options > Mail.

3. Under Message Arrival, select or clear the Play a sound check box.

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Reducing the volume is impossible inside Outlook. The most you can do is to replace the sound.

The default sound is found in the file C:\Windows\Media\Windows Notify Email.wav. You may replace it by any other Windows built-in sound, or by your own.

The method is described in the article Change the sound played when an email message arrives:

1. Exit Outlook
2. Open Control Panel > Sounds
3. On the Sounds tab, under Program Events, find and click "New Mail Notification"
4. Select another Windows sound, or click Browse and your own audio file
5. Click OK and start Outlook.

If none of the sounds suite you, you may even copy the file Windows Notify Email.wav, reduce its volume using any audio editor, then specify it as the notification sound by using the Browse option in step 4.

Avoid modifying the file in C:\Windows itself, since Windows Update might return the old file.