Windows Sound triggered by the Alt modifier key

Report · Jan 20, 2023

Editors need hotkeys. Modifier keys are part of the mix, regardless of the OS platform used (Windows or Mac). And the "Alt" modifier key is in the mix, as importantly as are the "Ctrl" and "Shift" keys. But on Windows, it appears Premiere Pro users must fight a default Windows OS sound as they use "Alt" within the software. Why?

From various web searches, this has been a long standing issue for Windows users with many of Adobe's applications (Photoshop, Premiere, etc.), but I never found an official Adobe response on this. I think I've seen posts all the way back to 2015... The typical "fixes" (workarounds at best) shared by users are along the lines of disabling the Windows notification sounds altogether (which can't be an acceptable solution), or for some others, disabling the Windows > Settings > Ease of Access > Sticky Keys (which doesn't work for me).

Please. There has to be a fix for this on Adobe's side, e.g. an app-specific Preferences settings? I've just migrated to a brand new PC, fresh install of OS and of all of Adobe's CC... But now, those pesky gongs everytime I hit a hotkey combined with "Alt" are driving me insane.

Thanks

Premiere Pro Cloud CC latest/greatest (23.1.0 build 86)

Windows 10 Pro for Workstations

10.0.19045 (latest/greatest)

Report · Jan 20, 2023

No, there isn't a fix I know of on "Adobe's" side.

Why?

Because ... Windows.

I've looked all over the web for years for any app/utility/hack of the registry even! ... that will allow users to turn off Window's control of the Alt key.

There isn't one.

And if anyone can find one, PLEASE POST IT HERE!

And this is very, very maddening to me as someone who works keyboard shorts as hard as I do. I've found I cannot use most Alt-x shorts, that only say Shift-Alt-X works. Although occasionally ... just Alt-x does work.

Very frustrating.

Neil

Report · Jan 20, 2023

sorry it's driving you nuts but honestly the programming for something like that would be really hard to do ( to overide os sounds when you don't want to disable them on the os level ). it's kinda like a IF THEN ELSE programming statement with a new variable that targets the specific key(s) ( alt in your case), direct programming to a sub routine ( gosub ) just to try and overide the os sound... and then programming would have to jump back to continue ( after gosub part ). That would slow up the program and be complicated. The best thing I think for you to do is look at the little speaker icon in task bar and turn the sound OFF ( slide it to left when you see the little window for speaker volume ) and just turn off sound for your computer entirely for your editing session where you hate the os sounds. since you want to keep the fun os sounds in general and can't turn off the sounds cause you need them for other programs the speaker is your best bet...THEN after you get to the point where you want to play your edited video WITH sound, just turn on the speakers again ....using little speaker icon on task bar.

otherwise i think you are out of luck...sorry....

Report · Jan 20, 2023

Thanks Neil, I appreciate the feedback. Has Adobe "officialized" this as being a) a Windows problem and b) that they cannot tinker any form of solution on their end? I mean, it's a massive blow to Windows users... Officializing this once and for all is the least they should be doing in respect to the user base IMHO...

Report · Jan 20, 2023

Thanks Yanna. Hmm, I respect your opinion but I'm sure there has to be a way to address this. I'm no programmer but I've worked as a QA Analyst for a good number of years, testing video editing and vfx softwares for another major software company and I can tell you we were working and fixing OS-based issues on a regular basis, stuff way deeper than a keyboard key press! And this occured across Mac and Linux OSes.

But regardless, the point is this should be either fixed or officially called out as a known issue that can/cannot be fixed by Adobe... Cheers.

Report · Jan 20, 2023

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But regardless, the point is this should be either fixed or officially called out as a known issue that can/cannot be fixed by Adobe... Cheers.

============

I kinda agree with you but I just turn off all the windows sounds on my editing computer. That was my personal solution ( and it took a lot of work to do that on the os level ) with win 10.

you are right that it should not happen but there are problems with solution.

a) this is user to user forum and NOBODY here has access to the other entities of the company.

b) the company business model and all the various departments are not geared toward 'customer service' in general.... think of all the block diagrams necessary to divide an international company into all the parts for that company to succeed in making money... it's HUGE and complicated.

therefore, there is NOBODY at adobe ( even if you write to corperate headquarters in North Amerca ( for example )) who will ever answer your question or declare ANYTHING.

It's just the way it is...

Like, if you want your ford explorer to play a meow sound from you cat when you put the key in the ignition..... who could help you ?????

save yourself heartache and if stuff starts driving you nuts ... admit you have no control, nobody else does either, and move on ... get new edit program or new computer or whatever.... so you are happy.

Report · Jan 20, 2023

LOL! Some great words of wisdom in there Yanna!

I agree with most of what you say. Trust me, in terms of Adobe's support - or lack of (which is also true of pretty much any other software company nowadays), I've seen this transition from within... This other company I used to work for was selling turn-key systems at a premium price, alongside impeccable customer support: it was regularly cited as the top of its class in the industry. But then came a day where one company started giving away its software and the business models all started to fall apart to where we are today. The software companies have gone thru big changes, essentially churning profit for stockholders as the main driving force. And that has generally transformed the industry along 2 main vectors: abandonning expensive customer support models and abiding monthly/yearly software subscription models. For better or worse!

That being said, this board is being monitored as a moderator is regularly confirming some issues that are raised here... But no worries, I won't lose precious sleep or more billable hours over Adobe's issues 😉 This beep issue is not the sole problem that crawls under my skin using this software, but it's so "in my face" (or ears!) with this new computer set-up that I had to say it out loud. Cheers!

Report · Jan 20, 2023

It's a Windows thing. I've been after this for years, because I reset enough keyboard shorts in Pr that I want to use the Alt key for simple things like Alt-V or whatever.

And ... it works if there's not a "menu" short for either Pr's main menu bar or a Windows keyboard shortcut set to that. As the way Windows works, if an app has an Alt-"X" menu item in it's Main Window Menu system, that gets first 'touch' ... if not, then if Windows has a keyboard short for that combination, it does that Windows thing. If there isn't either, then you can set a keyboard short with the Alt key by itself. But there aren't many options.

And a number of the Alt-X shorts setup on installation of Pr to begin with, don't work because there's a Windows shortcut using it.

And yes, I've talked personally with the engineers at NAB about this, and that's a Windows "thing".

Which they find as irritatingly stupid as I do.

I never, ever use keyboard shorts to get around the PC UI. Why on earth? I never USE the UI functions, do I? I use applications to do stuff, not Windows!

Whatever. MS isn't allowing anyone to cut them off. There's a LOT of threads about this on various forums out on the web too. And yea, ain't no one got no fix. Really a pisser.

Neil

Report · Jan 20, 2023

Thanks for the insight Neil.

Ok, bad-bad Microsoft.

But why the heck not document this on Adobe's side? It's not giving them much love either way...

Aaaah, the corporate world. Gotta look good, no matter how ugly it can be in the trenches.

Alain

Report · Jan 21, 2023

Yea, it's a Windows "thang" that is freakingly irritating ... and Adobe ain't very good at communications to their users. Yup. That's it on both counts.

And also ... sadly on both counts.

Neil

Report · Dec 11, 2023

Hi!

You can deactivate the Alt menu without disabling alt + ... shortcuts with "autohotkey" tool.

Create an empty script, edit it with notepad when prompted and copy and paste this command :

~LAlt::Send {Blind}{vkE8}

Save the file and launch it whenever you need it.

Report · Dec 11, 2023

Nicolas ... as someone who's not done any macros in Windows since they dropped their easy way to do that with Win2000 ... um ... maybe the complete steps would be useful.

As posted, I'm not sure where to even start to do that ...

Report · Dec 15, 2023

Hello Neil,

You need to download a little software called "Autohotkey" here : https://www.autohotkey.com/

When you open it, click on "New Script"

Then choose a name and where you want to save it and choose the "Empty Clean slate" option

There you should have a window asking to choose an editor. Choose notepad

Click on edit

Copy and paste the code below

~LAlt::Send {Blind}{vkE8}

and save the file

Now launch the script saved (maybe autohotkey will install aditionnal functionalities to run it, it's ok) and it will disable the Alt menu in Premiere pro (and other apps) but you can still use "alt + ..." shortcuts.

To close the script, find the "H" green icon in the taskbar and right click on it to exit it.

Hope it's more clear 🙂

Report · Dec 15, 2023

Thanks for the clearly detailed instructions! Should be useful to many users.

Report · Aug 26, 2024

Hey Alain, I realize this is an ancient post. Hopefully you have found a solution. My super quick fix was going to the "change systems sounds" control panel, selecting the "Default Beep" and asigning it "none" in the drop down.

This does mean your computer will just no longer bling at you when you click or hit something you can't but it stops the alt key from making the stupid noise in adobe apps 🙂