Big shout out to Kieran Lloyd for suggesting this: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/kieranlloyd
Teams now has a Push To Talk feature on the desktop app by pressing {ctrl} +{ space}. This is a bit like a Walkie Talkie, holding the PTT keys will unmute you then automatically mute you again upon release. https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/office/using-audio-in-teams-17886394-9a9a-4f04-b4cc-e46589408b28
Whilst discussing Push To Talk, Kieran mentioned he had programmed one of his Logitech Mouse buttons to send {ctrl} + {shift} + M to mute and unmute Teams. He then mentioned he should configure another mouse button to send {ctrl} + {space} to use PTT with his mouse!
I set out to configure this for my own mouse (Anker Vertical Ergonomic) as it has Next & Previous Page buttons I never use. I soon discovered Windows does not let me program the mouse buttons and Anker do not appear to have software to do this. Kieran was using a Logitech mouse which has software to customise mouse buttons: https://www.logitech.com/en-gb/software/options.html
![](https://chrishayward.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/s-l1600.jpg)
After a quick Google Search I stumbled upon a free tool called X-Mouse Button Control https://www.highrez.co.uk/downloads/xmousebuttoncontrol.htm
Once installed, I created a new Application Profile for the Microsoft Teams app. This ensures that the custom mouse buttons only send the keyboard keystrokes when Teams is the Active Window (Useful!)
![](https://chrishayward.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/X-Mouse-AddApplication-1024x564.jpg)
Once the new Application profile was created, I was able to identify Mouse Button 4 and 5 were the Previous and Next Page buttons on my mouse as each mouse button highlights orange when pressed.
For each button I selected “Simulated Keys” from the drop down menu.
![](https://chrishayward.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/X-Mouse-SimulatedKeys-1024x324.jpg)
Mouse Button 4 (Back/Next Page) was programmed as Push To Talk.
Custom keys = {CTRL}{SPACE}
How to send the simulated key strokes = 3 During (Press on down, release on up)
![](https://chrishayward.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/X-Mouse-MouseButton4-PTT-1024x707.jpg)
Mouse Button 5 (Forward/Previous Page) was programmed as the standard Mute / Unmute button.
Custom keys = {CTRL}{SHIFT}M
How to send the simulated key strokes = 1 As mouse button is pressed
![](https://chrishayward.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/X-Mouse-MouseButton5-Mute-1024x711.jpg)
The final configuration looked as follows:
![](https://chrishayward.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/X-Mouse-MouseButtons-1024x566.jpg)
Once X-Mouse was configured the buttons worked as expected in the Microsoft Teams app.
![](https://chrishayward.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/s-l1600-Teams.jpg)
![Chris Hayward](https://chrishayward.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/headshot.jpg)
Technical Architect at Symity
Cheers Chris, works a treat on Easterntimes Tech mouse. Love the PTT feature in Teams