Chromebook Tip Tuesday: how to manage your audio outputs [VIDEO]

If you are new to Chromebook or don’t often plug in peripherals to your devices, perhaps you aren’t familiar with external audio and how it gets handled and routed on a Chromebook. For those unfamiliar with the process, it can be a frustrating scenario when you’ve plugged in an external monitor and some headphones and you simply cannot figure out where your audio is going.

Luckily, the entire process of moving audio between peripherals and internal speakers on a Chromebook is dead simple. Chrome OS only gives you the options that are actually available, and they are a quick switch right from the desktop when you need to pick the right audio output.

Simply click your system tray (where the clock is), look at the volume slider, and if you have anything plugged into your device that can output audio, you’ll see a small button with headphones in it. Click that button and all your output options will be there. Whether it is the speakers on your external monitor, a pair of wired headphones, or some Bluetooth accessory, you’ll have the option to choose both the audio input and output device.

As you can see in the video above, Chrome OS will only offer you the choices that are truly available and will add or remove them as you attach or detach devices from your Chromebook. It is really the simplest audio input/output selection I can think of, but if you don’t know where to look for it, finding where your audio is can be a tad confusing. Hopefully this helps some of you out!