Function Keys / Special Keys Vs. Shortcuts and How Do They Affect Your Workflow.

Function Keys / Special Keys Vs. Shortcuts and How Do They Affect Your Workflow.
2 min read
24 August 2023
 

Although function keys can be helpful, the nuance of having to constantly choose between shortcuts & functions can become aggravating and slow down your workflow. Especially, when you accidentally hit the fn-key and fn lock key. Therefore, we’ll show you how to use the fn key for enabling and disabling the function shortcut lock.

Function Keys / Special Keys Vs. Shortcuts and How Do They Affect Your Workflow.
How to enable and disable the fn lock for keys that share shortcuts & function keys (F1, F2, F3), etc) on the same row:

Here’s how to Easily Turn Off Fn Lock on Your Mac Keyboard:
:

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    • To Activate: hold down FN + Esc and the down arrow key to activate the function lock
    • To Deactivate: hold down FN + Esc and the up arrow key to deactivate functions to go back to labeled shortcuts.
    • Note: Most keyboards that share a function row & shortcut row default to boot up in shortcut mode rather than function lock and will do so every time the computer/laptop is restarted.
Function Keys / Special Keys Vs. Shortcuts and How Do They Affect Your Workflow.
For Keyboards Without an F-Lock Shortcut Feature.

For Keyboards Without F-Lock If your keyboard doesn’t have an F-lock key feature, such as MacBooks keyboards, your best bet is to open system preferences and go to your keyboard settings. There you can choose to set your function keys as standard functions or special keys.

Function Keys / Special Keys Vs. Shortcuts and How Do They Affect Your Workflow.
Are Function Keys Even Needed?

Function keys are obviously not needed for most users. However, for the shortcut savvy or those desiring the ability to map out other functions for less mouse clicking, then keyboards with function keys are merited. However, we suggest Macally keyboards, which have fn lock keys conveniently located on the ESC key. This makes it very easy to switch between function & shortcut locking on the fly.

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Mark Allen 2
Joined: 9 months ago
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