Making the most out of your keyboard functions
As an interaction designer within the Microsoft Hardware group for the last eight years, I live and breathe design at the nexus of hardware & software. I think about how things work, look and feel every day. My job is about identifying new desirable experiences, starting from concepts and then making them real. A big part of my job is to constantly learn new things and as a result, I’ve become somewhat of an expert on keyboard functions and key combinations.
Today’s keyboards still have function keys, typically labeled F1 – F12. While we know there are some people who would be lost without their F keys, there are many others who either forget they are there or are just too intimidated to figure them out. But it doesn’t have to be that way. You too can know about this world of ‘secret’ functionality.
Within Windows for example:
- F1 displays help
- F2 renames a selected file
- F3 allows you type immediately type in a Windows Explorer search box
- F4 selects the Windows Explorer address bar
- F5 refreshes the active window
- F6 cycles through elements of the active window or desktop
- F10 gives focus to the active window’s menu bar (if it has one)
- F11 maximizes and minimizes the active window
There are other areas within Windows though where these keys do different things. If you are interested, you can learn more about Windows keyboard shortcuts online. For each applications you use, these keys often do something different. If you want to learn more about what they do in the apps you use, a good place to start is that application’s help. At this point you may be thinking, how am I ever going to remember all of this stuff? While it may be difficult to learn each function right off the bat, picking one F key a week to master might be a good way to make them part of your day-to-day over time.
If these function keys don’t seem useful or the task seems too daunting to remember what they all do, you may be interested in using their alternative functionality which come with many Microsoft keyboards. All you have to do to access the alternative functionality is first make sure the Microsoft IntelliType software is installed and then just press the F lock key to switch between the F1 – F12 functions and the alternative functions with icons. With the alternative functions:
- F2 will undo your previous action
- F3 will redo the previous undo action
- F4 will create a new document in applications that use documents
- F5 will open a document or file
- F6 will close a document or file
- F7 will reply to a selected email message
- F8 will forward a selected email message
- F9 will send the email message
- F10 will spell check a document
- F11 will save a file
- F12 will print a file
Let us know what you’ve tried out. We’d love to hear how using them has changed how you work with your keyboard.
If you own a keyboard with the F lock key and prefer the original function keys, you have to find a hack to keep it on (at least as of the version of IntelliType I downloaded last week). It resets when the computer resets or hibernates/restores; I think sleep keeps the device powered enough to maintain it, though.
Even with the hack, the F lock makes it incredibly difficult get into a BIOS screen without repeatedly mashing the appropriate function key and F lock key during those first seconds of boot in the hopes of sending the desired key press to the system–or causing a keyboard error that stops the BIOS process long enough to do it accurately as can happen on some computers.
9:33 am Adam
which function key will address bootup to DOS.
I have windows XP
1:14 pm Richard Abbett
why if press Calculator button calculator is not topmost?? this is not right
7:54 am Andrey