| Applies
To: MacOS Classic 9.1 and later
For years now, the
Macintosh keyboard has had Function
Keys (F1-F15), but rarely did they serve a purpose. Some-
times, the developer of an application would use them for
macros and such, and they could be put to use by a very
limited number of shareware programs. But for the most
part, the Function Keys just sat at the top of the keyboard
being useless.
If you're using MacOS
Classic 9.1 or later, you can use the
Keyboard Control Panel to put those Function keys to work.
This will allow you to "define" each Function key,
linking it to
an application or document that you frequently use, launch-
ing it in one simple keystroke.
Open your Keyboard
control panel and click the "Function
Keys..." button. You'll be presented with a screen that
lists
each function key, and the application/document currently
assigned to it. Click on the key you wish to define (The
buttons on-screen "F1" "F2" etc...), and
you'll be presented
with a window (the same one as if you were opening some-
thing from an application) telling you to select the item you
wish to link the the key. Find the item, highlight it, and
click
"Assign". Easy, huh? Make sure you have the box
checked
next to "Enable Hot Function Keys", and you're set.
Option-
ally, you can check the other box, allowing you to hold
down
the Option key if you need to use the function keys for some
-thing else. Now, all you have to do to launch those Appli-
cations or documents is to press the key you assigned it to!
Neat!
.
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