What are the F1 through F12 keys?

Question

Answer

Commonly known as "function keys", F1 through F12 may have a variety of different uses or no use at all. Depending on the installed operating system and the software program currently open will change how each of these keys operate. A program is capable of not only using each of the function keys, but also combining the function keys with the ALT or CTRL key, for example, Microsoft Windows users can press ALT + F4 to close the program currently active.
Below is a short-listing of some of the common functions of the functions keys on computers running Microsoft Windows. As mentioned above not all programs support function keys and may perform different tasks then those mentioned below. If you are looking for more specific shortcut keys and function key examples we suggest seeing our shortcut key page.

Almost always used as the help key, almost every program will open the help screen when this key is pressed.
Enter CMOS Setup.
Windows Key + F1 would open the Microsoft Windows help and support center.
Open the Task Pane.

In Windows commonly used to rename a highlighted icon or file.
Alt + Ctrl + F2 opens a new document in Microsoft Word.
Ctrl + F2 displays the print preview window in Microsoft Word.
Enter CMOS Setup.

Often opens a search feature for many programs including Microsoft Windows.
In MS-DOS or Windows command line F3 will repeat the last command.
Shift + F3 will change the text in Microsoft Word from upper to lower case or a capital letter at the beginning of every word.

Open find window.
Repeat the last action performed (Word 2000+)
Alt + F4 will close the program currently active in Microsoft Windows.
Ctrl + F4 will close the open window within the current active window in Microsoft Windows.

In all modern Internet browsers pressing F5 will refresh or reload the page or document window.
Open the find, replace, and go to window in Microsoft Word.
Starts a slideshow in PowerPoint.

Move the cursor to the Address bar in Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.
Ctrl + Shift + F6 opens to another open Microsoft Word document.

Commonly used to spell check and grammar check a document in Microsoft programs such as Microsoft Word, Outlook, etc.
Shift + F7 runs a Thesaurus check on the word highlighted.
Turns on Caret browsing in Mozilla Firefox.

Function key used to enter the Windows startup menu, commonly used to access Windows Safe Mode.

Opens the Measurements toolbar in Quark 5.0.

F10

In Microsoft Windows activates the menu bar of an open application.
Shift + F10 is the same as right-clicking on a highlighted icon, file, or Internet link.
Access the hidden recovery partition on HP and Sony computers.
Enter CMOS Setup.

F11

Full-screen mode in all modern Internet browsers.
Ctrl + F11 as computer is starting to access the hidden recovery partition on many Dell computers.
Access the hidden recovery partition on eMachines, Gateway, and Lenovo computers.

F12

Open the Save as window in Microsoft Word.
Shift + F12 save the Microsoft Word document.
Ctrl + Shift + F12 prints a document in Microsoft Word.

Earlier IBM computers also had F13 - F24 on the keyboards. However, because these keyboards are no longer used they are not listed on this page.

Computer tips and tricks

Below is a listing of categories containing all known computer tips and tricks. With these tips users can increase their productivity on the computer and make their overall computer experience a lot more enjoyable

Top 10 keyboard shortcuts everyone should know

Using keyboard shortcuts can greatly increase your productivity, reduce repetitive strain, and help keep you focused. For example, highlighting text with the keyboard and pressing Ctrl + C is much faster than taking your hand from the keyboard, highlighting the text using the mouse, clicking copy from the file menu, and then putting your hand back in place on the keyboard. Below are our top 10 keyboard shortcuts we recommend everyone memorize and use.
Ctrl + C or Ctrl + Insert

Copy the highlighted text or selected item.

Ctrl + V or Shift + Insert

Paste the text or object that's in the clipboard.

Ctrl + Z and Ctrl + Y

Undo any change. For example, if you cut text, pressing this will undo it. This can also often be pressed multiple times to undo multiple changes. Pressing Ctrl + Y would redo the undo.

Ctrl + F

Open the Find in any program. This includes your Internet browser to find text on the current page.

Alt + Tab or Alt + Esc

Quickly switch between open programs moving forward.

Press Ctrl + Tab to switch between tabs in a program.

Adding the Shift key to Alt + Tab or Ctrl + Tab will move backwards. For example, if you are pressing Alt + Tab and pass the program you want to switch to, press Alt + Shift + Tab to move backwards to that program.

Windows Vista and 7 users can also press the Windows Key + Tab to switch through open programs in a full screenshot of the Window.

Ctrl + Back space

Pressing Ctrl + Backspace will delete a full word at a time instead of a single character.

Ctrl + Left arrow / Right arrow

Move the cursor one word at a time instead of one character at a time. If you wanted to highlight one word at a time you can hold down Ctrl + Shift and then press the left or right arrow key to move one word at a time in that direction while highlighting each word.

Ctrl + Home / End

Move the cursor to the beginning or end of a document.

Ctrl + P

Print the page being viewed. For example, the document in Microsoft Word or the web page in your Internet browser.

Page Up / Space bar and Page Down

Pressing either the page up or page down key will move that page one page at a time in that direction. When browsing the Internet pressing the space bar will also move the page down one page at a time. If you press Shift and the Space bar the page will go up a page at a time.

Computer Tips

Tuesday, July 12, 2011