Every keyboard you've touched has had these keys across the top: F1-F12, known as Function keys.
What do they do? Well, they do a lot and they do a little. Usually they do nothing at all and you can go your entire life without ever knowing what any of them do and live perfectly well.
If you were wondering what they do here is an answer. Not the answer but an answer.
This is a typical desktop keyboard. It's my desktop keyboard.
Ignore the little pictures on the keys for now and focus on the numbers: F1-F12.
F1 - opens up the "help" menu for whatever program you have running
F2 - lets you rename a highlighted file or folder
F3 - opens the search box (same as Ctrl+F)
F4 - closes whatever program you are in
F5 - refreshes the screen, usually used in browsers like Firefox, Chrome or Edge
F11 - put the Window you are in into and take it out of full-fullscreen mode. Give it a try.
This is not a complete list. you'll notice F6-F10 and F12 are missing. That's not because they don't do anything but it's because what they do generally isn't worth knowing. Trust me.
Some of these Function keys will do different things depending on the program you are in like Excel or Word and some of them will do different things if you add an extra key when you press them like Alt, Ctrl or Shift. Don't worry about that. You aren't missing out on anything.
Let's take another look at the same keys this time paying attention to those little pictures.
Starting with F1 we have sleep, search, mail, Internet, Favorite, Mute, Volume Down, Volume Up, Backwards, Stop, Play/Pause and Forwards.
The Function Keys themselves already do something so to get the little pictures to work we need to hold down the Fn key (located botton left near Ctrl and Alt) as we press the F1-F12 keys to activate the picture.
So, if we want to use the keyboard to increase the volume we press and hold Fn as we press F8. That should increase the volume. To decrease the volume we press and hold Fn as we press F7. That should decrease the volume.
Of these keys the ones you're most likely to ever use are the volume keys.
It is important to note that not every keyboard has these little pictures and sometimes the pictures will be different.
For example here are the Function keys of a laptop I have:
F2 and F3 control the brightness of the screen.
F4 changes the display output.
F12 turns the wifi on or off.
Learn to recognize the little pictures and what they mean. If you are unsure just try them. There is nothing you can break by trying them out.
There are a lot more things these keys can do depending on the situation. If you want to start using the Function keys my advice is to look at your keyboard, see the pictures on your keys and start with the volume and brightness. Remember you may have to hold down that Fn key to get them to work. Change them up and down over and over until you get comfortable with them.
There is no point is trying to learn them all. You're not in school and there is no test. Just learn the ones you think you'll use and if you don't think you'll ever use them don't bother to learn them.
