{"id":41140,"date":"2023-11-20T15:38:39","date_gmt":"2023-11-20T20:38:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=41140"},"modified":"2023-12-11T11:23:54","modified_gmt":"2023-12-11T16:23:54","slug":"the-hidden-secrets-of-the-fn-key","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2023\/11\/20\/the-hidden-secrets-of-the-fn-key\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hidden Secrets of the Fn Key"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adam Engst<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Apple began adding a globe icon to the Fn keycap a few years ago and, starting in macOS 14 Sonoma, began to call it the Globe key. This is likely for consistency with iPad keyboards, which dropped the lowercase “fn” letters entirely in favor of a globe icon.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

Because Apple doesn’t include the Fn key in the public Hot Key API, macro utilities like Keyboard Maestro can’t access it for the most part, as Peter Lewis explains<\/a>. However, the Fn key can now be treated more like a modifier key with the free Karabiner-Elements<\/a> or the $10 BetterTouchTool<\/a>, both of which can access the keyboard at a lower level than the public APIs.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

With Monterey, Apple also started letting us remap one modifier key (other than Shift) to another, so the Fn key could mimic Control for those who reach for the lower-left corner without looking.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

In recent macOS releases, Apple has continued to hard-code additional capabilities into the Fn key.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

I have yet to find a third-party keyboard where the Fn key works like on an Apple keyboard.<\/p>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n