On many PC keyboards the second functions are printed on their keys in the same color as the Fn key, making them a little easier to learn than on the more minimal Mac keyboards. On a Mac, Fn+Backspace makes the Backspace key work like a Forward Delete key, which some find useful when editing text.Ī lot of the Fn key tips for the Mac also apply to Windows PCs, though you’ll have to check how the Fn key is implemented on your particular hardware. But on a Mac they are there, hiding behind the arrow keys: Press Fn+Up Arrow, Fn+Down Arrow, Fn+Left Arrow, and Fn+ Right Arrow respectively. While those keys are clearly marked on an extended keyboard, at first glance there’s no sign of them on most laptops or non-extended keyboards. For example, I like to use the Page Up, Page Down, Home, and End keys for scrolling and navigating documents in many Adobe applications they help scroll around zoomed-in images in Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom. The Fn key can alter a compact keyboard in other useful ways. On many compact keyboards, pressing the Fn key (red) activates the second function of some keys (purple). So if you’re on a MacBook Pro and you want to use the numeric keypad function of the Enter key, press Fn and Return together. When you press Fn+Return, the Return key works like the Enter key on a numeric keypad. For example, Mac laptop and compact keyboards have a Fn key that gives many keys a second function, and the Return key is a prime example of that. If you’re thinking “These tips don’t help me because I don’t have an extended keyboard,” don’t give up yet. For example, in InDesign I could use the USB keypad’s Enter key to create a column break, but InDesign didn’t let me create style shortcuts using the number keys on the USB keypad. (decimal) keys to start video and audio previews, respectively.Ĭan you use numeric keypad shortcuts by plugging a USB numeric keypad into your laptop? The answer is “maybe.” With some USB numeric keypads, like the one I have, most keypad shortcuts work but some don’t. In After Effects you can use the number and asterisk keys on the numeric keypad to work with composition markers, and use the numeric keypad’s 0 (zero) and. For example, in Adobe InDesign, the number keys on the keypad are the only non-modifier keys you can use to create keyboard shortcuts for styles (such as paragraph and character styles). The Enter key isn’t the only one that works differently between the main keyboard and the numeric keypad. For example, in Adobe After Effects, pressing the main keyboard’s Enter key renames a selected item, while the numeric keypad’s Enter key opens a selected item. You’ll find similar examples in other applications. When editing text in Photoshop the main keyboard’s Return/Enter key creates a paragraph break (green), but the numeric keypad’s Enter key applies the text changes as if you had clicked the check mark in the options bar (cyan).
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