When it comes to keyboard shortcuts on the Mac, the focus is often on Command, Control, Option, and Shift. However there’s another useful key with excellent keyboard shortcuts mapped to it—Fn, aka, the Function key. This is the button with the globe icon in the bottom-left corner of your Mac’s keyboard. Reddit user u/balanaicker highlighted these shortcuts in a post to r/macOS, and they’re genuinely useful:
- Fn + c: Opens the Control Center on your Mac.
- Fn + e: Launches the emoji picker. When you have a writing app or a text form selected, the emoji picker appears near the cursor. If not, it appears in a small floating window. (May be app dependent.)
- Fn + delete: This lets you perform a forward delete, which means you can delete the characters to the right of the cursor. It’s the opposite of the Delete key on your Mac’s keyboard.
- Fn + q: Fires up Apple Notes and opens a new Quick Note, or opens your last Quick Note.
- Fn + f: Toggles full-screen for the app in the foreground. If the app is already full-screen, it’ll change it to a regular window.
- Fn + Shift + A: Opens Launchpad, where you can see all apps installed on your Mac and quickly launch them.
- Fn + n: Shows or hides the notifications panel.
- Fn + h: Hides all open windows and lets you see your wallpaper and the dock. You can press it again to return all windows to their original position.
- Fn + up arrow: This is an alternative way to use the Page Up key, which works since most Macs don’t have this key. It allows you to quickly scroll up on a page.
- Fn + down arrow: It’s like pressing Page Down, which quickly scrolls down.
- Fn + left arrow: A replacement for the Home key, and scrolls to the top of the page.
- Fn + right arrow: A substitute for the End key, which scrolls to the bottom.
- Fn + a: Selects the dock. You can then use arrow keys to select apps and hit return to launch any app. It’s a way to browse the dock with the keyboard.
- Fn + d: Lets you launch dictation on your Mac.