Today’s tech tip is about the top row of keys on your laptop—the function keys—and what else they can do.
What Are Function Keys?
At the very top of your keyboard, you’ll see keys labeled F1, F2, F3, all the way to F12. These are called “function keys.” They help you do things quickly on your laptop.
What Do They Do?
On the Dell laptops we deploy, the function keys have two jobs:
- Regular Functions (like F1 for help, F2 for rename, F5 for refresh)
- Special Shortcuts (like making the screen brighter, turning sound up or down, adjusting keyboard back light)
You’ll notice little pictures (icons) on these keys, like a speaker, sun, or monitors. These show what shortcut each key does.
How Do You Use Them?
- If you just press F1–F12, you usually get the regular function.
- If you want to use the shortcut (like turning up the volume), you hold down the fn key (bottom left corner) and then press the function key with the icon you want.
For example:
- Fn + F3 (if F3 has a speaker icon) = turn up the volume
- Fn + F5 (if F5 has a sun icon) = make the screen brighter
Quick Reference:
- Fn + F1–F12 = Shortcut (look for icons) – icons/functions for the alternate functions may vary from laptop to laptop, but you can still reference the icon for an idea of the function.
- Just F1–F12 = Regular function (like help, refresh, etc.)
Function keys on our most used laptop model – actions can differ on various laptop models, so always check the icon on each key!
F1 – Mute Audio
F2 – Decrease Volume
F3 – Increase Volume
F4 – Mute Microphone
F5 – Keyboard backlight – can cycle between low/high/off with each press
F6 – Decrease brightness
F7 – Increase brightness
F8 – Switch to external display
F10 – Print Screen
F11 - Home
F12 - End
Up Arrow Key - Page Up
Down Arrow Key - Page Down