Filed under: Portables, Productivity, Freeware, iBook, PowerBook, Macbook Pro, MacBook, MacBook Air
FunctionFlip reclaims your function keys
When researching this week's Ask TUAW I ran across a nifty little utility for reclaiming the function keys on a Mac portable or recent Apple external keyboard. Basically, FunctionFlip allows you to set the individual function keys to be regular F-keys instead of those special control keys (brightness, volume, iTunes, etc.).While the Keyboard Preference Pane will let you flip all of the keys one way or the other, FunctionFlip lets you individually choose which ones you want. That way you can preserve whichever of the control functions you like, but regain access to certain of the F-keys without having to hold down the fn key. It can be a handy way to have your cake and eat it too.
FunctionFlip is a free download (donations requested) from Kevin Gessner.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
John T said 8:42AM on 2-06-2009
Why would you need this?
http://www.johnthrasher.net
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Dov said 10:04AM on 2-06-2009
This would be very useful for me when I'm running a Remote Desktop session to my work computer (on XP), since I need to use F8, F9, and F10 regularly. I found an app last week, called "fn" which flips all keys to their function-key counterparts by scripting System Preferences, but this is an all-or-nothing deal, and it would be nice to retain the lower function keys that I don't need flipped (like expose and dashboard) on my current-gen Apple keyboard.
applolo said 11:08AM on 2-07-2009
I also use this to use F7-F9 as spaces and expose. I really hate the iTunes keys.
I do wish there was a way that I could just assign the play button to show desktop and not lose the F8 key in all apps. This works ok for now.
Brian N said 8:50AM on 2-06-2009
nice if it changed for each app
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Ryan M said 9:11AM on 2-06-2009
this is AWESOME!
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Soybean said 9:43AM on 2-06-2009
I use this to revert F8 and F9 to their Expose and Spaces functions since I don't use the play and fast forward buttons on my MacBook Pro. I do, however, want the other controls (volume, brightness, etc.).
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jay said 11:29AM on 2-06-2009
You can do this in the System Prefs under keyboard.
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Soybean said 12:36PM on 2-06-2009
You can't do it for individual keys, though. It'll allow you to use all the printed functions or treat all of them as F keys.
Tim said 12:05PM on 2-06-2009
What would be cool is if someone could make a utility that would have the fn key toggle all the function keys, so that you can quickly change it without loading up the system preferences. It could light up the num lock key, which I don't think many people actually use (I could be wrong, I just find it more counterintuitive than it's worth).
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Charles said 3:38PM on 2-06-2009
it's about fn time. yeah, i just did that
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Giacomo said 6:07PM on 2-06-2009
This is what I was looking for, thanks!
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Joel Wires said 8:39PM on 2-06-2009
Seems promising, but I don't want to get used to something that's not on other peoples' macs that I use. Very cool, just not for me.
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dg said 4:56AM on 2-07-2009
BEAUTIFUL.
This was one of the most annoying things to get used to with my new unibody MBP. I'd like to keep Spaces connected to my F12 key like on my C2D MBP, but unfortunately, I like being able to control my volume easily.
Anyone else think Apple should take a note from Art Lebedev here and give us some OLED-control over the Function keys ...and the new option key that replaced the old enter key too. That's been pretty frustrating for me too. Who uses option so much that they need another one? That enter key was great because it had different functionality from the return/enter key.
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dagaz said 3:59PM on 2-07-2009
This is just what I was looking for but now when I try it as well as doing the desired function, e.g. show spaces, my system sound plays each time as well. Quite annoying.
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quattro909 said 12:28AM on 2-08-2009
YES! Does anyone know how to end the annoying system sound when hitting a "flipped" key?
Will said 11:53AM on 2-11-2009
Just quit system preferences. The sound goes away.
John.B said 1:10AM on 2-09-2009
It's not a *bad* idea, but when I need F1 to be F1 instead of the monitor dimmer button, I just hit fn+F1. :shrug:
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henZa said 10:51PM on 2-08-2009
Almost what I am after... but not quite! What would be ideal is a way to make the 'FN' key sticky... Like the 'caps lock' one. For some programs I like to use function keys as F1-F19 etc, but then other times I like to use them as their special functions.
Any ideas? A script that changes the property (maybe a defaults write command?) rather than having to launch system prefs would be okay.
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Will said 11:59AM on 2-11-2009
I wanted to use it because when I VNC into a PC, I wanted the use of
my F9-11 keys, but for some reason, within the VNC window, it now
associates the function keys as completely different keys.
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Eric S said 11:13AM on 2-15-2009
Anyone know of a utility to "flip" the arrow keys, so I can access page up & page down w/o having to use the fn modifier?
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