Our today's article is devoted to laptops, or rather the Fn button on a laptop. Many people ask quite natural questions related to this key. After reading this topic, you will learn what the Fn key is for and where it is, how to turn Fn on or off. In general, everything about this mysterious Fn button is here.
In the modern world, laptops, netbooks, ultrabooks sit firmly in our lives. They are multifunctional, compact, practical. Many who have moved from a computer to a laptop will never return to bulky PCs. Laptops can be used everywhere: in transport, at home, on the street, in other public places. To improve this versatility of laptops, the Fn key is needed. Let's try to answer many popular questions related to this button. But first things first.
Where is the Fn button on the keyboard?
The Fn key in almost all laptops is located in the same place - this is the lower left corner of the keyboard. For various popular brands of electronics such as HP, Asus, Acer, Lenovo, Samsung, LG, the Fn key has taken a permanent place on the keyboard. The difference for some is only in whether this button is before or after the Ctrl key. This arrangement of this key is very convenient for users.
Location of the Fn key to the left of the Ctrl button
The location of the Fn key on a laptop to the right of the Ctrl button
What is the Fn key for and how does it work?
So, we will tell you why this button was created and how this button works. The very name of the Fn key comes from the first vowels of the word Function. On your laptop keyboard, you may see keys that have symbols and inscriptions in a different color. Basically it is red or blue. These keys are called keys. quick access. With their help, you can control the media player on your laptop, work with the screen brightness and battery saving mode, enable and disable access wireless network, adjust the volume. You can also put your laptop into sleep mode. All of these functions will only work in combination with the Fn key.
Fn key on a Lenovo laptop
It is difficult to answer the question of where and what combination for each individual device. For each brand of laptops, the shortcut keys are different. But the principle of their work is absolutely the same for all major brands of HP, Asus, Acer, Lenovo, Samsung, LG. And they differ slightly. I will describe the functionality of the Fn button for a Lenovo laptop.
So, holding down the Fn button in combination with hot keys, we get:
- Fn + F1 - put the computer into sleep mode.
- Fn + F2 - turn on / off the monitor.
- Fn + F3 - switch the display to the connected monitor module, projector.
- Fn + F4 - monitor extension.
- Fn + F5 - enable wireless communication modules: wireless network adapters, Bluetooth.
- Fn + F6 - enable / disable touch panel- laptop mice.
- Fn + F9, Fn + F10, Fn + F11, Fn + F12 - work with the media player - resume / pause, stop, track back, track forward, respectively.
- Fn+Home - pause media files.
- Fn + Insert - enable / disable Scroll Lock.
- Fn+Up Arrow/Down Arrow - Increase/decrease monitor brightness.
- Fn+Left Arrow/Right Arrow - Decrease/increase volume for media players.
As you can see, the functionality of our key is very large, knowing these combinations will allow you to use your computer keyboard very efficiently without resorting to the mouse.
How to enable or disable the Fn key?
In order to enable or disable the Fn key on a laptop, you can use several methods. The first way is to use the Fn+NumLock key combination. Pressing these keys at the same time will disable the Fn button, pressing again will activate the key. This method may not work on all laptops.
In some cases, the Fn key is enabled or disabled via Bios. To do this, enter the Setup Utility, then follow the System Configuration and in the Action Keys Mode tab turn off Disabled or turn on Enabled this function fn.
If the Fn key does not work on a laptop
If the above two methods don't work or the Fn key doesn't work at all. Then you need to use programs for the Fn-key. There are a lot of such programs on the Internet. In order to make it easier to decide which programs are suitable for your brand of laptops, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with a short list of such programs.
For Samsung laptops - Easy Display Manager (the disk with the program comes with the laptop). This program is freely available on the Internet.
For Sony laptops, you should use the following programs - Sony Shared Library, Setting Utility Series, Vaio Event Service, Vaio Control Center.
For Toshiba laptops - Hotkey Utility, Value Added Package, Flash Cards Support Utility.
Also used for many laptops universal program Magic Keyboard.
Drivers for the Fn key
If your button still does not work, then you should check the drivers for your keyboard, or rather for the Fn key. Such “firewood” should come with a laptop (be sure to check when buying), or they can be downloaded from the Internet. Download from the Internet follows from official pages laptop manufacturers. So on the official sites there are Fn button drivers for Sony, Lenovo, Samsung, HP, DNS, Dell, Toshiba, Acer, Asus, LG.
The laptop keyboard has keys, or rather the designations on the keys, the meaning of which is incomprehensible to a beginner. In this lesson I want to clarify the meaning of such notation. If you look at the laptop keyboard, you will certainly see a key on it. fn, it is usually located in the lower left corner of the keyboard. Inscription fn usually highlighted in blue or outlined in white, depending on the laptop model. In addition, if you look closely, you can see the icons on the keyboard also highlighted in blue or circled in a white frame. As you probably already guessed, between the keys with these icons and the key fn there is a connection.
The "Fn" key (pronounced "Funkshin"), in combination with keys with blue icons or white borders, causes the computer to perform a specific action. On different models laptops, these icons are assigned to different keys, so I will describe the actions in pictures, so as not to become attached to a specific key combination. Here is a list of such combinations and their corresponding actions:
fn+ - call help on keyboard shortcuts.
fn+ - call power consumption settings.
fn+ - turn on / off BlueTooth.
fn+ - enable / disable sleep mode.
fn+ - if an external display (monitor or TV) is connected to the laptop, then using this key combination you can switch the display modes: to the laptop display, to the external display, or to both the laptop display and the external display.
fn+ - Turn off the laptop monitor to save power.
fn+ - turn on / off the TouchPada (a device on which you move your finger to move the cursor. Replaces the mouse).
I have an interesting history with this keyboard shortcut. My friend has been using a laptop for more than a year and somehow at a meeting he asked me to help figure out why the Touchpad does not work, i.e. without a mouse, he could not work on a laptop for a whole year!
Without hesitation, I pressed this key combination - turned on the Touchpad and it all worked. He was very surprised. thought that the touchpad was simply broken 🙂
fn+ - turn on / off the sound.
fn+ - enable / disable the mode numeric keypad. Those. if this mode is enabled, then when you press keys that have blue digit icons or numbers surrounded by a white frame, the corresponding numbers will be displayed (like on a calculator).
If you are interested how to turn on calculator on laptop, then it is done like this. Start Menu - All Programs - Accessories - Calculator.
I also have an interesting history with this key combination. Somehow a friend calls me and says that on his laptop one half of the keyboard (left) works fine, and the other half (right) for some reason prints numbers and that he just didn’t do it can’t be fixed. As you already understood, the issue was resolved in 5 seconds - I told him about this key combination, and everything fell into place. How he turned on the mode of working with numbers remained a mystery 🙂
fn+ - enable / disable the screen movement mode. Currently only works in Excel.
fn+ - number 7 when NumLk mode is on.
fn+ - number 8 when NumLk mode is on.
fn+ - number 9 when NumLk mode is on.
fn+ - the symbol "/" when the NumLk mode is on.
fn+ - number 4 when NumLk mode is on.
fn+ - number 5 when NumLk mode is on.
fn+ - number 6 when NumLk mode is on.
fn+ - the symbol "*" when the NumLk mode is on.
fn+ - number 1 when NumLk mode is on.
fn+ - number 2 when NumLk mode is on.
fn+ - number 3 when NumLk mode is on.
fn+ - the symbol "-" when NumLk mode is on.
fn+ - digit 0 when NumLk mode is on.
fn+ - the "+" symbol when NumLk mode is on.
fn+ - increase the brightness of the monitor.
fn+ - decrease the brightness of the monitor.
fn+ - increase the sound.
fn+ - reduce the sound.
What is the Fn key on a laptop. Why is it needed?
fn is a function key. It is usually located at the bottom of the keyboard between Ctr and Alt. To highlight Fn key among other buttons, the manufacturer usually makes it blue.
Here is an example:
By the way, the keys F1, F2 and others, which are located at the top of the keyboard, are also functional. For example, F1 runs Windows Help, F12 makes the browser window full screen, and so on.
How will Fn help? What is the need for the Fn key?
The Fn key greatly expands the capabilities of the keyboard. Pay attention to the same keys starting with F1 and ending with F12.
As you can see, various icons are drawn in blue. The keys may differ depending on the laptop. With them, you can usually change the volume, turn on WI-FI, change the brightness of the screen, and so on. It remains to figure out how to use them.
How to use the Fn key?
In fact use the Fn key just as easy as the other buttons. Let's say we want to change the volume of the music. For this press Fn and click a few times volume icon. In my case, it is located on the arrows on the right side.
Simultaneous key press Fn and F10 disables the touchpad.
This way you can use the Fn key. But once again I remind you in different netbooks and laptops advanced features can be on different buttons F1-F12. Be guided by the icons drawn in blue.
Useful video:
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