What do F1-12 on a keyboard do?
Firstly I was just wondering what the F actually stands for, but my first guess – and probably most peoples’ first guess – turned out to be correct (“function”), which wouldn’t have made a very interesting post. So what do they do?
Well, a variety of things. I’m just going to give one example for each key, but for a more complete listing see here or here.
F1: opens the help file of whatever program you are in
F2: allows you to rename a file you have selected
F3: opens the search window
F4: combined with alt, quits the program you are in
F5: refreshes the webpage in most browsers
F6: moves the cursor to the address bar in Internet Explorer and Firefox
F7: runs spellcheck in various Microsoft programs
F8: helps you enter Safe Mode when booting a PC
F9: updates selected fields in Word
F10: combined with shift, is the equivalent of right-clicking a selected file
F11: enters fullscreen mode in most web browsers
F12: opens the Save As window in Word
Digressive Explanations 