F16 Key?

The F16 key in most cases does what the eject key does. If yoou have a disk in your optical drive it will open or close the drive tray.

Not in this case, no. As I stated in my original question, I am using an Apple Wireless Keyboard. This model of keyboard has a seperate "Eject" key specifically for this purpose. Furthermore, on laptop-model keyboards such as that of my G4 iBook, the F12 key doubles as the "Eject" key---there is no F16 at all. So this isn't the solution.


"It can also be used to activate Expose."

Again, no. The shortcut for activating Expose is variable, and can be changed in System Preferences by activing the "Keyboard and Mouse" preference pane. However, as I also stated in my orignal post, the F16 key is not able to be remapped through System Preferences. In short: it does not activate Expose by default, and there is no way to get it to activate Expose.


"Take a little time and enter your question in the support window or search for the key strokes in the search window, you will find many answers there."

Take less than "a little time," as you request, and do exactly what you're asking of me, my friend. There is no answer for this question anywhere in the Apple Support forums (at least, those areas that are turned up in a search, using every combination of terms I can possibly think of). There is no answer in a Google search. There is no answer on many of the major user-driven support websites for OS X, of which I've searched quite a few. I have, quite seriously, spent several hours on the internet researching this question, and to absolutley no avail.



Before you start making up "answers" to things that you're totally unfamiliar with, take a little time and consider whether you're actually getting it right. Spending even two seconds with an actual Apple Wireless Keyboard would have told you that you were totally incorrect.

While I can understand forum frustration, with "newbies" asking stupid questions they could easily answer themselves---this is NOT the case in my situation. Or, if it is, I offer a tremendous and sincere apology to everyone who reads this, and respectfully request that one of you (preferably someone who actually has an Apple Keyboard) demonstrate my idiocy by actually answering the question.




iMac Core 2 Duo Mac OS X (10.4.8)

iMac Core 2 Duo Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Are you using some shareware to map that F16 key?

Nope. I've come across a couple programs that can probably map it for me (according to forum posts about them), but I hate to install or pay for 3rd-party software just to map one little key.

By default, F16 either does nothing, produces a system "ding", or inserts a downward-pointing arrow into text boxes. (The text-box part is strange, though---it won't work in most text boxes, such as this forum-posting field; however, if I bring up a webpage "Find" box in Firefox and hit F16, it puts that arrow in the search box.)



I haven't installed Boot Camp on my system, so I can't speak to whether it works under Windows... your experience is similar to what I've been told by others, however.



Isn't it weird, though, that Apple would include a key on new keyboards that was useless by default? Personally, I'd be thrilled to make F16 activate Dashboard, or use it as an application launcher or something...

I suppose what really throws me about it, is I don't think of Apple as the sort of company that makes oversights like this. If the key is there, it must have a function.. right? This may be the one weird exception to that rule I've ever encountered....


iMac Core 2 Duo Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Ooops, and now I see that was to fragmore, not me. My n00bness rears its ugly head! 😉

But I still want my F16 key to do something useful. :-P

Yup, I had come across that as well.... It's a bit of a scary proposition for me, however, given a past horror story with manually remapping a key on my iBook---lost keyboard access altogether after that one. (it was totally my fault, I realise, but even knowing that I'm not sure I'd wager my skills on it again). Still, it would seem to be the most efficient way to remap it without 3rd party software.

I'll call you "helpful" for spreading the good linkage. 😉


But I'd also point out that this means giving up on the key having any Apple-appointed usefulness. Hmm.



iMac Core 2 Duo Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Hm, well, according to Ho Lee MACkeral (comment above), the F16 is dead even on the wired version of the new keyboard. I don't know what it would have to do with Bluetooth right off, it doesn't seem to affect anything in my Bluetooth preference pane... Wireless keyboards/mice don't tend to have physical interfaces---or, at least, my PC's wireless keyboard and mouse don't, so I'm not sure why Apple's would. There's not really anything for it to do... Bluetooth is just.. automatic and great. 😉


A good question though would be whether you can indeed remap F16 through your preference pane. There might be differences between the PPC and Intel uses of it, which quite possibly would indicate some future development... My only PPC machine is the laptop, however, so I can't test that one myself.

Thanks for the response! 🙂


iMac Core 2 Duo Mac OS X (10.4.8)

UPDATE: I posted a thread on Ask MacSlash with the same question, and got some more interesting (if not ultimately fulfilling) responses. If anyone's following this, it might be interesting.


It does, indeed, appear to be a useless key nowadays (unless, of course, you manually remap it using the OSX Hints instructions).

iMac Core 2 Duo Mac OS X (10.4.8)

SO... my question seems to have been answered by default. Apparently it's a useless key in the world of Mac products. That, or its true function is one of Apple's many well-concealed secrets, heh.

Either way, I finally came up with a decent use for the key, since OS X won't give it one... taking a tip from one MacSlash reply, I remapped it successfully using QuickSilver ... Personally, I set my F16 key to open a little app called NightyNight, which essentially toggles 'Display Sleep' on and off. Thus, I can basically 'turn off' just the display on my iMac, with a single keypress (useful for when I go to bed, or leave for extended periods with the computer running). This also seems kind of fitting for the iMacs, since F14 and F15 control the brightness of the display by default.

( cough*usefulleopardfeature*cough)