Function Keys in Catalina. To change the settings corresponding to your Function keys, go to System Preferences Keyboard Keyboard. At the bottom is an option to “Use F1, F2, etc as standard. In Windows on your Mac, click in the right side of the taskbar, click the Boot Camp icon, then choose Boot Camp Control Panel. If a User Account Control dialog appears, click Yes. Select or deselect “Use all F1, F2 etc. Keys as standard function keys.”. These function keys are labeled F1 through F12/F19 (how many you have depends on your keyboard), along with an Escape key and an Eject key that looks like a triangle on top of a horizontal line. By default, every Mac has already assigned commands to the F8 through F12 function keys.

Boot Camp Control Panel User Guide

In Windows on Mac, pressing function keys on a portable Mac and some other Apple keyboards controls hardware features. Boot Camp supports the volume, brightness, keyboard illumination, and media keys.

In the Boot Camp Control Panel, you can change the default behavior, so that pressing a function key controls app features, and pressing a function key and the Fn key controls hardware features.

1. In Windows on your Mac, click in the right side of the taskbar, click the Boot Camp icon , then choose Boot Camp Control Panel.

2. If a User Account Control dialog appears, click Yes.

3. Click Keyboard.

4. Select or deselect “Use all F1, F2 etc. keys as standard function keys.”

Some portable Mac computers have a group of keys with small numbers on them that can be used as a numeric keypad. To use these keys as a keypad, press the Num Lock (F6) key, or hold down the Fn key while you press the keys on the keyboard.

The Touch Bar of your MacBook Pro changes to show the function keys for you to select, and then it returns to its previous state when you release the Function key.

For some apps, you can make the function keys display permanently in Touch Bar:

1. In System Preferences, choose Keyboard.
2. Click Shortcuts.
3. From the left sidebar, select Function Keys.
4. Click the “+” symbol, then navigate to the app and select it.

Now when you open or switch to this app, Touch Bar always displays the function keys.

You can also use an on-screen keyboard to access function keys:

1. From System Preferences, select Keyboard.
2. Check “Show Keyboard, Emoji and symbol viewers in menu bar”.
3. Choose the viewer icon in the menu bar, then choose Show Keyboard Viewer.
   

Function Keys For Mac

An on-screen keyboard appears with function keys that you can click.

Using function keys in Windows

When you use Boot Camp to run Windows on your MacBook Pro, the function keys work the same as they do in macOS. Hold down the Function key on your keyboard, and the function keys appear.

Function Keys For Macbook Pro

You can also use the Windows on-screen keyboard to access function keys:

1. From the Windows menu, select the Windows Ease of Access menu item.
2. Click On-Screen Keyboard.
3. Click the fn key. The function keys appear in the on-screen keyboard.

Program Function Keys For Mac

You can also make the function keys appear continuously in the Touch Bar while using Windows, without having to hold down the Function key:

1. In the Windows System Tray, click the up arrow to show additional icons.
   
2. Click on the dark grey diamond-shaped Boot Camp icon.
3. Select Boot Camp Control Panel from the menu that appears.
4. Click Yes to allow the Control Panel to run.
5. Click the Keyboard tab.
6. Select 'Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys' to make the function keys appear continuously in the Touch Bar all the time. Deselect the checkbox to return the function keys to standard behavior.