Toggle fn Key Behavior

[MikeAlt]

Toggles behavior of function keys between standard and special features (e.g., volume, play/pause), as described here.

 

 

Specifically, accomplishes the following when keyword "fn toggle" is entered:

1. Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu.
2. From the View menu choose Keyboard (or Keyboard & Mouse in Mac OS X v10.5.8 and earlier).
3. Check / uncheck "Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys"
   (Note: when checked, requires holding the fn key to press standard function keys, 
   when unchecked, does not require holding the fn key to press standard function keys)

 

Download workflow

 

 

[MrMuetze]

Woah great Thank you very much!

[hzlzh]

Nice workflow. I need it.

[CarlosNZ]

Nice. Thanks.

[aznyellojersey]

Thanks for this! Noticed one weird bug where the AS doesn't work if you are in the "Keyboard Shortcuts" tab.

[RodgerWW]

Thanks for this! Noticed one weird bug where the AS doesn't work if you are in the "Keyboard Shortcuts" tab.

 

For this to work a bit better edit Mike's script in the workflow thusly:

 

on alfred_script(q)

tell application "System Preferences"
    reveal anchor "keyboardTab" of pane id "com.apple.preference.keyboard"
    tell application "System Events"
        tell process "System Preferences"
            click checkbox "Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys" of tab group 1 of window "Keyboard"
        end tell
    end tell
    quit
end tell

end alfred_script

This will 'reveal' the anchor of the pane even when it's not previously selected.

 

ALSO, thanks for the workflow Mike!

Edited September 2, 2013 by RodgerWW

[Wildcard]

The original version of Keyboard Pilot (https://itunes.apple.com/app/id402670023?mt=12) allowed you to set Fn key behavior for each individual app separately, but that functionality has been taken out since Apple tightened up sandboxing requirements.  However you should keep an eye on the TinyBird site (http://www.tinybird.com/) because the developer had emailed me some time ago mentioning that he was going to split out the Fn key controlling into a separate app—he was looking for testers at that time.  (It's been a while, so he might have dropped the idea.  Drop him a line if you want.)  The Keyboard Pilot app, incidentally, is indispensable for anyone who uses multiple keyboard layouts.

[Davide]

Didn't work anymore on OS X 10.11.2. Found this solution:

on alfred_script(q)

tell application "System Preferences"
    reveal anchor "keyboardTab" of pane "com.apple.preference.keyboard"
end tell
tell application "System Events" to tell process "System Preferences"
    click checkbox 1 of tab group 1 of window 1
end tell
quit application "System Preferences"

end alfred_script

Edited January 14, 2016 by Davide

[Dewarian]

I slightly changed the script so it will work. The difference in it is that i removed the word 'all' in the script where it was searching for the string "Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys"
Now i will work with the latest macOS update

on alfred_script(q)
tell application "System Preferences"
	set current pane to pane "com.apple.preference.keyboard"
end tell


tell application "System Events"
	if UI elements enabled then
		tell tab group 1 of window "Keyboard" of process "System Preferences"
			click checkbox "Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys"
		end tell
	else
		tell application "System Preferences"
			set current pane ¬
				to pane "com.apple.preference.universalaccess"
			display dialog ¬
				"UI element scripting is not enabled. Check \"Enable access for assistive devices\""
		end tell
	end if
end tell

tell application "System Preferences"
	quit
end tell
end alfred_script

 

[Siraj Samsudeen]

is there an update to this as of now? the download link to the original workflow is not working. Would be grateful if someone can post a workflow that works with current MacOS version

[Siraj Samsudeen]

Found one here...posting it for the benefit of others. I had to set a HotKey and then it works beautifully. 

 

https://github.com/stirtingale/Alfred---Toggle-Function-Keys-On-Of