Keyboard Functionality

Question

Level 1

6 points

Keyboard Functionality

Good day all,

New Mac user here. Since purchasing Macbook and iPhone, I have gone through an OS reinstall (on the advice of an in-store technician, after many hours attempting to resolve concerns over web and phone chats with support). This seems to have remedied many of the problems, yet some prevail.

Today I would like to discuss the behaviour of certain functions occasionally working.

I had noted that, to access the menu in any window/program, Ctrl-F2 would place focus on the Apple logo in the menu bar, from which any of the other menu headings may be selected via keyboard. For example to access Bookmarks in Firefox (I was unfortunately forced to revert due to far too many problems with Safari that I could not overcome, but the keyboard sequence was the same in Safari), Ctrl-F2 + B + down arrow would provide access.

The problem is that this only works on certain days. One day it will work, and the next, Ctrl-F2 does nothing (within the browser or any other program).

My question is: is this typical of the Apple system, that things work one day and not the next, or is there a problem with this specific machine?

Any information is appreciated.

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 13.5

Posted on Aug 21, 2023 4:23 AM

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Answer 1

ekassos

Level 4

1,430 points

Aug 21, 2023 4:37 AM in response to mnjaskiw

Keyboard behavior should be consistent. You might need some extra setup for the accessibility shortcuts, and you should check that they’re enabled next time you’re having issues. See excerpt from Mac keyboard shortcuts - Apple Support:

To use some of these shortcuts, first choose Apple menu  > System Settings (or System Preferences), then click Keyboard. Click Keyboard Shortcuts, select Keyboard on the left, then select the shortcut's setting on the right.

* Control-F2 or Fn-Control-F2: Move focus to the menu bar. You can then use the arrow keys to navigate the menu, press Return to open a selected menu or choose a selected menu item, or type the menu item's name to jump to that item in the selected menu.

If everything looks fine, check out this forum post for more extensive (and technically intense) solutions, including remapping this specific accessibility shortcut: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/12723/control-f2-move-focus-to-menu-bar-only-works-occasionally. Hope this helps and you get this resolved soon. Good luck!

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Answer 2

mnjaskiw Author

Level 1

6 points

Aug 21, 2023 6:38 AM in response to ekassos

Thank you so much for that link (a ten-year old concern that has not yet been addressed)!

I was not even aware that placing focus on the menu bar would have been a function that was adjustable (I stumbled upon Ctrl-F2 in exploration).

I have mapped the function another keystroke, so let's see if that work out!

Thanks again; very much appreciated!

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Keyboard Functionality

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