Mac OS System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Keyboard > Check the box for "Use all F1, F2..."

Or you can hold down the fn key + an F key if you son't want to change your system prefs.

All the F keys have predefined functions anymore.  So you need to choose.. keep the OS functions and use fn+Fkey inside an application. Or Allow the applications to use the standard F keys and use fn+Fkey to use the OS function.

Which one you choose is up to you. But you can't select only a few keys to override. They are all dedicated to the OS, or all dedicated to applications and toggled by the fn key.

I, personally, prefer to let the apps use the keys first and use fn when I want to use an OS function.

ScottWeichert wrote:

...you can't select only a few keys to override. They are all dedicated to the OS, or all dedicated to applications and toggled by the fn key.

Actually, you can select just a few keys to override. If you install a freeware Mac preference pane called FunctionFlip, you can choose which function keys affect Mac hardware and which keys respond to function key shortcuts in your software. I use it to make certain keys respond to my favorite Lightroom and Photoshop shortcuts while letting the rest control display brightness, sound volume, etc. without having to press the Fn key.

In CS4 (I think), the concept of grouping layers was made more powerful. For example, you can only have one set of linked layers, but you can have multiple layer groups. While you can still link, because grouping is so much better it's now recommended that you group layers in most cases where you would have linked before. The CS5 shortcut for grouping is the standard Command+G.

It works for me...which Mac model and which keyboard are you using?

It's unusual that F12 would bring up widgets unless it was set up that way, because on current keyboards, the default Apple key for widgets is not F12, it's F3 which has the Dashboard icon printed on it. Photoshop should have nothing to do with that. You might have to troubleshoot things at the Mac OS level too, since shortcuts can be affected by keyboard layout.

• In your Keyboard system preference:

1. Click Keyboard and toggle the setting for "Use all F1, F2, etc..." because FunctionFlip acts relative to that setting.
2. Click Keyboard Shortcuts, and try turning off or changing the shortcut for Dashboard.

• In your Language and Text system preference, click Input Sources, and make sure US or US Extended is selected. I'm wondering if F12 brings up widgets in some other keyboard layout.
• In the FunctionFlip system preference, make sure that under Options and Settings, the selected keyboard matches the one you're using.

Where is it located? I think I remember seeing fn on my wife's Apple keyboard, but there's no such thing on my ancient Microspeed through aan ADB/USB adapter.

I was wondering about that myself.  I've only seen fn on Windows laptops. 

Perhaps I live a sheltered life? 

____________

Wo Tai Lao Le

我太老了

fn on the extended Apple keyboards is between the number pad and the letters. 

On Apple notebooks its the bottom leftmost key on the keyboard.

I don't know if Apple's latest "mini" keyboards even have it.

Lundberg02 wrote:

 

Where is it located? I think I remember seeing fn on my wife's Apple keyboard, but there's no such thing on my ancient Microspeed through aan ADB/USB adapter.

Once you talk about an ADB desktop keyboard, it's definitely too old to have a Fn key. It did not show up on Apple desktop keyboards until recent years, but all my Mac laptops since 2000 have had it. All current laptop and desktop Apple keyboards have it; you can check out the pictures at the Apple Store site.

On the smaller keyboards, the Fn key is very useful in Photoshop and Lightroom (and Word, Excel...). For one thing, it's how you turn the arrow keys into Page Up, Page Down, Home, and End for navigating an image from the keyboard. Any Mac user interested in keyboard productivity should be taking advantage of the Fn key or at least be aware of what it unlocks for you, especially if you don't have the extended keyboard.

ScottWeichert wrote:

 

fn on the extended Apple keyboards is between the number pad and the letters…

Most certainly not on mine:

???   

Maybe only in the newest models?

____________

Wo Tai Lao Le

我太老了

Nope. That keyboard is too old.

ScottWeichert wrote:

 

Nope. That keyboard is too old.

How fitting!  A keyboard that is tai lao (too old) for an old geezer whose signature is Wo Tai Lao Le (I am too old).  

____________

Wo Tai Lao Le

我太老了

HA! I had no idea