MacBook Pro Touch Bar function keys: how to show F1 to F12

Hold the Fn or Globe key

The quickest way is the one Apple puts first: press and hold the Fn key, and F1 through F12 appear in the Touch Bar. On some models the key is the Globe key instead; Apple’s guide says it depends on your Mac model. Tap the function key you want while you hold it; as MacRumors puts it, the usual strip comes back when you stop holding the key.

Shortcuts with a modifier work the same way, with one more finger. Apple’s example is Fn-Control-F3, which moves focus to the Dock: hold Fn (or Globe) and Control together, then tap F3 in the Touch Bar. Apple’s list of Mac keyboard shortcuts gives several of these, and the second figure below collects the ones that need an F key.

If holding the key shows something else, such as the expanded Control Strip, the key has been told to. Apple’s guide says to customize the Touch Bar in Keyboard settings so the function keys are shown when you press and hold the key: the option is called Press and hold fn key to (or the same with the Globe key), and its choices vary with what the bar shows.

The Globe key and its delay

One owner who moved from an Intel MacBook Pro of 2018 to the 13-inch M1 of 2020 noticed a pause. In an Ask Different question from July 2021, the asker describes the function keys appearing only after a delay when holding the Globe key, long enough to miss Fn-Control-F2 and Fn-Control-F3. Another user there explains the delay by the key’s second job: a short press of the same key does something else, such as switching input source.

The workaround two users gave is to set what a short press of the Globe key does to “Do Nothing”, so that the key goes straight to its press-and-hold behaviour. In January 2023 the asker reported that this setup still worked on macOS Ventura 13.1. The cost is whatever the short press did for you: in that thread it was dictation, which the asker brought back with a third-party app. This is users’ advice, not an Apple procedure.

Show F1 to F12 all the time

If you use the function keys more than anything the bar offers, make them the default. Choose Apple menu, System Settings, click Keyboard in the sidebar (you may need to scroll down), then click Touch Bar Settings. Set Touch Bar shows to F1, F2, etc. Keys. That pop-up menu also offers App Controls, Expanded Control Strip, Quick Actions and Spaces.

Two things change with it. Apple notes that Show Control Strip isn’t available when the bar shows the F1, F2 keys, so brightness and volume move off the bar. And the Fn key gets a new job: its choices vary depending on what the bar shows, and an Ask Different answer from 2017 describes using Fn to bring up App Controls or the expanded Control Strip instead.

MacRumors described the same setting in January 2022, in the System Preferences of that time, and noted the row stays until you change Touch Bar shows to something else. On macOS Ventura and later the path is System Settings, as above.

Only in some apps

Apple’s middle way is a list of apps that always get the function keys. Choose Apple menu, System Settings, then Keyboard. On macOS Ventura or later, click Keyboard Shortcuts, then select Function Keys from the list on the left; on macOS Monterey or earlier, click Shortcuts at the top of the window, then Function Keys. Click the add button (+) and choose an app. Whenever that app is in front, the F keys are in the bar.

Apple does not say what Fn does in those apps. The answer to an Ask Different question from 2017 says it does the inverse: holding Fn there hides the function row instead of showing it, and you add each app separately.

It is the setting for one program you use all day. In a Microsoft Q&A thread from February 2017, the asker could show the keys in Excel by holding Fn, but F4 did nothing. A user replied that the relative-to-absolute reference switch has always been Command-T in Excel for Mac. That is a user’s answer from 2017, not Microsoft documentation, and we did not check it in a current version of Excel.

The checkbox that is not for the Touch Bar

One setting has a name that sounds like the answer: “Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys”. Apple’s article on it is about the top row of keys on an Apple keyboard, the physical keys with symbols for brightness and Mission Control, and it says that if your Mac has a Touch Bar, you should read the separate article on function keys with Touch Bar.

The checkbox matters if your MacBook Pro has real keys, as the 14-inch model of 2021 does in Apple’s tech specs. For those, Apple’s steps on macOS Ventura or later are System Settings, Keyboard, Keyboard Shortcuts, Function Keys, then the checkbox; on a Touch Bar Mac, the three ways above are the ones Apple gives.

The keys on screen instead

Apple also offers the function keys without the bar. Choose Apple menu, System Settings, then Keyboard. On macOS Ventura or later, click Edit next to Input Sources and turn on Show Input menu in menu bar; on Monterey or Big Sur, select the same option in the Input Sources pane; on Catalina or earlier, select Show Keyboard and emoji viewers in menu bar. Then click the viewer icon in the menu bar, choose Show Keyboard Viewer, and click its Fn key to see all the function keys.

On Windows, with Boot Camp

On a MacBook Pro running Microsoft Windows through Boot Camp, holding Fn still shows F1 to F12 in the Touch Bar. To keep them there, Apple’s steps start at the right of the Windows taskbar: click the up arrow for hidden icons, click the Boot Camp icon, choose Boot Camp Control Panel, allow it to make changes if asked, click the Keyboard tab and select “Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys”. Windows’ own On-Screen Keyboard, under Ease of Access, also has an Fn key that shows the function keys.

Which MacBook Pro has a Touch Bar

Not every MacBook Pro from those years has one, which is worth checking before following any of this. In Apple’s tech specs, the 15-inch model of 2016 lists a Touch Bar with integrated Touch ID, while the 13-inch model of 2016 with two Thunderbolt 3 ports lists a keyboard with 12 function keys. The 13-inch M2 model of 2022 still lists a Touch Bar. The 14-inch model of 2021 lists 12 full-height function keys.

To see which you have, Apple’s easiest way is About This Mac in the Apple menu, which gives the model name. If your top row is made of physical keys, the checkbox in the section above is the setting you want.