MacOS and PS 2024 reinstall: FN keys no longer work as before.

Question

I recently reinstalled MacOS Sonoma on my iMac 24, along with the same version of Photoshop as before (25.0).

Immediately after the reinstall, I disable virtually all special keyboard functions so as not to interfere with Photoshop, but now some new keyboard-related gremlins appeared.

When MacOS settings > Keyboard settings > Function Keys “Use as standard function keys” is active… then the Photoshop Selection/Feather keyboard shortcut (Shift-F6) works as before. Perfect.

But, the following 2 MacOS functions no longer work.

- pressing the Global/FN key worked with all FN keys.

- pressing the Global/FN worked with the Delete key to forward delete text characters.

Strangely… if I disable “Use as standard function keys” then the FN keys work as labelled on each key, BUT the Photoshop Shift-F6 shortcut no longer works.

So, I am baffled how to get things working as they were before. Thoughts?

iMac 24

16G memory

OEM iMac bluetooth keyboard

wgullo · Accepted Answer

Problem solved.

During the iMac Sonoma re-installation process, my keyboard was connected via Bluetooth, but the OS didn’t recognize the Magic Keyboard with Touch. So, when prompted to identify my keyboard, I chose the ANSI option. When I later attempted to change the keyboard type to a Magic keyboard, it reverted back to the ANSI input. I thought this was odd.

The following day I remembered that, years ago when I brought an Intel iMac to an Apple Genuis Bar, that they used a cabled Apple keyboard for OS re-installation. What the heck… I did another Sonoma re-installation, but this time with the USB-Lightning charging cable attached to the keyboard. I was not presented with the option to identify the keyboard, but to begin the process of recording a fingerprint for Touch ID.

After the re-installation was complete, I disabled a few common MacOS keyboard shortcuts that interfere with my PS workflow, now all the function keys and PS shortcuts worked as before, and as they should. The PS cursor was no longer locked on the Move Tool icon.

Surprisingly, not even during a lengthy troubleshooting chat session with Adobe had questions about keyboard type been raised. In retrospect, it now makes perfect sense that use of the function keys and PS shortcuts may not perform as expected with generic ANSI keyboard settings.

Lesson learned. 🙂

Jeff Arola · Answer

In Apple>System Settings>Accessibilty is Full Keyboard Access enabled?

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