Free Up Function Keys to Trigger Actions on Mac Ventura?

[Trevor.Dennis]

I needed a laptop and was looking at an MS Surface Studio, but quickly discovered that a MacBook Pro was 30% lighter, and had something like three times the battery life.  A few dozen YouTube videos later (most convincing being by Lee Morris on Fstoppers it became a no brainer, so I now have a 14 inch MacBook Pro with M2 Pro chip (which seems to be the bang-for-buck sweet spot).  I am mostly working it out as I go Googling when I get stuck, but I do have some questions.

I need to make the most of the small screen and I am trying to emulate the way I work on my Windows desktop with three large screens, where I have Photoshop Actions that set my most used workspaces, and resets them.

I trigger my primary workspace with F5 on the PC, but that key is being trapped by 'starting dictation' on the Mac.  Can I disable the shortcut for dictation so I can use it with Photoshop? 

If I find other Function keys that Photoshop can't use, can I fix that?

The MacBook came with Ventura.  Is there any reason I shouldn't update to Sonoma?

[Stephen Marsh]

Try these links:

https://support.apple.com/en-au/102439

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2600423

A simple 1-line script can run an action. An installed script in the Presets/Scripts directory can then be mapped to a standard Photoshop keyboard shortcut. In this roundabout way, an action can be run from a keyboard shortcut without using an F-key.

app.doAction("Molten Lead","Default Actions");

[Trevor.Dennis]

Thanks Stephen.  That right away told me I could bypass the default Mac Function key shortcuts using the fn key as a modifier, so I am back in business.  It just helped me out in another way.  Having owned this thing for a little over 24 hours, and having other work that had to be finished in my workshop, I am still prone to new-user idiocy. 😞  When I sat down just now, the MacBook screen had gone dark, and I had no idea why.  Looking at your first link immediately showed me that I must have hit F1, and F2 quickly fixed it.

[jane-e · Accepted solution]

@Trevor.Dennis 

The function keys can be set to Standard Function keys or brightness, sound, etc., in Apple menu > System Preferences/System Settings:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/102439

macOS Ventura

1. Choose Apple menu  > System Settings.

2. Click Keyboard in the sidebar.

3. Click the Keyboard Shortcuts button on the right.

4. Click Function Keys in the sidebar.

5. Turn on “Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys”.

On my Windows laptop, this setting is on the keyboard. On Macs it's always been in macOS. I change it on Day 1 of any new Mac.

Jane

[Trevor.Dennis]

Excellent.  Worked perfectly.

Any thoughts about Sonoma?