FKEYs—an Introduction --------------------- FKEYs are, unfortunately, one of the most overlooked features the Macintosh has to offer. FKEYs are programs, similar to Desk Accessories, which are invoked by typing a few keystrokes. FKEYs may be invoked in any application without your hands ever needing to leave the keyboard, and therein lies their power. All FKEYs are invoked by holding down the Command and Shift keys while simultaneously pressing a number key. Each number key corresponds to a different FKEY, so you may have up to ten FKEYs installed at any one time. You may already be familiar with a few FKEYs, the Macintosh comes with four built in: • Command—Shift—1 ejects the disk in the internal drive • Command—Shift—2 ejects the disk in the external drive • Command—Shift—3 sends the Macintosh’s screen to a MacPaint file • Command—Shift—4 sends the Macintosh’s screen to the printer In addition to these four that are built in, there are six more slots for FKEYs left (the numbers 5 to 0), and many developers have created powerful and useful FKEYs to fill them. The FKEY Mover allows you to install and remove FKEYs as easily as you install and remove Desk Accessories with Apple’s Font/DA Mover, enabling you to fill the empty slots. To install an FKEY, you need to copy it from an FKEY file into your System file (just like you copy Desk Accessories from their files into your System file). The FKEYs you install in a System file are only available to you when you start the Macintosh up from the disk that contains that System file (just like Desk Accessories), so you may wish to install FKEYs in System files on all of your Start Up disks.