Key Descriptions

The arrow keys are located near the bottom of the keyboard, and are represented on the keyboard as triangles pointing in different directions. The keys move the cursor around the screen in the direction of the arrow: up, down, left, and right. The left arrow key should not be confused with the backspace DEL key which is depicted as a left arrow. The cursor is the flashing box or underline character that indicates where the next character you type will appear.

The

DEL

key (represented on the keyboard as an arrow pointing left) is the backspace key that moves the cursor one character to the left, erasing the previous key stroke. The [Blue] + DEL keys erase the character at the current cursor position.

The

SHIFT

key is used to display uppercase alpha characters. appears in the status bar. Pressing the

SHIFT

key a second time locks the keys that all alpha characters are uppercase. appears in the status bar. Press the

SHIFT

key again to return to the default keypad functions.

The

CTRL

and

ALT

keys modify the function of the next key pressed and are application dependent. or appears in the status bar. Pressing the

CTRL

or

ALT

key a second time locks the keys. or appears in the status bar. Press the key again to return to the default keypad functions.

Typically, the

TAB

key moves the cursor to the next field to the right or downward.

Generally, the

ESC

key is used as a keyboard shortcut to close the current menu, dialog box, or activity.

Pressing this key inserts a blank space between characters. In a dialog box, pressing the

SPACE

key enables or disables a check box.

The

INS

key inserts a character at the cursor position.

Function keys perform special, custom-defined functions within an application. These keys are accessed by pressing one of the dedicated function keys on the keyboard, or through the appropriate

Blue

key sequence. To access the blue function keys, first press the

Blue

key followed by the appropriate function key. Function keys can be used with the operating system or another application.

The

Diamond

key provides access to commonly used symbolic characters. Pressing the key brings up the soft input panel (SIP) on-screen keyboard, with symbols mapped to each key.

The

Blue

key provides access to additional keys. These functions are color-coded in blueprint on the keycaps.