Option on Keystroke (or combo) to Hold Down Key Along With Mouse Movement?

Discussion & Questions
1

Using the trackpad on a MacOS laptop is worthless with Fusion 360, and their documentation is wrong as the only gesture recognized is two-finger zoom but what I need are options to orbit and pan with the trackpad. They have configurations to use a Function key for these features but the function keys have to be held down while the other hand is using the trackpad. On a laptop, it is a pain to hold the Fn key and the Fn2, Fn3 keys at the same time and use the trackpad.

So, is there any option to create a keyboard shortcut to hold down (and let go) a Function key (like one would might with the Shift key)?

2

Actually, this option, "Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys" in System Preferences solved my problem. Just have to remember to turn it on and off when using Fusion 360.

Apple should just make this a Shortcut action.

Screenshot 2023-10-17 at 9.44.44 AM
Screenshot 2023-10-17 at 9.44.44 AM1342×806 90.8 KB

3

See here: GitHub - Pyroh/Fluor at 2.5.1
It's a universal app (Apple Silicon / Intel-64 bit) and change the state automatically.

1 Like
4

VERY, VERY COOL! Thanks for developing this! (I've had a couple MacOS apps in the App store that I wrote for myself - hardly sell any, but the ones I do sell match exactly with what others wanted too - like Fluor).

5

Oops. I running Sonoma 14.0 on my MacBook Air M2, 2022, and the app opens, give it permission for notifications, and nothing. It's "running" on Activity Monitor but no UI???

Worked on my 2017 iMac with Ventura 13.6 (the best OS I can get with the iMac).

6

For me, she also runs under Sonoma.
Take a look at the menu bar.

7

Yep, just hidden under the notch on my MacBook Air (along with several other menu bar icons that I haven't seen in quite awhile). Took me awhile to figure out that Apple dropped the ball on UI with a notch that "by design" just shows icons that fit to the right of the notch and no UI access to any others. There's an app for ~$12 to help with that called Bartender.

8

Or Hidden Bar from the App Store for free. But I've also been using Bartender for years.

Edit: It is possible that the icons are still hidden with Hidden Bar. Bartender hides alternatively the visible ones. But sometimes even that is not enough. At least you can search for it at Bartender if need be.

9

I signed up for the free trial with Bartender (now $16) but the Fluor icon in the Bartenders's fake menu bar (which is what I wanted and Apple should implement) shows it's state for when Bartender last grabbed a screenshot of the menu bar, e.g. brightness icon and not Fluor's current state, e.g. Fn icon. I guess that's the hack to make Bartender work.