How to Enable Narrator Function Key Announcements in Windows 11

What Is Narrator?

Narrator is a free app built into Windows that reads what’s on your screen out loud, helping you understand what’s happening on your computer.

When you use Narrator, you can enable or disable Narrator phonetic reading, pause for punctuation, adjust how the Narrator reads advanced details, adjust the way capitalized text is read, add a braille display with Narrator, change input and output language for braille with Narrator, and more.

What Are Function Keys?

Function keys, or F keys, are at the top of your keyboard. They are labeled F1 through F12. In Windows, each function key does a different job.

Why Enable Function Key Announcements?

When you type a function key, Narrator can announce it out loud. This helps you know which key you pressed. By default, this feature is turned off. You can turn it on or off whenever you want.

How to Enable Narrator Function Key Announcements

1. Open ⚙️ the Settings app. Click the ⊞ Start menu and select Settings. Or press Windows key + I on your keyboard to open ⚙️ Settings app.
2. When Settings opens, click Accessibility on the left side.
3. Click the Narrator option on the right side to expand it.

4. Look for the “Verbosity” section. Click to expand the “Have Narrator announce when I type” option.
5. Toggle the [Function keys] option to the On position. This turns on “Hear function keys as you type.”

You can turn on Narrator function key announcements by opening the Settings app and going to Accessibility.

What Happens When You Enable This?

Once enabled, whenever you press any F key (F1 through F12), Narrator will speak the function key name out loud. This makes it easier to know which key you pressed.

Summary

Customizing Narrator in Windows 11 to announce function keys as you type is simple and done through the Settings app.