How do I change the screen brightness?

[dcs.79c]

I have a Mac mini with Yosemite (10.10.2) & a 23" LG monitor. Pressing the F14 & F15 keys don't work. I even tried using the Shift, Control, Option & Command keys with F14 & F15. No luck. How do I change the screen brightness?

 

[bobtomay]

F1 & F2 control the brightness on the current gen Mac keyboards which only go up to F12.

 

[dcs.79c]

F1 & F2 control the brightness on the current gen Mac keyboards which only go up to F12.

F1 & F2 are for laptops. I have a mini. I do have a Mac keyboard plugged into my mini. It's the one with the keypad.

 

[RadDave]

F1 & F2 are for laptops. I have a mini. I do have a Mac keyboard plugged into my mini. It's the one with the keypad.

Just curious, is this a new keyboard? Do the other function keys work as advertised?

You can also go into 'System Preferences' - look @ 'Display', brightness can be adjusted there; also, review the 'Keyboard' options to see how the function keys are assigned. Dave

 

[bobtomay]

You can check the areas Dave mentioned above.

But, unless someone changed the default as shipped from Apple, the F1 & F2 keys are what is used on the Apple wireless keyboard that ships with the iMac and the same brightness symbols are on the F1 & F2 keys on the current wired Apple keyboard with number pad. Not sure where they were on older models.

 

[dcs.79c]

Just curious, is this a new keyboard? Do the other function keys work as advertised?
I got my mini in June 2013. I bought the Mac keyboard with the buit-in keypad at the same time.

You can also go into 'System Preferences' - look @ 'Display', brightness can be adjusted there; also, review the 'Keyboard' options to see how the function keys are assigned. Dave
Display brightness cannot be adjusted in "Display". In "Keyboard Shortcuts", F14 & F15 are checkmarked, yet they do not work. Even holding down the "Fn" key & pressing F14 or F15 doesn't work.

But, unless the default has been changed the F1 & F2 keys are what is used on the Apple wireless keyboard that ships with the iMac and the same brightness symbols are on the F1 & F2 keys on the current wired Apple keyboard with number pad. Not sure where they were on older models.
Should I reset to defaults?

I have Yosemite 10.10.2. I read on the 'net that the brightness slider was in Mountain Lion, but was removed from Yosemite.

 

[RadDave]

Just curious, is this a new keyboard? Do the other function keys work as advertised?
I got my mini in June 2013. I bought the Mac keyboard with the buit-in keypad at the same time.

You can also go into 'System Preferences' - look @ 'Display', brightness can be adjusted there; also, review the 'Keyboard' options to see how the function keys are assigned. Dave
Display brightness cannot be adjusted in "Display". In "Keyboard Shortcuts", F14 & F15 are checkmarked, yet they do not work. Even holding down the "Fn" key & pressing F14 or F15 doesn't work.

But, unless the default has been changed the F1 & F2 keys are what is used on the Apple wireless keyboard that ships with the iMac and the same brightness symbols are on the F1 & F2 keys on the current wired Apple keyboard with number pad. Not sure where they were on older models.
Should I reset to defaults?

I have Yosemite 10.10.2. I read on the 'net that the brightness slider was in Mountain Lion, but was removed from Yosemite.

Well, I have a MBPro & an iMac w/ the standard Apple BT keyboard; both computers are on Yosemite 10.10.3. The F1 & F2 keys adjust brightness and in the 'Display' dialog box of 'System Preferences', the brightness slider is present and works (see screen capture below), so not sure why this is not an option for you on the same OS X?

Has your brightness adjustments ever worked properly? Since you are using an external LG monitor, could that be a consideration? Regarding resetting the function keys to 'defaults', had you changed their assignments in the past and lost brightness control? Dave
.

 

[bobtomay]

The brightness slider is still there in Yosemite on our MacBooks and iMac.. I don't recall using the brightness slider while connected to a 3rd party display - could be the issue, just don't know.

 

[vansmith]

I have a Mac mini with Yosemite (10.10.2) & a 23" LG monitor. Pressing the F14 & F15 keys don't work. I even tried using the Shift, Control, Option & Command keys with F14 & F15. No luck. How do I change the screen brightness?

Change it on the monitor itself. I'm guessing that the monitor, like most, has buttons to adjust screen options including the brightness.

 

[dcs.79c]

I know that I can change the brightness on the monitor, but I'd rather change it in Yosemite. My mini is my primary computer. I have a MacBook Pro.

I have a wired Apple keyboard. At the time that I bought my mini, I had the option of getting a Bluetooth keyboard, but I didn't want one because Bluetooth has a tendency to drop the connection frequently.

 

[chscag]

I know that I can change the brightness on the monitor, but I'd rather change it in Yosemite. My mini is my primary computer.

You can certainly do just that. The only prerequisite is that you'll have to buy an Apple Cinema display or Thunderbolt display to do it. Non Apple displays just as vansmith advised, have to be brightness adjusted on the monitor itself.

 

[RadDave]

I have a wired Apple keyboard. At the time that I bought my mini, I had the option of getting a Bluetooth keyboard, but I didn't want one because Bluetooth has a tendency to drop the connection frequently.

Not sure that I can agree w/ the above about the Apple BT keyboard (KB) - wife has used one on her iMac for 2 years and the only time the connection is disrupted is when the batteries are low - but would be curious for a link or two that proves your point?

I guess the other issue even if you did obtain a BT KB - would those F1-F2 function keys work w/ your LG monitor? Have you contacted LG or looked on their website for a solution, if one exists? Dave

 

[pastopasto]

I have a similar issue and can't find a solution.

I have an iMac 27" Late 2012 running Yosemite 10.10.4 with the original keyboard that comes with the iMac. For some reason, I can't adjust the brightness with F1 and F2 keys, display brightness is using F14 and F15 but my keyboard doesn't have those keys. I have tried almost everything with no luck.

What I want is to adjust the brightness using F1 and F2. I don't find any brightness slider under System Preferences > Displays; I guess it disappeared with Yosemite. I tried System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Display and deselected F14 and F15 but the problem is I can't assign other keys.

Please, if anyone can help me on this I'll be more than grateful.

Thank you!

 

[chas_m]

At the time that I bought my mini, I had the option of getting a Bluetooth keyboard, but I didn't want one because Bluetooth has a tendency to drop the connection frequently.

Huh. This will come as a huge surprise to my various Bluetooth keyboards, which have **never** dropped connection over the last however long its been since the BT keyboards became standard. I use BT keyboards on both my MacBook Pro and iPad, and average easily 20,000 words a week on them. Dead batteries maybe but otherwise, I don't recall every having a BT keyboard drop the connection. I've had more issues with BT mice than with keyboards.

If you're basing this on your own experience rather than worthless hearsay, I'd say you probably have some kind of cordless phone or other device that uses the 2.4GHz frequency BT uses on the same channel, and that this would likely be the source of your issues.

 

[RadDave]

I have a similar issue and can't find a solution.

I have an iMac 27" Late 2012 running Yosemite 10.10.4 with the original keyboard that comes with the iMac. For some reason, I can't adjust the brightness with F1 and F2 keys, display brightness is using F14 and F15 but my keyboard doesn't have those keys. I have tried almost everything with no luck.

What I want is to adjust the brightness using F1 and F2. I don't find any brightness slider under System Preferences > Displays; I guess it disappeared with Yosemite. I tried System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Display and deselected F14 and F15 but the problem is I can't assign other keys.

Hello and welcome to the forum! First, your image is not showing on my monitor (just an icon w/ a question mark) - I was able to enter the URL into another tab and Dropbox showed your pic, which is attached below. Indeed, I do not see a 'brightness slider' - however, Yosemite still has that feature - please check my post #7 which shows the brightness slider on my computer; both my iMac & MBPro are running Yosemite and the brightness can be changed in 'System Preferences -> Displays' - I don't know why this feature is absent in your display window.

Second regarding the F1 & F2 keys - on my two computers (iMac has a BT KB), these are both labeled correctly as seen in the second pic attached. You might want to tell us your country and whether you may have purchased a non-American KB - not sure how many choices exist, but could you have gotten a KB w/ different functions assigned to these keys - what is on each? Dave
.

 

[IWT]

@OP

I don't think it's been mentioned above, but in some cases, people have found that they need to hold down the fn Key whilst using F1 and F2, to control brightness. Maybe a bit late in the day to mention this now.

Ian