MacBook Pro function keys New to the Mac world (from PC) but really like it so far.
In wanting to understand the operation of the laptop, I was reading about the function keys.  One book listed the "MacBook Pro's Default Function keys.  Went something like this:


F1            Descreases display brightness
F2.           Increases display brightness
.
.
.
F11           Decreases volume
F12           Increases volume


I've omitted some of the F numbers.

My issue is that none of these work for me. Zero.
When I press the "fn" key the F1 thru F12 show up in the Touch Bar and when I press F1 - F10 nothing happens.  When I press F11 the browser screen minimizes, and when I press F12 I go to the dashboard (I actually like this).

In the Touch Bar I notice that I have by default a volume up and volume soft key.

My question is, why doesn't pressing F4 (fn key and the F4 key that shows up in the Touch Bar) open the launchpad (I think this is the default )?  Why doesn't F3 open the Mission Control?

I'm just trying to fully understand this machine and this is a hole in my understanding.

I'm using MacOS 10.14. Mojave.
and it says Kernel version Darwin 18.6.0 (whatever that means).

BTW, I have, under system preferences, keyboard, press fn key to "show F1, F2...".

I have also gone to system preferences an keyboard shortcuts and pressed the restore defaults.

Can anyone assist with what I'm doing wrong here to not be able to get the default function keys to do their default functions.
I believe you are misunderstanding the information you read.

On older MacBook Pros, the top row of function keys double as system settings keys just as they do on PCs, but with one important difference:  On a PC, the top row keys act as function keys primarily, and you use the Fn key to use the secondary setting. Macs default to the exact opposite of this. The top row of keys act as settings keys primarily, and you use the Fn to use them as regular function keys. This can be confusing to newcomers at first.

This also adds ambiguity into the documentation you found. It says that F1/F2 adjust the screen brightness, but F1 and F2 don't actually do anything. The screen brightness controls are just ON the F1/F2 keys.  The documentation knows that the primary and secondary functionality of the function keys is reversed on Macs, so that's why it said to use just F1/F2.

Lastly, I said in my first paragraph that older MacBook pros act this way. Newer MacBook Pros with the Touch Bar do not have a row of function keys. The Touch Bar always displays whatever function will happen when you touch it. When you press the Fn key, it shows the function keys because that's how older models would behave.

Just remember, you're not actually after the F-keys. You're after the functions that used to be on those keys when there was an actual row of function keys instead of a touch bar.

Make sense?