Is there some way to export the NPC mesh data using the menus or something, instead of using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+F4?

I have a laptop, and pressing CTRL+F4 doesn't seem to be cutting it. F4 on its own opens screen settings, Fn+F4 does what F4 does in programs that use it, Ctrl+F4 doesn't do anything at all as far as I can tell, and Ctrl+Fn+f4 ... also opens the screen settings, and doesn't do anything else. I have tried using the onscreen keyboard but it doesn't have the F# keys at all.

I'm really frustrated, I've been looking for this for hours and I can't find anything that doesn't just say "Press Ctrl+F4!" and I'm about ready to cry here.

Apologies if you are already aware of this,

CTRL+F4 will only work if you have the category selected in the Object Window.

If the ObjectWindow is set to ALL, and you use the filter to get the desired actor, then CTRL+F4 will not work

http://www.creationkit.com/Dark_Face_Bug explains all

http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/587550-creation-kit-npc-facial-textures-help/ may help aswell

As Heilghast said, you have to have 'Actors>Actor' selected in the object window or it wont work. Using 'All' then typing in your actors name won't work.