Surface Pro 3 Pen Button Customization

Anonymous
2014-06-21T18:20:54+00:00

I am a previous owner of a Surface Pro 2, and loved the capability it provided of customizing the button commands per program through the Wacom drivers. As a new owner of the surface Pro 3, I a very disappointed to discover that the same functionality is not available in the N-trig driver options. As an artist, the primary use of my surface is for drawing inside of programs like Adobe Photoshop. Not being able to customize the button functions on the new pen is detrimental to my efficiency as a digital artist. Without the ease of having quick access to specific commands through the pen buttons, I am forced to either dig through the menus and submenus of the program to execute a simple command, or connect a keyboard to use hotkeys. One of the greatest features of the surface is the ability to draw inside of photoshop as if it were a paper notebook, freeing me from my desktop work space and removing the requirement of the mouse and keyboard. Without the customization of these pen buttons, I lose that freedom.

I spoke to a Microsoft support tech this morning who informed me that "hopefully" in the next month or two, this feature will be added to the pen drivers. While this is a new product, and I understand that some features are still in development, this feature is crucial in the workflow of any artist using this device. I already own a desktop computer and a laptop; so again, the primary function of the Surface Pro 3 for me is drawing inside of programs like Photoshop without the need for a mouse and keyboard. 

I don't know if any Microsoft representatives read these discussions, but if there is a way I could be included in any sort of pre-release developmental versions of drivers that introduce this capability, I would love to be a part of it and am happy to provide feedback from an artist's perspective. 

Thanks for reading.

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-01-01T15:04:49+00:00

    I didn't try my pro 4 pen on the pro 3 tablet but that's an experiment I will try sometime soon. I'm guessing it will work but that's a wild assumption. I wouldn't throw the baby out with bathwater and ride off into the wild, wild west with Android - Microsoft have a habit of getting there in the end :)

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-01-01T09:35:59+00:00

    Might be be worth upgrading to the new pen if I could customise all 3 buttons and would definitely be worth it if it would enable 1024 degrees of pressure (which it won't) but to just add customisable eraser button it's not worth it. 

    At this point are Microsoft too embarrassed to respond after so long? Or is it they simply don't care? By now we should at very least have an apology and explanation why this has not being resolved. 

    Looks like I might be trading in my surface pro for a Wacom Cintiq and an android tablet at this rate.

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-12-31T13:09:24+00:00

    I agree - it only works with the new pen. I've tested it successfully on the Pro 4 but the same options do not show up on the Pro 3.

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-12-31T12:36:32+00:00

    I just uninstalled and then reinstall the Surface App (just to make sure) but nothing like this appears on my SP3!

    One and a half years of waiting now and MS did still not react to thousands of users' requests! Instead they redesign icons ||-(

    Extremely frustrating!

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  5. Anonymous
    2015-12-20T15:00:32+00:00

    It seems that Microsoft has finally responded!  In Windows 10, within the Surface app, under the pen settings tab, THERE IS NOW PEN CUSTOMIZATION DROP DOWN LISTS FOR THE TOP ERASER BUTTON.  Not only that, but the single click, double click & hold down actions can have separate actions customized!

    Although not robust in terms of detail, with only the ability to command "OPEN" an executable file, it nevertheless allows the opening up of OneNote desktop version as opposed to the mobile app version!  Appreciate Microsoft embedding this functionality within Windows instead of using a thrid party scripting language!

    I do not know whether this is available only to the Surface Pro 4 pen (pictured) or also to the Surface 3 pen.   Would be interested to find out!

    Merry Christmas!

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