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
    2015-08-03T15:30:51+00:00

    Oh I see. Thanks..!

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-08-03T06:11:51+00:00

    Unfortunately the buttons on the pen are not programmable.

    The only option I can think of at this time is to create a shortcut to 'Taskbar' or 'Start Menu'

    (Which I have done)

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-08-03T05:28:27+00:00

    Is it possible to program one of the buttons on the surface pro3 pen to open the snipping tool (not the screenshot feature in onenote) thanks for the help

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-07-12T17:03:17+00:00

    Here is an app made to solve this problem Not the best solution as buttons occasionally 'stick' for me when using but it at least allows you to customize the buttons a little.

    http://radialmenu.weebly.com/

    Hope that helps some of you out a little!

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  5. Anonymous
    2015-07-10T10:00:41+00:00

    I completely agree with this comment. Microsoft you should be ashamed of yourself for not so much as addressing this huge oversight of non-programmable buttons on the highly advertised pen input of your flagship device.

    Utter failure,

    full disregard for the customers supporting your most important hardware,

    & a complete waste for those who want to use the Surface Pro 3 for art work creation.

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