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
    2014-10-11T21:47:07+00:00

    Hello all,

    for what its worth here is what N-trig support answered to an email I sent concerning the pens side buttons functionality:

    Does N-trig offer customization of the side pen buttons so they can be mapped to various commands or keys, different for each application, like Wacom does?

    For example, in Photoshop, the lower side button set to pan, top side button to right click,  and another combination for Illustrator, Painter, 3dsmax etc?

    If not yet, when is this expected to be  implemented, and is there any workaround through other utilities like autohotkey etc?

    Actually it’s not N-trig’s call.

    We will provide pen API to ODM/OEM like Dell, Acre or SONY, it’s up to them if developing such application.

     Regards,

    N-trig E-support..

    To be honest I was hugely let down by their attitude and approach to this subject.

    For me it is in their interest to take control of proper implementation of their technology and user experience, and not leave it up to third party developers.

    Microsoft Just released the Surface Hub. Few days ago Microsoft released an update for the Pen driver. This update was in preparation for this tool which allows you to control the pressure sensitivity of the Pen and how the Top button behaves either calling the desktop version of OneNote or the MUI version.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-10-12T13:41:16+00:00

    Are side buttons customization in the pipeline soon for Surface Hub?

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-10-24T16:07:09+00:00

    Can anyone please inform if Microsoft is even considering the side button customization issue for SP3?

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-10-24T18:10:48+00:00

    I saw a video on YouTube http://youtu.be/k00WYqM\_ubs which describes how to customize Surface Pro 3 pen top button to launch apps instead of Note, but it requires using EventGhost App and complex customization

    Also, I think that solution is applicable only to a top button on a pen, not to secondary/side buttons

    Any software or Windows options to customize those Surface Pro 3 pen buttons? Maybe another compatible version of the pen from manufacturer?

    On your first point, the "Surface Hub" app that you can now get from the microsoft app store allows you to do this much easier.

    I have had no luck with any 3rd party software to bind the pen buttons. Though with AutoHotkey you can rebind the volume buttons.

    Edit: So apparently I was totally wrong about the surface hub, I thought it let you change the functionality of the top button but it seems like it just gives you a choice between the desktop version of onenote and the microsoft app version.

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  5. Anonymous
    2014-10-27T16:38:58+00:00

    October 27, 2014 . Just installed latest updates including "Surface Hub" and the pen buttons still are not mappable. 

    Can you please fix this oh great Microsoft god in the sky?

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