Surface Pro 3 Pen Button Customization

The Trackpad Settings app only works with the Surface RT and Surface 2 tablets.  If you can't find it in the Store, that means it is not compatible with your machine.  I don't know why Microsoft limited it to just those tablets but that fact was mentioned when I read the Surface Pro 3 User Guide in regards to the keyboard.

In fact, go to Microsoft's web site and click on "Surface" and look at the bottom of the web page and look for "Surface User Guides".  They have guides for all the tablets.  It is 108 pages long and describes just about everything.  Of course, it is also missing a lot of 'fine line' details but good enough.

So, open the Store and in the search box, type in "Touchpad Settings" (without quotes) and hit ENTER.  If it does show up, it should display what models it works with.  I think it should be available for all but it is not.

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.

Thanks for getting this started. Here's one for the architects out there as well.  

We need programmable buttons to navigate through basic 3D environments, Revit / sketchup / CAD.

Without it, its only effective as a viewing device at best.

Given increasingly how tech. Evolves, lets hope the driver (with pressure sensitivity curves) rolls out within the next month!

I am not an artist or graphics designer, but would also think programmable buttons would be an added benefit. To me, I want to use the pen to use the 'Snip' function, and then that piece would go directly to OneNote for editing.

I really love the SP3, and maybe this sort of thing can be done in the future.

This should be mandatory imho. I have many programs that need custom functions and I paid a huge premium vs a typical touch laptop for the active digitzer and pen.

I also want the ability to choose which program launches with the eraser click, and the function of the double click. It is absurd that they lock this sort of customization down, we aren't using a $2000 ipad here...

I'm with you on this, the ability to define the function called by the various buttons on the pen would be a complete game changer for my use experience. Ideally it should be able to be defined by what application has focus. I have one concert audio application I use constantly and professionally that makes incredibly intuitive and useful function out of the legacy 'mouse chord' (hold left click & tap right click). The workaround with the pen is to tap an onscreen radio box before tapping the specific element you are attempting to adjust, so if you want to adjust several in a hurry (which is pretty much always in a live concert setting) you are required to frantically, and accurately, tap multiple places on the screen. The ability to redefine one button to right click & another to mouse chord would absolutely transform the scenario. In the absence of this sort of functionality being a part of the driver, anyone with a workaround or 3rd party app that would enable this behavior please speak up!