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
    2014-07-15T03:41:25+00:00

    For the love of God! Microsoft, please add the options to customize these pen buttons!  This is a huge functionality maker or breaker. 

    I am very disappointed this was not included in the release.  And I am very scared by the notion that it might never make it into the product - which would make this expensive purchase somewhat of a waste.

    As far as I know, Wacom has always included the ability to customize pen buttons, and if you want your N-trig pen to be competitive, it absolutely needs that too.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-07-21T14:33:19+00:00

    I completely agree as a Photoshop user this is imperative, I'll be returning my surface pro 3 if I don't see a solid answer before the end of the month...

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-08-07T16:15:58+00:00

    I want to bump up this thread- I wonder if we should be posting to NTrig though for them to update drivers, or if Microsoft has an api they work on for the custom drivers. 

    This is a crucial part of the device in my opinion and I didn't even think that the buttons wouldnt be customizable- It seems that artists and other professionals are in the claimed demographic so how could this not be addressed ?

    I still have faith some functionality is coming but I  would like to hear word at least.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-08-09T21:46:09+00:00

    Added idea for word/ppt users: toggle pen input on/off with the click of the second button. You can still HOLD the button to execute a right click upon contacting the screen.

    It's been 2 months for the device. It has the hardware it needs but the software development is lagging. Apple is picking up speed with Yosemite/IOS8. 3rd party developers are fast developing good pen input for the ipads and who knows when apple releases a MacBook air/ipad convertible. Smooth transitioning between IOS8/osx is almost here... the apple included apps are all the same code in essence.

    Please back up the flagship device, the sp3, with the enthusiasm you had for it 3 months ago.

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  5. Anonymous
    2014-08-29T14:07:02+00:00

    For all those teachers out there using the Surface and writing on PowerPoint like a whiteboard, the customization of the buttons would be so beneficial.  It feels like they are missing out on a whole market of people because they don't take the time to get a focus group of real world users to give input on the necessary components of their devices.  Any teacher could tell them 3 things that would make the product vastly more productive/valuable for their presentations.

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