This may not do exactly what you like, but I saw this video on YouTube. I haven't tried it personally, but looks like it should work.
Surface Pro 3 Pen Button Customization
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Anonymous
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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Anonymous
2015-10-05T01:48:13+00:00 -
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Anonymous
2015-10-10T01:29:12+00:00 If the lack of button customization makes you mad, this will probably send you over the edge: The pen that comes with the Surface Pro 4 has been reduced to a single side button, and according to a poster here this was "by request from many artist".
As an artist I find this utterly baffling, and unless there is an ergonomically viable way to reinstate middle click functionality, I'll be reconsidering my plans to acquire a Surface.
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Anonymous
2015-10-10T21:47:54+00:00 No body on this "anger venting" messaging board should be surprised that MS has not done anything to customize the pen buttons after reading what Panos Panay, the man in charge of the device division at the company said about the pen.
"Fifty percent of people using Surface Pro 3, do you know they use a pen? When we started this, somebody actually walked into my office and said, “Hey, P, I don’t know that we should ship a pen.” I’m, like, “Why?” Because nobody writes anymore. Do you believe that? Where have we gone? Nobody writes anymore?” .
MS is impressed that HALF the people buying a Surface Pro 3 are actually USING the pen, yet everyone posting here, me included, only bought the Surface Pro 3 BECAUSE it has the pen.
The reason? Except for 3rd party Graphic programs, there is no killer App for the pan.
How easy is it to simply use the pen to sign a document or draw in Word, Outlook or Acrobat? Not easy at all.
MS is also creating too many versions of OneNote instead of focusing on the desktop version, which still needs a lot of work to be considered the Killer App for the pen.
MS bought N_Trig, the company making the pen, so there is no solution from either of them.
The best solution is to have a PAID 3rd party program that customizes the pen, and turns it into the killer accessory it should be.
Why paid not free? Because we are artists not hackers.
We need a real program with proper support to make sure our device continues to work without having to edit registry keys or writing Event Ghost or AutoHotKey scripts.
The closest thing to a pen customization program is Radial Menu
http://radialmenu.weebly.com/download.html
This is an impressive freeware. Unfortunately, it is no longer updated.
Steve Jobs is no longer around, he was behind Apple not pursuing pen(cil) technology for its devices. Who knows, Microsoft might soon have real competition in this area.
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Anonymous
2015-10-12T00:22:41+00:00 Wow. Just wow...
Talk about Microsoft just disregarding 12 pages of consumer feedback, and going in the exact opposite direction…
MS, what are you guys thinking??
Had I known this would be the case, I probably would have ditched my plan to buy a Surface Pro 3, and instead gone with Wacom's overpriced laptop/tablet option.
I also agree with the post that says we artists should not have to resort to painfully complex and unreliable measures such as Event Ghost, AutoHotkey, or even Radial Menu. We are artists – not programmers. And button customization is simple, basic and expected functionality.
This situation is absurd. And, Mr. Jones, if this is an "anger venting message board", then it is a deserved & justified one.