How do you disable finger input in Windows 8?

Anonymous
2012-10-29T13:08:11+00:00

From what I understand, disabling finger input in earlier builds of Windows 8 was as simple as it was in Windows 7. But with the release of Windows 8 last week, this is no longer the case, and that solution no longer exists. Was it moved to a more obscure location or removed entirely? To be clear, I (and many others) am looking to disable finger input while still maintaining stylus functionality.

Hopefully, if it is as impossible as it seems, a fix will be on the way within the week. The lack of this feature has nearly converted my tablet to nothing more than a neat toy. I have to strap cardboard to my hand so that resting it on the screen doesn't make my cursor flip out while I'm trying to work in Flash!

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Search, touch, and mouse

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Anonymous
2012-10-30T08:29:14+00:00
  1. Yes, exactly. In Windows 7, the option is in plain sight in the Pen and Touch settings. In Windows 8 the option is no longer there.
  2. Yes, I'm looking to disable finger input while still being able to use the stylus for input. Most of the options I found only disable the touch screen entirely.
  3. It's a Samsung 7 Series Slate PC, model number XE700T1A-A01US.

Thanks for your assistance in advance! I was actually able to find a working solution with some extra digging, which unfolded in a thread over here. Although, this causes some major faults like being unable to use input at all on screens like the login screen (for some reason, no stylus support there). So of course, a much more elegant and direct route to the option would be just incredible for the artists like myself looking for this feature.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-07-31T00:04:58+00:00

    You said "exactly" so now I am confused again. Touch is disabled when a wacom approaches the screen but before it makes.contact. So you can test your wrist when the pen is close but before it touches and starts drawing funky lines. You can leave and move your wrist (I can on mine anyway) on the screen while drawing and lifting the pen repeatedly with out touch interacting unless you lift your hand.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-07-30T23:31:25+00:00

    Exactly my problem, you need to leave your wrist on the screen for stability to draw nice curves and arcs.   It's not possible to put the pen point down first without getting a wonky line.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-07-30T17:03:12+00:00

    That does sound like a problem. On my computer touch is disabled until after I break contact. For example when I bring the pen close touch is disabled. I can  rest my hand on the screen. Then keeping something touching the display , like my hand,  I move my pen out of range to be detected and touch  Still disabled. I lift my hand and touch works again.

    So on my pc I could disable touch by just leave something conductive on the screen. But I don't because I don't have a problem with touches, as described above.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-07-30T05:25:51+00:00

    I'm using Surface Pro and I must say that the Pen is pretty much useless without the ability to EASILY disable AND ENABLE finger touch.

    Yes, it is true: moving the pen close to the screen disables touch input temporarily, but this is not good enough. Try laying your wrist on the screen and write something - you will find yourself erasing wrist marks (recognized as touch) as soon as you rest for a while.

    I've been using a Tablet PC a few years ago (Toshiba Portege 3500 running Windows XP Tablet Edition) and the writing experience was great - just like "real" pen and paper! I have written hundreds of pages this way during University study.

    What I find most annoying is the removal of a feature (ability to disable touch) that worked well in previous versions. Unfortunately, this regression is not incidental and feels more like a strategy. Using Microsoft Products since the early 90's and being a certified professional and consultant for MS products, my feeling is that in latest versions of MS products, there are about 10 feature removals for each feature addition.

    Not hearing an official Microsoft voice in these forums too often is also a disappointment. 

    My suggestion to Microsoft: add some kind of gesture (touch/pen) to easily enable/disable finger touch. Until then, at least release a hotfix that brings back the enable/disable setting you took from us.

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