Pen behavior in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update

Anonymous
2018-01-10T12:59:32+00:00

Ever since installing the Fall Creators Update, using a pen on a tablet or laptop screen doesn’t behave as it did before.  Instead of selecting text or files, the pen now scrolls.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Windows ink and touch

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Anonymous
2018-01-10T13:03:40+00:00

The Fall Creators Update implements a new interaction design to better utilize the features available to most pens in the marketplace. No pen behaviors were removed, but some actions have been reassigned to make pen behave more consistently across Windows. Previously, pen tip performed a wide variety of actions, from selection to drag-n-drop to content manipulation, while barrel button function was underutilized in the system. In the Fall Creators Update, we are making the barrel button more useful by assigning it selection and drag-n-drop functionality, while making the pen tip more useful for content manipulation, like scrolling. While these changes might seem uncomfortable at first, they make pen a more versatile tool that enhances current user experience and will enable future exciting experiences. 

Although pen is most useful for inking, in places where inking does not make sense or is not yet available, pen can now directly manipulate content the way your finger does. This functionality is available to most applications, such as File Explorer, Edge, or Start Menu, where you can now scroll without the help of a scrollbar and manipulate text selection through grippers. This change eliminates the need to hunt-and-peck for UI elements and prevents users from constantly switching between pen and other input modalities.

Barrel button also gained meaning in the Fall Creators update. Now, no matter what you want to select within the system, whether it is text in Edge, ink in OneNote, or files in File Explorer, you can do it by pressing the barrel button and dragging. Drag-n-drop with the pen is just as easy – press the barrel button, grab an object with the pen tip, and drag it to a new location. 

Making behavioral changes is always difficult. To avoid confusion and bad user experience, we worked with software developers, both internal and external, to properly react to the pen changes. While we reached out to most developers that see considerable pen usage in their applications, we did not hear back from all. If your favorite application is behaving incorrectly since the latest update, please report it by emailing WindowsInk@microsoft.com and we will work with the developer to correct any issues.

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-03-19T17:41:05+00:00

    Oh wait, I think I have to update to 17xxx as well. Thank you again! This is a life saver.

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-03-19T17:14:02+00:00

    Hi!

    Thank you so much for the registry key. I've added it, but am still having issues with pen scroll. Any tips? I imagine I'm going about it wrong.

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-03-19T16:29:30+00:00

    Thank you so much for the Registry Key.  I am once again able to digitize my embroidery designs and thus earn my paycheck!  For a long time, I thought my pen was broken in some way.

    I can't believe you would create an OS called "Creator" then create an update that ruins the very thing and really the only thing that lets a Creator Create.  

    So confusing.

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-03-18T12:53:12+00:00

    I had to sign up to the Insider's program to get a newer build. It seems that from build 17xxx on they added a Registry key that can revert the pen behavior to Legacy. You have to add the key manually.

    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Pen]

    "LegacyPenInteractionModel"=dword:00000001

    I think the whole thing is a big mistake that will force another step back for creative Surface users.

    An active pen can be a powerful tool for creative people. I realized that years ago, and my first notebook was a tc4200 Tablet pc which didn't even have touch, and that is before iPads and tablets.

    Ultimately the tablet pcs failed Creators to favor business users, for which the pen is just a fancy, cool and eventually disposable accessory, but of course they got the money and they got the numbers, so they were a far better target than artists. The Tablet Pc line eventually died, and reincarnated years later as the Surface. And the same mistakes came back.

    The potential of the Surface line to become the ultimate creator's machine is brilliant, but the facts have proven otherwise. Microsoft seems to be always looking for ways to make creative tasks harder to favor people that just need an expensive internet browser.

    Most people don't draw, scribble, paint, compose music, design, lay out, edit video, animate. Most people are not ”creators” and there's nothing wrong about that. What is wrong is to give a forced update the appealing name of Fall Creators Update when there's nothing there to favor creative users. FCU is meant to make common users feel creative, and creators feel miserable.

    It's a trap.

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