Sketchpad has completely disappeared from Ink Workspace

Anonymous
2019-08-08T21:05:51+00:00

I have tried rebooting and turning Ink workspace on and off from settings and taskbar. It is only showing me Whiteboard and Fullscreen snip. Did Windows do away with sketchpad, forcing me to login with a Windows ID to use Whiteboard? Or is this a bug from a recent update? Or is there anything else I can try?

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Windows ink and touch

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments No comments

83 answers

Sort by: Newest
  1. Anonymous
    2020-02-12T08:15:14+00:00

    that is heart-wrenching. doesn't anyone at microsoft have a heart?

    What do you two do now?

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2020-02-12T08:13:52+00:00

    and if anyone wants to know of a decent alternative, there's Inkodo

    That looks like it has concepts of "books" and "pages" and other unwanted cruft that makes it slow and difficult to use. Has anyone figured out how to extract Sketchpad and copy it manually forward?

    I don't think it's possible to "extract Sketchpad and copy it manually forward" as it was a UWP app. UWP apps are super limited and restricted compared to win32 stuff. UWP stuff, namely WinUI (the interface library) has great touch and pen support.

    You can just ignore the pages and books and stuff. It doesn't make it slow or difficult to use. Simply go to the settings and hide the navigation pane. I like Inkodo as it's the closest free app I've found to Sketchpad. Tons of teachers use Sketchpad and Microsoft has let everyone here down. I even saw a math video on YouTube where someone was using Sketchpad. Inkodo lets me use my finger and doesn't require a pen like some apps. The developer is also responsive to feedback (unlike Microsoft >.>)

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2020-02-05T10:54:15+00:00

    I too am a disappointed high school teacher who bought a Surface Book 2 largely due to the functionality of the surface pen and InkSpace. Whiteboard is so inferior, so frustrating to have had no choice in the matter.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments
  4. Anonymous
    2020-01-13T03:43:40+00:00

    You can't use Whiteboard without an internet connection!? Even if you try to use it "locally" (fully accepting that there will be no cloud-saves/backups), it STILL nags you every ~60 seconds that "YOU CANT DO THAT WITHOUT AN INTERNET CONNECTION"

    -

    A few days after my initial post here, I set a "restore point", disabled the blocks that kept my Surface Book 2 out-of-date, fully updated, and gave Microsoft Whiteboard an honest try. And after a month of using it, I can even more confidently say that IT IS TERRIBLE! and I will again repeat my plea to PLEASE BRING BACK SKETCHPAD!

    -

    During an offline work session today, I discovered that you actually need an internet connection to even just use Whiteboard!? 

    -

    Apparently, my Surface Book 2 is a "thin client". My mistake, I thought I was buying a standalone PC: one that was capable of operating independently....that didn't require me to time-share on the Microsoft Mainframes....it's funny how we have built all this wonderfully mobile technology to power our newfangled "distributed" lifestyles only to accidentally regress back to what amounts to effectively being "dumb terminals", "TTYs", and "Server/Mainframes".

    This is SUPREMELY stupid. 

    I fully recognize that the relentless consumption-obsessed deluge of "always connected", just-in-time-shipped, "freemium", influencer-based, Software-as-a-service, gig-economy, "streaming only", DRM'd, rentals-beat-ownership, "savings accounts are for boomers",  instant-gratification culture has us drowning in stuff like "snackable content", forced-software-updates, and "modal dialogs" to such an extent that the average 20-something has no conceptualization of where the internet ends and "local software" begins...but, for those of us old enough to remember, we are forced to stand idly by and wonder: "IS NOTHING SACRED!?"

    I've long-since accepted that every app on my phone is just a "web-view" powered by steady streams of REST API requests to an ungodly number of ever-watching internet services...but do the apps on my desktop need to be also? Phones are consumption devices. Computers are creation devices.

    Maybe I'm a dinosaur in my mid-thirties, but sometimes creatives and coders need to.... *gasp*.... turn off the internet and focus on CREATING..... like in a darkroom... or in an art studio.... or in a laboratory... or in a recording booth ....or in a library.... or in a study....

    Away from the internet.

    Away from distractions.

    HOW CAN YOU EXPECT US TO TAKE YOUR TOOLS WITH US TO OUR QUIET SPACES IF YOUR TOOLS FORCE US TO KEEP OUR EAR TO THE MEGAPHONE?

    You can do better Microsoft. restore Sketchpad.

    Was this answer helpful?

    5 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments
  5. Anonymous
    2020-01-13T03:07:56+00:00

    Hear! Hear!

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments