The Microsoft Driver that Replaced My $90 Mouse
A must-read if you haven’t heard of Windows Gestures
I was one of those who never really believed in touchpads. One of my Thinkpad’s USB ports was dedicated to my Func MS-3 with its every-finger-has-a-home ergonomics and programmable buttons. I could do everything a regular mouse can plus switch and close both tabs and windows — what more could one expect to be able to do with one hand?
However, this beauty has been collecting dust since I discovered what’s possible with Windows Gestures and Microsoft Precision drivers.
Note that, for Windows Gestures to work, your laptop needs to support Microsoft Precision touchpad drivers. Most recent laptops come with Microsoft Precision pre-installed. You can check for this by navigating to Settings > Devices > Touchpad. It should read:
What is Microsoft Precision?
Traditionally, no-one could touch Macbooks on their touchpad experience. Now I won’t argue that the tides have shifted, but Precision touchpads are Microsoft’s attempt at rivalling Apple in this area. Although it was far from viral news when it was released, it has been received extremely well. It also standardized drivers, which lead to Windows 10 being able to provide a pretty advanced touchpad control interface.
What it can do
Essentially, it allows you to program keystrokes to gestures (like a 4-fingered swipe to the right). I’ll just jump straight to my setup as an example of how useful it can be:
Thinking behind this specific setup
My setup is primarily aimed at when I’m doing a casual activity (which doesn’t require both of my hands on the keyboard). This is mostly Chrome browsing, but the format is applicable for a wide variety of programs: from Notepad++ to IDE’s.
Of course, you can do with it whatever you want. Using CTR + C, CTR + V a lot? Or maybe undo and redo?
How to do it yourself
Open touchpad settings by navigating to Settings > Devices > Touchpad.
Head over to Advanced gesture configuration (in the above screenshot you can see my mouse hovering over it).
Here you can play to your heart’s content. Record a key combination or select any of the other non-keyboard functions supported, such as the music controls visible here. And if you’re missing something, you can always add AutoHotkey to the chain.
I was surprised by how many fellow Windows developers are unfamiliar with the potential behind this feature — hence this article. If you liked it, let me know!
