How do I optimize Windows for touch?

April 13, 2022 |  1 minute read

If you’re a visual or tactile thinker looking for a more fluid experience with your device, Microsoft has touch-optimized products that can help you increase productivity and bring creative visions to life.

On Windows 10, you could use gestures on the touchpad of your laptop. Windows 11 takes that to the next level. Navigate faster with touch, tap, and swipe gestures that enable you to operate with the touch of a finger (or a few). Try some of the Windows 11 touch¹ shortcuts today:

• Swipe four fingers left or right on your touch screen to switch to another desktop.
  
  
• Place two fingers on the screen and pinch in or stretch out to make your screen appear larger or smaller.
  
  
• Swipe with one finger in from the left edge of screen to see your widgets.

Draw and write with less mess and more precision when you use Surface-compatible pen accessories for your drawings, designs, and notes. Check out the capabilities available on both Windows 10 and Windows 11:

• Pen accessories² deliver a natural writing and drawing experience with no lag, so you can streamline your creative process when working on your Surface device.
  
  
• When you’re in the mood to create, Surface Pen can pair with apps like Adobe Suite, StaffPad, Sketchable and more. Whether you’re annotating music, doodling a cartoon, or painting a masterpiece, Surface Pen is high-tech with a natural touch.²
  
  
• With Microsoft OneNote you can handwrite notes on blank or grid backgrounds, or seamlessly switch to a highlight function when you need to add a little emphasis.
  
  

If your current device doesn’t support Touch, maybe it’s time for an upgrade. Get help finding your next PC with Help Me Choose. Intuitive, fast, and easy: a more fluid workflow is right at your fingertips.

Microsoft is bringing back the touch-optimized taskbar for Windows 11 that it first experimented with back in February.

The latest Windows 11 Insider Preview Build (25197) includes support for a touch/tablet-optimized version of the taskbar, which is transitioned to automatically when a user disconnects or folds back the keyboard on their 2-in-1 device.

Two states are available once it's active: collapsed and expanded. In the collapsed state, the amount of screen space is increased for whatever you are viewing and there's no chance of accidentally invoking the taskbar. In the expanded state, the taskbar expands so it's easier to interact with the icons and widgets. Switching between the two states simply requires a swiping gesture up or down from the bottom of your device.

There is no option to enable it on other Windows devices such as standard laptops or desktop PCs, but it looks as though Microsoft intends to let you turn it off. On a supported device you can navigate to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors and it will appear as an option turned on by default called "Optimize taskbar for touch interactions when this device is used as a tablet."

The fact Microsoft decided to bring back the optimized taskbar suggests it's eventually going to be rolled out for all 2-in-1 device users. At the same time, Microsoft is really dragging its feet on adding even basic customization options to the taskbar for desktop PC and laptop users. For example, you still can't move the taskbar to the side or top of the screen.

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