August 22, 2023

A stylus or digital pen is a handy tool for people who like to create on their touchscreen devices. If you enjoy using the touchscreen feature of your Surface device, getting a Surface Pen or Surface Slim Pen 2 will improve your experience and make it easier to write or draw.¹ Surface Pen or Surface Slim Pen 2 are built to work efficiently with any Surface 2-in-1 PC, Laptop Studio 2, or Surface Studio 2+, and are the ideal tools for everything that involves your screen. Learn what you can do with your Surface Pen to find more ways to be productive and creative.

Use the buttons on your Surface Pen

No matter if you’re using a 2-in-1 PC or another touchscreen device, having a digital pen handy can make it easier to write, draw, and navigate on your screen. Surface Slim Pen 2 and Surface Pen make it easy for you to complete a variety of tasks on your device using the digital pen’s features. Each Surface Pen comes with a top button and a side button. Pressing the top button once will open the Microsoft Whiteboard app and pressing it twice will take a screenshot. The side button works like a mouse button and is useful for dragging and dropping items on your screen. To right-click with your Pen, press and hold the side button before selecting the item.

Customize your Surface Pen’s settings

If you’re looking to change the way you use your Surface Pen, you can do so by going to Windows settings. Select the Windows Key and go to Settings > Devices > Pen & Windows Ink to find options for changing what hand you write with and other useful shortcuts. Your top and side button functions can also be modified in Settings. To change the pen pressure, open the Surface app.

Draw comfortably

Enhance your sketching, painting, and doodling experiences with Surface Pen. The tilt support feature on the Surface Pen allows you to shade in your drawings, making it comparable to drawing with a graphite pencil. Turning on the palm rejection feature ensures that the only thing making marks on your screen is your Surface Pen. Make any corrections to your drawings by simply flipping your pen over and rubbing the screen like you would with a pencil eraser. Get even more out of your Surface Pen by using a Surface Dial to unlock additional shortcuts and drawing tools.

Take the best notes ever

Surface Slim Pen 2 is compatible with the best notetaking apps. Enjoy features that are exclusive to Surface Slim Pen 2, such as tactile signals that let you use natural gestures like circling or crossing out motions to select and delete text and images on your touchscreen. Make collaborative notes with your friends and colleagues with the built-in Whiteboard app. Whiteboard also lets you beautify your writing so that everyone can read your great ideas. Hold down on your Surface Pen’s side button and draw a circle around your writing to access the beautify tool. OneNote is another great notetaking app that includes unique pen features and text conversion. You can even add handwritten notes to a Word document by uploading your document to OneNote.

Annotate your screenshots and pictures

Go further with your notetaking abilities by adding annotations to your screenshots. Open Snip & Sketch and use the sketchpad tool to make quick notes or designs to your saved images. When you’re done, press Save to keep your modifications intact.

Store your Surface Pen safely

Never worry about losing your Surface Pen when you’re using a Surface device. If you’re using a Surface 2-in-1 PC like Surface Pro 9, your pen will magnetically attach to your device’s screen. You can also store your Surface Pen in a detachable type cover whenever you’re using it with your 2-in-1 PC. Surface Laptop Studio 2 users can store and charge Surface Slim Pen 2 inside the device, under the keyboard.

Got more questions on how to use your Surface Pen? Visit the Surface Pen support center to find more advice on using Surface Pens. Read the latest articles about how to use your Surface device and its compatible accessories on the Surface Learning resources hub.