All modern laptops have a plain square below the keyboard designed to help you navigate without a mouse. On a MacBook, it's called touch panel; on a Windows PC, it is called touch panelBut whatever you call it, you can do a lot more than just move the pointer and click buttons.
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Most modern Windows PCs include a Precision touch panel and a set of built-in Windows drivers that allow these pointing devices to work seamlessly, processing taps, gestures, and motions as native actions. Windows 11Microsoft has tightened PC hardware certification requirements; laptop makers must now include Precision Touchpad technology as part of the certification process.
On a modern Windows laptop, you'll find a rich set of customization options for a precision touchpad in Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Touchpad(see image below). On a Windows 10 PC with the right hardware and driver combination, a message at the top of that page says, “Your PC has a Precision touchpad.” That message isn’t visible in recent versions of Windows 11, probably because it’s not needed. If you see the options shown here, you’re good to go.
If you see these settings on your Windows 11 PC, you have a Precision Touchpad.
Screenshot by Ed Bott/ZDNET
Simply learning how to use the default gestures available on a Precision touchpad can pay off big in terms of productivity. Spending some time on this settings page can prove even more useful.
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Here are 11 techniques worth mastering.
1. Swipe to switch between tasks
Using three fingers, swipe up from the bottom of the touchpad (see image below). That gesture takes you to Task View, with a large thumbnail for each open window and virtual desktop.
You can tap to choose the window you want to open, or swipe down with three fingers to return to the previous position. You can also use three fingers to swipe left or right, which starts scrolling through a screen of thumbnails of all running apps; stop swiping when you reach the app you want to run.
Use a three-finger swipe to quickly open Task View or switch to another running app.
Screenshot by Ed Bott/ZDNET
2. Swipe to switch between desktops
I'm not sure how many people use the virtual desktop feature in Windows 11, but those who do love it. It's a great way to focus on one or two apps that you're trying to get some work done in. You can keep distractions, like social media, on a separate desktop.
Using the default settings, swiping four fingers to the left switches to the next desktop, while swiping four fingers to the right switches to the previous desktop.
3. Scroll faster
Who needs scroll bars? With a touchpad, you can swipe with two fingers to smoothly scroll up, down, left, or right. (If you swipe with one finger, you move the pointer, not the page.)
If the default pointer speed isn't correct, you can use the slider at the top of the Touchpad Settings page to make the pointer move faster or slower.
4. Scroll in reverse
When you use a two-finger gesture to scroll through web pages or documents, you may want to reverse the normal scrolling direction so that when you swipe down, the page moves down, which is the opposite of how scrolling works when you use scroll bars.
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You'll find the scroll direction options on the Touchpad Settings page, under the “Scrolling & Zooming” heading. The options here refer to actions that apply to the scroll bar, so choose “Down motion scrolls up” if you want the swipe motion to match the page movement.
5. Adjust windows with a swipe
This is one of my favorite tricks. Customize the three- or four-finger swipe options so that when you swipe left or right, the current window will be on the left or right side of the screen, respectively.
You'll find the setting under the “Advanced gestures” heading (see image below). Change “Swipe left” to “Fit window to left” and then make the corresponding change in the “Swipe right” menu.
Toggle the Three-finger Swipe Left and Swipe Right options as shown here and you can open windows with a flick of the wrist.
Screenshot by Ed Bott/ZDNET
6. Choose your own right click option
If you use the default settings for a precision touchpad, a one-finger tap is a click, while a two-finger tap has the same effect as a right-click.
If you prefer an old-school right-click option, open the Taps section and select the “Press the bottom-right corner of the touchpad to right-click” option. To disable the two-finger tap option, uncheck the “Tap with two fingers to right-click” checkbox.
7. Slide to increase (or decrease) the volume
This trick is a particularly good use for the four-finger swipe options, especially if you never use virtual desktops.
On the touchpad settings page, open the “Four-finger gestures” section and use the Swipes menu to change the function to “Change audio and volume.” With this option enabled, you can swipe up or down (slowly) to adjust the system volume (see image below). A slider appears just above the taskbar, so you can see the effect of the change. With these settings enabled, you can swipe left or right to play the previous and next tracks, respectively, even if your music player isn’t visible.
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For one last tap, use the Taps menu at the bottom of that section to define a four-finger tap as “Play/Pause.”
You can redefine four-finger swipes and taps to manage volume and change tracks in a music player.
Screenshot by Ed Bott/ZDNET
8. Give control back to the mouse
Do you sometimes use a mouse with your laptop? Windows 11 does a good job of ignoring accidental taps and swipes when you type, but you might prefer to disable the touchpad entirely when using a mouse.
To do that, expand the Touchpad section at the top of the Settings page and uncheck the “Leave the touchpad on when a mouse is connected” checkbox.
9. Create your own custom gesture
When you go to the Touchpad > Advanced Gestures section, there's a long list of options you can assign to various taps and swipes. But if nothing on the list catches your eye, try the “Custom shortcut” option, like I did here (see image, below). When I do a three-finger tap, Windows opens the Quick Launch menu (Windows key + X).
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You can assign any keyboard shortcut to the custom gesture. For example, you can use Windows key + E to open File Explorer with that three-finger tap. Or use Windows key + northwhere north is any number between 1 and 9 to open the app pinned to that position on the taskbar. Use Windows key + 0 (zero) to open the shortcut pinned to the 10th position.
After choosing “Custom Shortcut”, press “Start Recording” and press the key combination you want to assign. Then press “Stop Recording”..”
You can assign any Windows keyboard combination to a custom shortcut.
Screenshot by Ed Bott/ZDNET
10. Swipe to go back or forward
If you spend a lot of your workday using the back and forward buttons to review browser history or photo slideshows, consider changing the “Swipe Left” and “Swipe Right” options to perform that task using gestures.
Go to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Touchpad > Advanced gestures. In the three-finger or four-finger gestures sections, change the assignment of those two actions to “Back navigation” and “Forward navigation,” respectively.
11. Set a gesture to do nothing at all
Maybe you prefer to keep your touchpad gestures simple? Maybe you find yourself accidentally swiping or tapping in a way that causes Windows to do something unexpected? If you'd rather not deal with certain gestures, try setting Windows to ignore those options entirely.
The “Nothing” option is available for both the three- and four-finger gesture sections, and you can customize each tap and swipe option in the “Advanced Gestures” section to ignore those gestures as well.