One of the least talked features of Windows 10 Update is the virtual touchpad. Once enabled, it will show a touchpad on your screen, which can be used just like any touchpad with right-left buttons, gesture support, and it comes in very handy when you are presenting from a 2-in-1 laptop. Yes, if you don’t want to use the physical keyboard or just want to flip it behind and carry the screen in your hands, it comes inactive. In this post, I will show how to Enable the Hidden Virtual Touchpad in Windows 10.
Note: This is not enabled by default, and there is no way to find it in settings unless you enable it.
What is Precision Touchpad?
Before we go ahead, it’s called Precision Touchpad, and it differs from the traditional touchpad because of the gestures it supports. Not only can you use the standard ones that come with it, but you can also customize it. If your Laptop doesn’t have the precision touchpad, you might not be able to use all the gestures here, but you can do that with a Virtual touchpad.
How to Enable Hidden Virtual Touchpad in Windows 10
- Right-click on the Taskbar
- It will open the context menu. Look for the “Show touchpad button” among all cascaded menu options.
- Once you do it, the virtual touchpad first appears as an icon on the bottom right of the taskbar, just like the virtual keyboard.
- Tap on that icon to bring the virtual touchpad to the front.
What are the Features of the Virtual Touchpad?
Once enabled, settings for the touchpad appears in the settings menu. Before you go ahead, it is best to move the touchpad to one corner as it appears right in the middle and floats on everything. It will block your view of the settings panel, so move it.
Open Settings > Devices > Touchpad. Below is the list of customization available to the touchpad:
- Automatically disable it when a mouse is connected.
- Option to change cursor speed.
- Sensitivity.One finger / Two finger Gesture which includes:
- Tap with a single finger for a single click.
- Tap with two fingers for a double-click.
- Tap twice and drag to multi-select.
- Press the lower right corner of the touchpad for the right-click.
- Drag two fingers to scroll. You can change the scrolling direction (down to scroll or up to scroll)
- Pinch to zoom.
- Three-finger gestures
- Up for Multitasking view
- Down for Show Desktop.
- Left to Switch Apps
- The right to switch apps.
- Four-finger gestures:
- Swipes to switch Desktop and show Desktop.
- Up for Multitasking view
- Down for Show Desktop.
- Left to Switch Desktop
- The right to Switch Desktop.
- Tips for
- Search with Cortana
- Open Action Center.
- Play/Pause
- Middle Mouse Button.
Managing Gestures with Advanced Gesture Settings:
The best thing about the Virtual touchpad on Windows 10 is that it allows you to customize every gesture. In the touchpad settings, look for “Advanced Gesture configuration” on the right. Open it, and you will have the option to change every gesture to something else. It allows changing Three-finger gestures and four-finger gestures to what suits you best.
What do you think about virtual touchpad? Will it come handy for you? Let us know in the comments.
