Using pen as a mouse inside web browsers

Question

Hello,

I have just purchased a Microsoft Surface Book 3 and a slim pen to speed up my work within the Bubble.io platform.
I purchased it almost exclusively to be able to work with the pen on the touchscreen before using the common combination of mouse and keyboard.

Unluckily, with my great disappointment, I have realized just now (I never own a touch device before) that the pen is not the equivalent of the mouse. Or, to be more precise it is not always.
As a matter of fact, on Windows itself I can drag and drop app windows all around with the pen on the touchscreen.
But when I am "inside" a web broewser interface, if I need to do some actions (drag and drop in particular) nothing happens.
I have tried both enabling te pen feature to use the pen as a mouse whenever possible (I just installed the last Windows 11 update), but unluckily that doesn't help at all.

I am not a technical expert, but I am wondering....is it really so hard to deploy an update that let the user to switch how the pen must be considered by the system? Something like: when you click the pen button with some sequence (for example 3 times, or things like that), the pen is considered a mouse.
Can you help? As said, the investment was done almost exclusively for that reason (I really would never heve thought it were such a big issue - as I have read many other complaining about the same thing).
Thank you in advance for your support.
FT

Answer 1

Hi Federico_T,

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

I completely understand how you feel, unfortunately, the Surface Slim Pen you purchased does not compatible Surface Book 3.

You need to purchase a Surface Pen with no clip that is compatible with Surface Book 3 for the best results.

Identify your Surface Pen and features - Microsoft Support

I hope this helps. If there is anything not clear, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Your Sincerely

Hahn. W - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Answer 2

Hi Hahn,

Thank you for your reply.

Before purchasing also the older surface pen, I would like to ask you the confirmation that the SB3 and surface pen (1776) pair will let me use the pen as a mouse inside web platforms/application such as Bubble.io (it looks weird the newest slim pen 2 can't while the older one can) and, also, the confirmation that your answer is an official one from someone who belongs to the Microsoft organization.

As I am going to purchase a used one, I won't be able to return it in the case it won't work as expected, so I want to be sure.

I ask you this mainly because in Chrome (in Firefox and Edge as well) even if I use my fingers I can't get the expected behaviour. It looks that thr browsers detect the touch input (both with the pen and the finger) and don't allow to trigger exactly the same actions ad those of the mouse. So that's why I suspect the older surface pen will behave the same as the slim pen 2 insidd the browser. Anyway I look forward to hearing your answer.

Thank you very much for your support.

Kind regards,

Federico

Answer 3

Hi Federico, 

Surface Pen with no clip is compatible with Surface Book 3. This information comes from Microsoft support link. Identify your Surface Pen and features - Microsoft Support As a Microsoft Community Agent, I am not affiliated with Microsoft, if you want to confirm with Microsoft Support, please refer to: Contact Us - Microsoft Support

As for the compatibility of third-party applications for touch or stylus support, you need to contact the application support to confirm. Your SincerelyHahn. W - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Answer 4

Hi Hahn,

Thank you for your advices.

I will try to contact the MS support as suggested.

I wish you a Happy New Year!

Kind regards,

Federico