Surface pen not recognized by specific application

Question

I just bought my pen and Surface Pro 7, it seems to be recognized by most apps I have tried so far. There is another app (MiM Software) where it simply does not recognize the pen at all, when I try to click or interact with the software, it does not register. 

I tried changing the setting to allow pen to be used like a mouse (see here: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/all/how-to-use-the-pen-as-a-mouse-in-all-applications/670974d1-c710-4197-9f99-fea67f38a70f) and that has not helped. I have contacted MiM support and they say that others have used the Surface Pen without any problem. 

At the very least, if the pen works like a mouse, I should be able to click things on the screen, but I can't.

• I've updated all my drivers. 
• I've run the surface diagnostic toolkit

Answer 1

Hi BDFCI,

Thank you for reaching out Microsoft Community. We're sorry for the inconvenience this has caused you.

Since the issue only happens on a specific application, then the point of failure lies within that application itself. Knowing that you already contacted the MiM support and was told that others didn't get this kind of problem while using the Surface Pen, have you asked what is the version of this specific application on others' devices? This is for us to know whether the issue is due to the updates rolled out by the software developer.

You may need to contact MiM support again to check the version of the app on others devices so we can further determine how we can go about fixing this problem.

Kind Regards,

Crest

Answer 2

Hi Crest, 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I see this happen in other applications as well, notably they are all applications launched using Citrix. However, some Citrix applications continue to work fine. What I would like to know is how an application can overrule system input devices? If the application is responsive to touch and mouse, is there a way for me to adjust my Surface settings so that the pen is indistinguishable from a mouse or touch? 

Edit: After doing some experiments, I've noticed a few things:

1. This problem also showed up on a Wacom laptop and when using a Wacom pen display
2. With the pen display (Cintiq 24 HD Touch) I selected the option to disable windows ink within the Wacom settings and the pen worked with the Citrix applications
3. When I disabled Windows Ink on my surface pro, the surface pen still did not work with the other software. 

So it seems to work for Wacom pen input but not the surface pen, I can't imagine why?

Answer 3

Hi BDFCI,

Sorry for the delayed response.

Can  you name those applications that are having issues with the Surface Pen? Are these Microsoft applications? I can't further provide any information about why Wacom Pen works on these apps but the Surface Pen does not since Wacom Pen is out of our support.

Kind Regards,

Crest

Answer 4

Hi Crest,

What I don't understand is if windows Ink has been disabled, regardless of the Wacom Pen, why can the surface pen not interact with the application like a mouse when that option is checked within the Pen & Windows Ink settings? Is there no way for us to force applications to treat the pen as a mouse?

There were two different applications that had these problems. One of them is MiM, and the other is a niche application for my industry.

Many thanks,

BDFCI

Answer 5

Hi BDFCI,

Sorry for the delayed response.

I really couldn't figure out why the Surface Pen is not working on these third party applications and couldn't tell if there's anything to be configured on these apps to make the pen to work. In this case, it's best to either send this a feedback to Microsoft using the Feedback Hub app or you can contact our Microsoft Surface Support Team so that they can further assist you because they can remotely access your Surface device to check the settings of these applications and figure it out why the pen is not working.

Kind Regards,

Crest