The Microsoft Surface doesn’t come with a great manual. In fact, it doesn’t even come with everything you need to make it complete. Today though, I found the 68 page Surface User Guide. It contained several hidden Microsoft Surface tips and tricks that nobody bothered to mention! Below are the some gems that are tucked away.
- Surface Book and Surface Pro 4: top tips and tricks for your Pen. In this tutorial, were taking a look at some top tips and tricks regarding the Surface Pen, to make your experience just a tad bit.
- Way 2: Surface Pro Two Button Shutdown. To completely shut down Surface Pro 3 or Pro 4 and restart it, press and hold the Volume-up button and the Power button at the same time for 15 seconds and release both of them. The Surface logo appears, and remember to continue holding downing the buttons for 15 seconds to force restart surface.
But first, a quick tip to give you an extra 8GB of hard drive space! Using DiskPart, you can delete the unneeded recovery partition. To do so, launch an administrative command prompt (by using this shortcut key). Then type the following:
diskpart
Apr 28, 2017 We haven't unearthed any magical features, but these Surface Pro 4 tips and tricks should help you get a little more out of your Windows tablet. Microsoft Surface Pro 4 tips and tricks After more than a year on the market, Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 is still a powerful and capable 2-in-1 tablet. The Surface Pro 3, Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book without the GPU all appear to use the same 30-watt brick for charging. The Surface Book with the GPU has a larger 60-watt charger. If you're looking for some help with your Surface Pro 3, Surface 3, Surface Pro 4 or Surface Book then this is where you want to be. Here is where you'll find absolutely all of the Surface help.
select disk 0
list partition
Your recovery partition should be partition 5. Now type:
Surface Pro 3 Vs Surface Pro 4
select partition 5
delete partition override
You should now have an extra 8 GB which can be extended into your Primary (Windows) partition. Without further wait, the Surface Tips and Tricks list is below:
Microsoft Surface Pro 4 Pen Tricks
- The Surface Pro Power Supply (48 watt) works on the RT as well. The RT Power Supply (24 watt) will work for the Pro but charging will take longer.
- Google stopped supporting Exchange ActivSync. If you have a GMail account, Microsoft has a work around for you here. – Page 6
- When in sleep mode, Surface RT will maintain a wireless connection. Pro will not. – Page 20
- When the Type/Touch keyboard is folded back (as if you are using it as a Tablet), Surface locks the keyboard to prevent accidentally typing. Very clever design! – Page 26
- RT will automatically wake up when you open the keyboard away from the screen. Why the Surface Pro doesn’t, I don’t know… – Page 26
- The trackpad (on both Keyboards) is multitouch! – Page 27
- Tapping once on the trackpad is a left click. Tap twice to right click. – Page 27
- You can scroll by sliding two fingers on the trackpad. This is for horizontal and vertical scrolling. – Page 27
- The Surface Pro pen is pressure sensitive. The harder you press down – the larger you will draw or write. – Page 29
- Microsoft doesn’t discriminate against left handed people! If needed, you can search for “Specify which hand you write with” in the control panel to change to a left handed layout. – Page 29
- Surface RT does support printers but they must be Windows RT certified. These printers will always automatically install. – Page 47
- If prompted for a firmware update, be sure to connect your type/touch keyboard. If applicable, the firmware for the keyboard will also update. – Page 61
- To use function keys (F5 for refresh) on the Touch Cover, just press FN plus the key above the number row. EX: FN + Search Button = F5. The type cover has the function keys labeled.
- To take a screenshot (Print Screen), press the Windows Key (on the screen, not the keyboard) + the volume down button. The screen will dim for a second.
That’s it! Those are the 14 hidden Microsoft Surface tips and tricks that I just learned. To make your Mirosoft Surface complete, check out the list of 5 gadgets that you must have.
If you want to learn more about the Surface and how it will make your life easier, then subscribe to DeployHappiness and get great weekly tips (plus your free guide to the Windows 8 Administrative Start Menu)!
Special Thanks to :
- Microsoft for their Surface Getting Started Guide
- Kayla for tip 14!
- Maarten for the update on tip 1!