Top 15 Tips and Tricks to Use Windows 10 in Tablet mode

Windows 8 didn’t get touch-based laptop users excited, as the touchscreen experience looked half-baked. But on the laptop running Windows 10, touch operation feels like a rose garden. Credit goes to the dedicated tablet mode in Windows 10 which makes it more user friendly.

Although you can use your touch laptop without going into tablet mode, the features offered by this mode make it attractive and attractive. What are these hidden features? Well, get ready to be surprised with this post.

Here you will learn how to use and enjoy touchscreen in Windows 10 along with the best tips and tricks.

How to Enable Tablet Mode in Windows 10

This is pretty easy to do. First, tap or click the Action Center icon located on the taskbar and then select Tablet mode to activate it. Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut Winkey + A to activate it. On some laptops, four-finger tapping on the laptop’s touchpad also activates the Action Center.

Now let’s move on to tablet mode shortcuts, tips and tricks.

1. Hide Taskbar

The taskbar is an important part of a laptop in normal mode. However, we cannot say the same for the tablet mode. If you don’t like having the taskbar in tablet mode, you can hide it with the current setting. When you do this, the taskbar will disappear when you enter tablet mode.

Go to Settings > System > Tablet mode to enable (or disable) the setting. Turn on ‘Automatically hide the taskbar in tablet mode’.

2. Hide App Icons Only

If the icons on the taskbar are distracting you and not the entire taskbar, Microsoft provides a way to disable them in tablet mode.

For this, go to Settings > System > Tablet mode. Enable ‘Hide app icons on taskbar in tablet mode’.

3. Quickly Go to Tablet Mode Settings

To open the tablet mode settings, instead of going to Settings > System > Tablet mode, you can enter them directly from the Action Center.

To do this, first open the Action Center, then tap and hold the Tablet mode option. Select Go to Settings from the menu.

4. Use Back Button

If you look closely next to the Start Menu, you’ll find a back button in tablet mode. Tapping will take you back to previously opened apps. In other words, use the button to go back to previous apps. For example, if you open Chrome and then launch Candy Crush and then File Explorer, tapping the back button will take you to Candy Crush and then to Chrome.

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5. Open Right Click Menu

The lure of using a laptop is in the right-click menu. Switching to tablet mode on Windows doesn’t mean you’ve lost it. Tap and hold the item (icon, desktop, taskbar, files, etc.) using one finger to open the context menu, i.e. the right-click menu. To our taste, the menu has been modified for touch use.

6. Automatically Turn On Touch Keyboard When Not In Tablet Mode

Typically, when you use your laptop in tablet mode, the touch or soft keyboard automatically appears when a text field is tapped. However, if you are using your laptop as a tablet but not in tablet mode, the keyboard will not appear.

Go to Settings > Devices > Typing to turn it on automatically even in normal mode. Scroll down and enable ‘Show touch keyboard when tablet is not in mode and keyboard unplugged’ under Touch keyboard.

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7. Launch the Touch Keyboard from the Taskbar

If the touch keyboard doesn’t open when you tap a text field, you can also open it from the taskbar. Right-click (tap and hold) the taskbar and enable Show touch keyboard button from the menu.

Once enabled, you will see the touch keyboard icon in the taskbar. Tap or click to start.

8. Enable Word Prediction for the Soft Keyboard

I really miss text suggestions on a laptop. Of course, you can also enable it for the physical keyboard, but the recommendations are limited. Fortunately, things are different for the touch keyboard as you have more than 10 options to choose from.

To enable text suggestions, go to Settings > Devices > Typing. Enable ‘Show text suggestions when typing on soft keyboard’ under Typing.

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9. Change Keyboard Type

Just as smartphones let you change the keyboard type, Microsoft is generous enough to offer the same capability. For starters, you can detach and move the touch keyboard. You can then change its size from the available types to suit your needs. You can even switch to handwriting recognition mode.

To change the keyboard type, you must first initialize the touch keyboard. Then tap or click on the little keyboard icon with the little gear. The first line shows the different types of keyboards and the second line lets you dock and detach the keyboard.

10. Automatically Launch Handwriting Panel

If your laptop supports stylus input, tapping any text field will directly open the handwriting panel. Anything you type on that panel will be converted to text format using incredible handwriting recognition.

11. Entering Text with Fingers on the Handwriting Panel

By default, you can only write with your pen or mouse in the handwriting panel. If you wish, you can also jot down the text using your fingers.

To do this, go to Settings > Devices > Pen & Windows Ink. Check the box next to the ‘Type on handwriting panel with your fingertip’ setting.

12. Snap Apps

Multitasking is at the heart of the laptop experience, even for tablets. Sure, you can keep multiple apps open on your tablet at the same time, but what if you want to keep them stacked side by side? Similar to laptop mode, you can also capture apps in tablet mode.

For example, you want to watch a live stream on YouTube and at the same time scroll through your tweets without any further distractions. This is where capturing windows comes into the picture.

For this, tap and hold the top of the first app and drag it to the top right or top left corner of the screen. You will see the window close and now you will have to select the second app from the list of open apps. Tap the app you want to open. If the function is not working, follow our guide with many fixes.

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13. Windows 10 Tablet Mode Gestures

Tablet mode supports the following gestures:

Close Application

To close an currently open app, hold its top area and drag it to the bottom of the screen.

open action center

Action Center can be launched without touching its icon on the taskbar. To open the Action Center, simply swipe from the right edge of the screen to the left. This trick also works in laptop mode on touchscreen laptops.

View Hidden Taskbar

If you want to keep the taskbar hidden, use the swipe up gesture from the bottom of the screen to view the hidden taskbar.

14. Switch Between Apps

It is quite easy to view newly opened applications on smartphones. Fortunately, you can do the same on your Windows laptop while in tablet mode.

Swipe right from the left edge of the screen or tap the Task View icon next to Cortana on the taskbar. On the next screen, you will see all your open apps. Tap any app to switch.

15. Enable or Disable Auto Rotation

In traditional laptops, the screen was always in one orientation. Things have changed with convertible laptops and now rotation plays an important role.

By default, the screen orientation will change automatically when you rotate the screen. But if you don’t like this behavior, you can disable auto-rotation and lock the current orientation mode.

For that, open Action Center and then tap Rotation Lock to enable it. When enabled, the tile is highlighted. The rotation lock tile is only available in tablet mode. In standard laptop mode, the tile will appear in gray.

Bonus Tip: Chrome Gestures

When using Google Chrome, you can swipe right or left anywhere on the screen to open the previous and next page respectively. The feature will soon be coming to Android phones as well.

swallowing the tablet

The touch experience in Windows 10 gets you off your feet. With the tips and tricks above, you can really enjoy the benefits of tablet mode. I really like the gestures and ease of use that tablet mode offers. Let us know your favorite feature of the tablet mod.

Next up: You want to save space on your Windows 10 laptop. Do it with Storage Sense. Find out what it is and how to use it.