Increase productivity by learning how to use touchpad gestures

What is the difference between a Touchpad and a Clickpad?

Clickpads are designed without distinct buttons. Instead of being fixed and immovable like traditional touchpads, clickpads have a slight tilt towards the user when pressed down in the lower half. This tilt mechanism is what creates the "click" sensation when you press the lower corners. Due to this dynamic feature, a slight rattling sound may be perceived when tapping on a clickpad, a characteristic inherent to its unique functionality.

How have Clickpads evolved in recent years?

Clickpads have become more prevalent since the adoption of Microsoft\u2019s Precision Touchpad standard around 2015. This standard has unified the user experience across devices by implementing intuitive multi-finger gestures right on the level of the operating system. Prior to this, touchpad manufacturers each had their unique set of proprietary gestures, such as scrolling websites by dragging a finger along the right edge of the touchpad. However, these gestures required specific vendor drivers and didn't always function immediately when setting up a new laptop. With the adoption of Microsoft' Precision Touchpad standard, the need for touchpad drivers has become obsolete. Now, multi-touch gestures work seamlessly out of the box, offering a consistent experience across all modern laptops, regardless of brand, make, or model.

The shift to clickpads isn't just about aesthetics or emulating Apple's style; it's about embracing a more intuitive and efficient way of laptop interaction. Clickpads provide more room for precise movement and are designed to respond to light taps and swipes, reducing finger fatigue and increasing precision.

What are the most commonly used gestures that I should internalize?

These gestures are available out of the box:

Single-Finger Tap: Equivalent to a left-click on a mouse. A quick tap is all it takes, reducing the need for a physical press.
Double-Finger Tap: This gesture replicates a right-click, pulling up the context menu wherever your cursor is, without needing to move your hand to the clickpad's corner.
Tap-Tap-Drag: Ideal for drag & drop operations. Tap twice in quick succession and keep your finger on the surface on the second tap. Now you can move objects without having to hold down the left-click corner of the clickpad with a second finger. As soon as you release the touchpad, the mouse pointer releases the dragged file. Also works when selecting text or with rubber-band selection of multiple files.
Two-Finger Swipe: Scroll through pages effortlessly by moving two fingers vertically or horizontally on the clickpad.
Pinch to Zoom: allows you to zoom in and out on your screen with ease. Simply place two fingers on the clickpad and spread them apart to zoom in, or pinch them together to zoom out. Useful for reviewing high-resolution images or zooming in and out of large spreadsheets. Also enhances the experience of reading documents or web pages by adjusting text size for optimal readability.

The next two gestures need to be set up in Windows Touchpad settings first:

Three-Finger Tap: Can replicate a third mouse button to open links in new tabs or to close browser taps with a single click.
Three-Finger Swipe: This gesture can be used to swiftly control audio volume without the need of using Fn hotkey.

Search for "Touchpad" in Windows Start Menu to find these options.

This setting interface is available on every XMG & SCHENKER laptop since about 2016.

As you can see in the Windows Touchpad settings, there is more room for customization. If you are new to touchpad gestures, you may want to keep it simple at first. Build up some muscle memory with these most intuitive gestures. To avoid accidental input, you may want to disable all 4-finger swipe and tap gestures so you don't trigger them accidentally when doing the 3-finger inputs.

How can those gestures improve my productivity?

Here are some examples:

Web browsing: By setting the three-finger tap to act as a middle mouse button, you can open links in new tabs with a simple tap. Additionally, a three-finger tap on a browser tab instantly closes it, keeping your workspace tidy and focused. Two-finger swiping lets you smoothly scroll through websites while pinching lets you zoom in or out for more ergonomic readability.
Word processing: A single tap places the cursor, a double tap selects a word, and a triple tap highlights an entire paragraph. Combine taps with holding Shift to select large portions of text: place the cursor at the beginning of the area you intend to select, then hold the Shift key and place the cursor at the end. All text in-between will be highlighted, allowing you to further operate on it with further with Ctrl+C for Copy or Ctrl+X for Cut. For smaller amounts of text, you can also use the "tap-tap-drag" gesture to select text passages via drag & drop.
Spreadsheets: A two-finger scroll lets you navigate through large datasets quickly, and a pinch-to-zoom gesture can adjust cell sizes for better readability.
Messaging: A quick double tap can select a word for quick editing, while a triple tap can select an entire message. Two-finger scrolling allows you to browse through your chat history smoothly.

In conclusion, while transitioning from traditional touchpads to clickpads might pose a challenge to some, the efficiency and intuitiveness of these multi-finger gestures significantly enhance the user experience. Once you master these gestures, you\u2019ll appreciate the improved productivity and convenience they offer.