Windows 11 pen drawing over controls instead of interacting with them

Question

I'm using an MPP2.0 pen (think Surface Pen) to interact with my Windows 11 device, and I'm having an issue where the entire area around text boxes and dropdown menus won't be interactable because Windows will think I'm trying to handwrite into the control instead.

So, I can't open a dropdown menu with the pen, because when I tap on it to do so, Windows decides that I'm trying to handwrite a period character. I can't tap to focus a text box with the stylus either, for the same reason, until I lift it off the display and wait for the handwriting to apply (just so that I can delete the period in order to actually type what I want).

I found a setting in the "Pen & Windows Ink" section that seems like it should cover this functionality:

However, as you can see by the screenshot, this is currently turned off, and I've rebooted multiple times since applying that change and the handwriting functionality is still blocking basic interactions with UI controls..

For example, when I try to tap to focus the text field in Discord, it just draws a useless dot like this below the text field, not actually focusing the text field:

When I try to open a dropdown menu in Krita, it does the same thing, not actually opening the dropdown:

How do I actually turn this functionality off? Did I change the wrong setting, or is there some sort of workaround I need to apply?

Answer 1

You may try to update the pen firmware by following the Microsoft article
Update pen firmware on Surface Hub.

If that doesn't help, then this might be a conceptual problem on the side of Microsoft. In at least one article for Switch between drawing and text mode in Microsoft OneNote we see that only two modes exist for Microsoft : Text and Draw.

You'll need to work around that with tricks. My favorite trick when faced with a difficult touch interface, is to use the right-click to select the object and then Escape out of the context menu. This leaves the object as selected and it's then more responsive. Sometimes even the context menu contains the action that I'm trying to provoke.

A strong-arm method is to disable the Windows component TabTip.exe, which is the Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel process for using handwriting input, for converting text to symbols, and more functions. Doing that is a workaround and not a solution, so can be used when necessary and until a better solution is found.

There are three methods for that listed in the article
TabTip.exe: What Is It & How to Disable It:

1. Kill the process TabTip.exe
2. Disable from Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Pen & Windows Ink the option for "Use your handwriting to enter text"
3. Disable the Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel system service from services.msc.

Answer 2

Since this is a Windows 11 feature which is documented to work (second link), there are two possible causes for the issue:

1. a bug in Windows 11
2. a non-compliant / non-supported hardware

Given that the OP has written in a comment:

Windows Update automatic driver installs are off (plus Windows Update also having been completely disabled for the past 6 months or so, long before I ever got any pen)

the first thing to do is to test the hardware on a fully updated machine. Besides bugfixes, Microsoft is still adding support for older or less-used hardware to Windows 11 through its updates. So a simple driver or feature update might fix the issue. Also, in the above links is mentioned that the pen features are about to be expanded under Windows 11, so they are under active development and (might) need Windows updates to be turned on in order to work as intended.

Should the hardware not work on a fully updated system, contact the OEM of your Screen/Pen. If the hardware was advertised to support Windows 11, the issue is covered by legal warranty in almost all countries worldwide. Unfortunately not all OEMs are equally reactive, but try your luck.

Otherwise, if Windows 11 support is not explicitly given, try to test the hardware on a Windows 10 system. I own a laptop with a pen which is 'eligible' for update to Windows 11, but my OEM has advised me not to do so because of possible issues with the pen. Some hardware is still waiting to be supported on Windows 11.

Answer 3

This handwriting feature seems to be controlled by TabTip.exe which can be suspended (using a tool like Process Hacker) to prevent it from blocking pen input. However, this process also seems to control IME and automatic activation of the On-Screen Keyboard (though it can still be brought up manually if you have the taskbar icon for it enabled), so those features also won't work when it's suspended.

This is not an ideal solution because I do like the on-screen keyboard but suspending TabTip.exe does actually manage to disable this feature when nothing else (no settings, no registry keys, etc) seems to work.

I would prefer basically any other solution though, but there don't seem to be any yet.