I don't have a touchscreen. How can I do gestures on my Windows 8 laptop's touchpad?

I just got a new Windows 8 laptop, but it doesn't have a touchscreen, and it seems like a lot of the gestures are designed for touchscreens, and not current mice & touchpads. Is there a way to use the new gestures on my laptop's touchpad?

MatthewSot

Posted 2012-08-23T23:05:32.537

Reputation: 3 617

(written for http://meta.superuser.com/questions/5426/lets-get-started-with-windows-8?cb=1)

– MatthewSot – 2012-08-23T23:05:41.957

Answers

Yes, there will be, but the drivers haven't been released yet (the thinking is that they'll be released on October 26th, when the first Windows 8 devices are released).

Synaptics is including the following Windows 8 gestures in its Synaptics Gesture Suite 12.3 & up:

The SGS 12.3 driver should come with your Windows 8 laptop. If it's not included with your laptop, locate the driver download pages for your laptop manufacturer (such as HP, Dell, or Lenovo) and download the driver for your Synaptics touchpad.

MatthewSot

Posted 2012-08-23T23:05:32.537

Reputation: 3 617

1This is a good start given the information that's available right now. Eventually it'd be good to expand it to document the gestures individually, and talk about options for other touchpad manufacturers. – nhinkle – 2012-08-24T01:57:42.690

Another option for gestures that's coming out soon is the Leap Motion, which will emulate touch gestures. It's a $70 usb-sized device that recognizes hand gestures with extraordinary accuracy (it blows Kinect out of the water). From their about page:

Do you support windows?

Yes! We also support native touch emulation for Windows 8.

Caleb Jares

Posted 2012-08-23T23:05:32.537

Reputation: 2 629

Another alternative to the touchpad while waiting for its drivers is the Microsoft Touch Mouse. It just got updated with new drivers a couple of days ago and supports up to 3 finger swipes.

Really awesome to move around windows 8 with: http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/p/touch-mouse#windows-8

I would say it is a lot nicer to use than your trackpad will eventually be :).

cmplieger

Posted 2012-08-23T23:05:32.537

Reputation: 698