Surface Dial app specific tools I create aren't showing up in Word

Hi,

For better assistance regarding your concern, we suggest that you post your query on our Surface Studio Community. Click this link.

Should you need our assistance in the future, feel free to contact us.

this is the place for this issue. the Tech Community is NOT for technical support.

They are not providing tech support there. https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Surface-Studio/Welcome-to-the-Surface-Studio-Community/m-p/27497#M1 and yours is an app development question, so the best advice I can give you is to ask in the MSDN Forums.

Edit: I was told that the Surface Studio Folks have a better "connection" to the folks behind the Surface Dial, so I am going to move this thread to that topic.

Hi NightLightFlame!

I am sorry to hear about your difficulties with Surface Dial custom settings in Word.  I would love to get to the bottom of your issue and to better assist with that I need to ask some questions:

Are you using the Surface Dial with a Surface Studio or other Surface? If other what kind (Surface Book, Surface Pro 4, etc)?

What version of Word are you using? Word 2016 or an earlier version?

Also I would love to know the specific App Tools you have created and their layout. For example with Word I’ve created:

Custom Tool 1 for Word (myself)

Rotate Right Shortcut:
Box 1: Ctrl  Box 2: B
Rotate Left Shortcut:
Box 2: Ctrl+Shift Box 2: I
Click Shortcut:
Box 1: Ctrl Box 2: U

Then add any additional tools you’ve created, and again which tools for which app. 

Thank you for your patience,

Kimberly
Surface Studio Support

Thank you for taking the time to respond to me!

I am using a Surface Book and Word 2016.

For both Notepad and Word I have created 3 custom tools:

Copy/Paste

R: Ctrl+C

L: Ctrl+X

Click: Ctrl+V

Select R/L

R: Shift+Right

L: Shift+Left

Click: None+None

R/L

R: None+Right

L: None+Left

Click: None+None

I did try using Word with just the Copy/Paste tool but it still didn't work. Also, I have subsequently set up tools for my three primary browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge) to see if any of them work and they only show up in Edge. I'm not sure if this will tell you anything, but the tool I set up for them are:

Open/Close tab (for Firefox it's Open/Close tab/window)

R: Ctrl+Shift+T

L: Ctrl+W

Click: None+None (For Firefox it's Ctrl+Shift+N)

Scroll through tabs

R: Ctrl+Tab

L: Ctrl+Shift+Tab

Click: Ctrl+9

New window/tab

R: Ctrl+T

L: Ctrl+N

Click: None+None

Forward/back/refresh

R: Alt+Tab

L: Alt+Shift+Tab

Click: Ctrl+R

There is a pattern, in that the two programs that work are the two Microsoft programs that don't have a built-in tool (Word 2016 has Ink Replay). I don't require the browser tools, though they'd be nice, but I do need them in Word. If there was even just a way to turn off Ink Replay and use my custom tools instead, I'd be happier than having Ink Replay and no custom tools.

Thank you!

Hi NightlightFlame!

Thank you for your patience while I took the time to investigate your inquiry! 

I made the Surface Dial tools just as you listed, and for the sake of continuity I also performed my troubleshooting on a Surface Book with Word 2016. 

After adding your custom tools I tried several tests going back & forth using your tools to troubleshoot.

An example:  

R/L tool to get cursor where I wanted; then I used Select R/L for a block of text, switched to Copy/Paste tool and used L to make it disappear, and then clicked the Surface Dial several times to paste it a bunch. Went back to Select R/L again, grabbed another block of text, back to Copy/Paste used R to copy it and clicked a bunch to paste it again to confirm that worked. I also used the R/L shortcut however with the Surface Book it felt easier to use my finger on the screen or trackpad to move the cursor where I wanted, but it worked! 

I also created and used your browser shortcuts for Microsoft Edge and loved them! Honestly I never thought to use  custom tools in Edge beyond the default scrolling.  Typically my Surface Dial use in Edge is with Groove Music using Volume and Next Track (when Groove is playing it will add those selections for Microsoft apps).

At this time Google Chrome and Firefox have not extended compatibility to the Dial. We recommend using Microsoft Edge for the best experience at this time.  Also here are the current Apps that work with Surface Dial.

Just for clarification:

Your first post advises the custom tools did not show up at all in Word; and your most recent post indicates that they do show but don't function.  Has something changed, were they originally not showing at all just volume, scroll, undo? Or they have always shown but just didn't work?

In Word & Notepad I can press & hold the dial and on the wheel I see the options of 1 / 2 / 3 / Volume / Scroll / Undo.  Then when selected 1 shows Copy/Paste; 2 shows R/L, & 3:R/L , I'm wondering if you see the same thing.  I added the tools in the order you posted above.

To perform this troubleshooting I did a fresh install of Office 365, freshly paired the Surface Dial, then made the custom tools you listed. Have you tried removing the Surface Dial from your devices, sync, and add custom tools again?  Or check that Office is up to date?  I'd like to get a feel for what you have done before I start throwing more troubleshooting steps at you.

Office is up to date, and I removed all the tools and then removed the Dial, then resynced the Dial, and re-entered them, but it's still having the same problem.

Also, the custom tools I created don't and have not ever shown up in Word. I think the confusion was about the last paragraph of my previous post, so to clarify: There's a tool called Ink Replay that shows up in Word that I did not create and that appears to be built into Word. It has an icon, not numbers like a custom tool would have and it appears to the right of the default tools instead of the left where I see the custom tools in Notepad and Edge. (I haven't used it, but the icon is very similar to the image for Ink Replay on the Draw tab of the ribbon, so I assume it's related.)

So what I see in Notepad basically matches yours: 1 / 2 / 3 / Scroll / Undo / Brightness, with 1: Copy/Paste, 2: Select R/L, 3: R/L, but what I see in Word is wrong: Scroll / Undo / Brightness / Ink Replay.

I do think the problem might be with Office, even though it's definitely up to date. The two other Office apps that have Ink Replay, (Powerpoint and Excel) do the same thing Word is doing. I tried two Office apps that didn't have any built-in tools (Publisher and Access) and they do not show the custom tools either, only the default tools. (Basically, should be: 1 / 2 / 3 / Scroll / Undo / Brightness and instead it's Scroll / Undo / Brightness.) (I did try adding the tools to two other apps that have built-in tools (Paint 3D and Maps), and they do show up the way they should: 1 / 2 / 3 / Default tools / Built-in tools.)