Auxiliary inputs

Buttons, sliders, dials, touch strips on tablets

Overview

The primary way you provide input via the tablet is via the pen. However, some drawing tablets have other built-in ways of providing input.

  • Buttons (both physical and capacitive)

  • Dials

  • Touch-sensitive strips and wheels

Terminology: ExpressKeys

ExpressKeys is a Wacom-specific term for buttons on Wacom tablets. However, many people have adopted it as a term to describe use to describe buttons on tablets from all brands.

Huion calls buttons "Press Keys"

Disabling auxiliary inputs

Some people love using these kind of inputs, but some people do not like them because either they

  • take up space on the tablet

  • are accidentally triggered

  • or their workflow just doesn't benefit from them

For these cases, you should be aware that these inputs can often be configured in the tablet driver to "do nothing".

Binding inputs to actions

You can bind the buttons to take a variety of actions. Broadly the categories are

  • Mouse-related actions - right click, left-click, double click

  • System navigation - scroll left, scroll right, zoom in/out, pan, switch applications

  • System tasks - run application, open a file

  • Keyboard - Press a key, hold down a modifier key

Common useful bindings

You can make these auxiliary inputs to all sorts of useful things. Here are some popular examples I found: Popular bindings for auxiliary inputs

Global vs application configuration

Tablet drivers also let you configure how these auxiliar inputs work depending on the app you are using.

For example you can set a button to

  • Increase brush size when you are using Photoshop

  • Increase opacity when you are using Clip Studio Paint

  • Increase the volume of your speakers under all other conditions

Default settings

Wacom Intuos Pro PTH-660

Default ExpressKeys setting for Wacom Intuos Pro Medium (PTH-660)

Examples

Wacom Intuos Pro Large PTH-860

Huion Inspiroy Dial2 (Q630M)

Example UI from Wacom Tablet Properties App

Last updated