Windows Ink is an API and set of features in Microsoft Windows that enable using a pen to work with your PC. More here: The history of Windows Ink. Windows Ink is one of two APIs used for Windows to talk to a tablet. The other, older one, is called WinTab.
Whichever API you want to use, you must configure it in two places (app and driver) the same way.
To use Windows Ink
Enable Windows Ink in the driver
Enable Windows Ink in the app
To use WinTab instead
Disable Windows Ink in the driver (this enables WinTab)
Disable Windows Ink in the app (choosing WinTab instead)
Instructions:
How to configure Windows Ink in an application
NOTE: If you change between Windows Ink and WinTab in app, you should restart the app.
Drivers and apps typically present the Windows Ink vs WinTab choice in different ways.
Drivers show it most often as a Windows Ink checkbox. If the box is checked, then Windows Ink is used. If the box is unchecked, then WinTab is used. The driver UI does not show the literal phrase "WinTab" anywhere.
Here's an example from the Wacom Tablet properties app.
Apps usually express it as an API choice and let you can see Windows Ink or WinTab in their UX. Here's an example from Krita.
Another thing Krita demonstrates is that Windows Ink can go by different names.
Here's what it looks like in Clip Studio paint.
Sometimes applications have trouble working with one of the APIs, so switching to the other API can sometimes solve problems.
This diagram shows the typical initial configuration for apps and drivers. Usually every app and driver is configured by default to Use Windows Ink.
As of 2023 enough applications on Windows support Windows Ink (or require it) that I suggest this configuration:
In the tablet driver:
Enable Windows Ink for all apps
Disable Windows Ink for and specific apps where you want to use the WinTab API
In the applications
Ensure they are configured to use the appropriate API as specified in the tablet driver
In the years since Windows Ink has been available, here's how apps have adopted it.
The vast majority of apps support using either Windows Ink or WinTab
Almost all of these apps, by default use Windows Ink
For almost all apps, switching to WinTab is easy.
For some apps though switching to WinTab is complicated. For example, for Adobe deliberately makes it complicated to switch to WinTab.
Some apps ONLY support Windows Ink. For example: Microsoft OneNote.
Some apps ONLY support WinTab. These tend to be older apps that have not been updates.
Use this in CMD shell
Open Clip Studio Paint
Go to File > Preferences > Tablet
In the Tablet Input API section, you can choose to enable or disable Windows Ink
choose Wintab to enable Windows Ink
or choose Tablet PC to disable Windows Ink
Once you've made the change, restart Clip Studio Paint
Open Krita
Go to Settings > Configure Krita > Tablet settings
In the Tablet Input API section:
Choose Windows 8+ Pointer Input (Windows Ink) to enable Windows Ink
or Choose WinTab to disable Windows Ink
Once you've made your change, restart Krita.
See these instructions: Configuring Photoshop to NOT use Windows Ink
Navigate to Edit > Settings > Tools > Tablet Input Method
There are three options there:
Low Precision (this is the default value)
High Precision,
Windows Ink
Restart Affinity Photo/Designer once you change this setting.
Navigate to Edit > ArtRage Preferences > Input Device > Tablet Options > Use Wintab checkbox.
Set the checkbox as you need
CHECKED -> enable Windows Ink (it is checked by default)
UNCHECKED -> disable Windows Ink
Restart ArtRage once you change this setting.
Many other apps covered here: https://opentabletdriver.net/Wiki/FAQ/WindowsAppSpecific
This list includes
Photoshop CC
FireAlpaca
Paint Tool SAI 2
MediBantg Paint
Corel Painter
Rebelle
Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer
Windows Ink is the evolution of the pen/stylus capabilities that started appearing in Windows in the early 2000s. This was an era when Microsoft was focusing on building products around a Tablet PC concept - what we might call a pen computer today. And as a tablet, it was thought that using a pen with these devices would be critical for tasks such as note taking, marking up documents, electronic signatures, etc.
And this support is extended not only to computers that have a screen that can be used with a pen, but also tablet devices that attach to computers such as pen tablets pen displays.
This has been a bit of a rough journey in Windows.
Before Windows Vista
When the first tablet PC features appeared they could easily interfere with drawing tablets.
Windows Vista (2007)
You can see some of how the pen input evolved in this document from Microsoft describing Pen and Touch Input in Windows Vista (archive link). But it was easy to disable those tablet PC features.
Windows 7 (2009)
By the time Windows 7 appeared, the ability to disable Tablet PC features via the Windows user interface started going away. People were forced to edit registry keys.
Windows 8 (2012)
By Windows 8, Windows stopped listening to the registry keys. So the previous workaround to disable these features no longer worked. At the release of Windows 8 it was essentially not possible to correctly use a drawing tablet with Windows.
Eventually tablet drivers started offering a checkbox to disable the use of Windows Ink features and then we could all draw again.
At this point many apps only used WINTAB. So, many people just disabled Windows Ink entirely on their computer. And this was a workable solution for the vast majority of people.
Windows 10 (2015)
As we progressed to Windows 10, several things happened:
Some apps started to ONLY work with Windows Ink. Microsoft OneNote is a great example.
Some apps work with BOTH Windows Ink and WINTAB
Most modern apps handle Windows Ink.
There are are still some apps that only work with WINTAB.
So these days the best option is to ENABLE Windows Ink in the driver, but disable it for specific apps using the driver's app-specific settings.
Writing this in April 2024, we may be looking at more disruptive changes.
Windows on ARM CPUs seems to be coming. I expect this may affect the driver situation:
It's unclear if older drivers can work with Windows on ARM.
If that is the case, it is unclear how long a drawing tablet manufacturer will take to have updated drivers
When they do have updated drivers, they may drop support for older tablets.
When Windows-on-ARM computers start appearing, I'll get one and start experimenting.
By default modern versions of Photoshop on Windows require the use of Windows Ink. However, you can configure Photoshop to not use Windows Ink and instead fall back to the WINTAB API.
To do this you need to create a file called "PSUserConfig.txt" file. Below you can see the instructions for creating this file.
The PSUserConfig.txt is used in general for lots of different configurations options. For more general information about the PSUsertConfig.txt, see: Enable Optional Extensions for Photoshop
Mine looks like this
NOTE: Get the spelling and capitalization of the filename EXACTLY as shown.
So my filename is
The first line does not matter but the second does.
Make sure the spelling and capitalization are exactly as shown.
Also make sure there aren't any leading or trailing spaces.
Save the file.
Reddit posts:
You can configure driver's use Windows Ink:
For all applications
For specific applications
This allows you to have a baseline configuration and then modify the behavior for specific applications as needed.
In general for the tablet driver I recommend:
Enabling Windows Ink for all applications
Disabling Windows Ink for specific applications that need it.
Every driver has a different way of configuring it in their UI:
Wacom: Wacom Tablet Properties > Application
Huion: The drop-down with the gear icon at the top.
OpenTabletDriver: N/A - OTD does not support per-application Windows Ink configuration
Open the Wacom Tablet Properties app
Under Tool select your pen
If you have a pen tablet, go to the Mapping tab.
Or if you have a pen display, go to the Calibrate tab.
Set Use Windows Ink to turn on or off Windows Ink in the driver
Open the HuionTablet app
Navigate to Digital Pen
Under Press Key, set the Enable Windows Ink to turn on or off Windows Ink in the driver
Open the PenTablet app
Navigate to Digital settings
Set the Windows Ink to turn on or off Windows Ink in the driver
NOTE: To see the Windows Ink option, you have to install the OTD Windows Ink plug-in first.