MICROSOFT SURFACE PRO "SURFACE PEN"

Hi, I just purchased a new Microsoft Surface Pro 6. After installing Logos 8, I paired my pen and got it ready to use, but it doesn't work on my bible surface, although it works on Word.

I wanted to use it in my bible screen to connect verses, make arrows, draw circles, etc. Does anyone know whether I can use my pen with logos?

Thank you,

Joseph

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Comments

JT (alabama24)

I am sure someone will pop in with a definitive answer. From reading in the forums regularly, it does not sound like Logos has been optimized for touch screens.

David Thomas

I wanted to use it in my bible screen to connect verses, make arrows, draw circles, etc.

You can do this using the free draw tool in the Canvas utility. You can use the pen to highlight text to which you can apply the highlighting and markups from the highlighting utility. You can't draw digital ink over resources.

Joseph Luna

Thank you.

Jay

Is anybody actually making use of the drawing feature with pen on Canvas tool?

On my tablet PC (surface pro type), Canvas is too insensitive to strokes that I can't even draw simple words without disruption. Currently, I'm just taking a screenshot on Logos, crop and open the image in OneNote, and do my hand note taking there. I wish Canvas tool was little better than completely useless when it comes to onscreen drawing. Or I wish the at least the F8 onscreen drawing mode had more features.

Joseph Luna

You are correct Jay. I tried canvas as a suggestion from David Thomas, but I just don't feel comfortable doing anything with it because it's not practical for what I need to do.

I will try One Note instead, but I still think Logos should work on allow us to use the stylus pen on the actual Logos screen for more in depth bible study.

I wanted to make circles, connective arrows, short pen written notes, etc.

Kind of disappointing.

David Loo

I've used Surface Pro 4 along with the pen, and it works great. Great almost anywhere else but in Logos. Many places in the UI doesn't respond to pen or touch input (or doesn't respond properly). I've tried using the drawing mode in Canvas, but it's extremely slow. I basically have to draw very, very slowly in order to have my lines appear properly. Not only that, it doesn't support palm rejection, so as my pen is tracing out the lines, my palm is also making it's own lines.

Kenny Larsen

It's also rubbish with a wacom graphics pad on my laptop. It could be a great tool if only the drawing functions would match that of the inbuilt windows stuff. As it is it's unusable and dragging boxes around isn't quite the same, or ideal. Really could do with a fix!

Jimothy

So, I was having the exact same issues with lag with my surface book 2 and surface pen, and then I found a workaround:

THE WEB APP HAS NO LAG with the stylus in canvas mode. go to app.logos.com. This link might work> Click here for the web app - app.logos.com

It even worked well on my iPad

The web app is more responsive than the desktop app; Ironic, isn't it?

David Loo

That is interesting. I'll have to give it a try. My SP4 recently died (swollen battery, to the point where the screen separated from the base). I'll give the Surface Book 2 a try.

danwdoo

I think this is one area Logos appears to be a little blind to. They have made statements that features such as this are not common among their user base, but if you want to expand your user base to more casual church members, interface and intuitive features such as a pen usage seem the path to get there. Having users see bible study with an intuitive interface including things such as this could be a powerful selling point.

Kenny Larsen

Thank you! It works perfectly on the Web App, now just need fixing on the desktop software. Given the rapidly increasing number of 2-in-1 devices with screens fro drawing it seems daft for it not to be a priority to take advantage of it....

Mattillo

I haven't been able to figure this out so maybe someone here might now... how do you select text on your surface w/ your pen in Logos? I've tried everything and just can't get it to select a string of text like a sentence so I can highlight it.

Anyone else having this issue on their surface?

Mike Childs

Just my opinion. It is embarrassing that at this point Logos is still not optimized for touch. That is ridiculous.

David Thomas

Logos is still not optimized for touch

[Y][Y] Apple was deeply committed to only using fingers on the i devices. even they have introduced a "pencil". I don't know why Logos seems to turn a deaf ear to this request.

Claude Brown Jr

My SP4 died also in the same manner, Since it was a known flaw they simply replaced and repaired the old one.

David Loo

Just want to add my comments. Yes, Logos is really, really late in properly supporting pen and touch input. The entire Windows interface (and I imagine on Apple OS as well) is geared towards mouse input. Nowadays, with so many touch-enabled laptops and desktops, it just make sense to have an option to switch to touch/pen input.

But it's not all bad. On Android tablets, Logos does run with touch/pen input. Of course, the Android app is very much restricted in functionality in comparison to the desktop version, but at least using your fingers work well.

I hope there's a team in Faithlife hard at work creating a new touch/pen interface on the desktop! I won't mind trying out any early versions and give them my feedback.