HowTo How To and Master Help Guide for the Surface Book

Need help with your Microsoft Surface Book? This is a good place to start.

The Staff of SurfaceForums.net provide this thread as a compilation of how-to guides, fixes, help tutorials and tips which have solved problems or saved time.

 

SURFACE KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

Print Screen (Screen image to Clipboard for Paste elsewhere)
Fn + SPACEBAR

Screenshot (Saved in Pictures folder)
Fn + WINDOWS KEY + SPACEBAR (in this order)

Print Current Window Only
Fn + ALT+ SPACEBAR

Screen Brightness
Fn + DEL = Screen Brightness UP
Fn + BACKSPACE = Screen Brightness DOWN

Lock or Unlock Fn
Fn + Caps Lock

Home
Fn + Arrow Left

End
Fn + Arrow Right

PgUp
Fn + Arrow Up

PgDown
Fn + Arrow Down

 

DETACHING THE CLIPBOARD (SCREEN)

Click:
How to detach or re-attach your Surface Book Clipboard (the screen) to the Base (the keyboard)

The detached screen may be charged using the Surface Book power supply. Attach the magnetic "blade" charging end to the bottom edge of the clipboard where the keyboard would normally attach.

The detached screen may also be charged with a Surface Dock. Connect the Surface Dock blade to the bottom edge of the clipboard where the keyboard would normally attach. After connecting, the dock also provides the clipboard access to its USB and video ports.

 

UPGRADING YOUR EQUIPMENT
SAVE TIME AND TROUBLE TRANSFERRING YOUR ONEDRIVE FILES

If you are upgrading to a Surface Book from another Surface Book, or, say, a Surface Pro 3, or any other PC under Windows 8 or Windows 10, your Microsoft Account will be able to sync many of your settings automatically. But OneDrive files should be transferred before you do various updates on your new computer. Many Microsoft updates will halt until OneDrive completes. So, here is a tip that could save you hours of time, and perhaps also save you from losing some precious files:

1) Copy your entire OneDrive folder from the previous PC to removable media, such as a portable hard drive, a USB drive, an SD media card, or the like. You can usually drag and drop the entire OneDrive folder from your PC to the removable media by using File Explorer. You may have 10 or 50 or even 100 GB of data, so it may take 30 minutes or so to complete the task.

2) After signing onto your new computer with all your Account credentials (Settings, Account), exit OneDrive. You will find its icon on the lower right of your desktop, or if you don't see it there, click the "^" icon you see in that area. The OneDrive icon is usually shaped like a cloud. Right-click and choose Exit.

3) Connect the removable media from step 1) above to your new computer. Open the OneDrive folder on that media. Copy ever folder there to your new OneDrive folder on your new computer. You can usually drag and drop. You may have 10 or 50 or even 100 GB of data, so it may take 30 minutes or so to complete the task.

4) Start OneDrive, by clicking once on the cloud-shaped icon you found in step 2) above. OneDrive will then make sure the files stored on the cloud (somewhere out there) matches your set. You may then proceed with setting up your new computer.

 

PROTECT YOUR SURFACE BOOK HINGE DURING TRAVEL

If you ever carry the Surface Book Base (the keyboard) separately, protect the hinge. Even though the three exposed blade connectors sticking out of the hinge are quite strong, give them some extra care by making sure the hinge is as open as possible. You would not want them to bend or get crushed in a backpack or luggage or travel case.

Before you travel with the Surface Book keyboard detached:
1) Re-attach the screen
2) Gently angle the screen as far back as possible away from the keyboard. Open the hinge as much as possible, but do not strain it.
3) Detach the screen again.

 

Open Edge to a Fast, Quiet, Custom, Reliable Home Page of your own

Click
HowTo - Open Edge to a Fast, Quiet, Custom, Reiable Home Page of Your Own | Microsoft Surface Forums

 

What to do if your Windows Store Apps are not Downloading

Click
HowTo - What to do if Store Apps are not downloading | Microsoft Surface Forums

 

USING THE PEN WITH YOUR SURFACE BOOK

The Surface Pen (4) provided with the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book differs from the Surface Pro 3 pen in several ways: The pen writing nub is different, the pen is pressure-sensitive, buttons placement and purpose are reconfigured, and the pen is magnetic, for attaching to your screen.

If your pen is not paired to your computer, or not all the functions work, read below "Connect the Pen"

Customize pen buttons:
Launch the "Surface" app to customize use of the pen buttons.

Launch multiple items with a single Pen button:
HowTo - Launch multiple Apps and Programs with single Pen button | Microsoft Surface Forums

DEFAULT PEN BUTTON FUNCTIONS:

Top "eraser" button:
- One click opens OneNote, allowing writing immediately.
- Two rapid clicks (double-click) takes a screenshot. The screenshot is stored in the Screenshots folder (default location is C:\User\[account]\Documents\Screenshots, but the pen can be used immediately to crop out a particular area of the screenshot.
- Click and hold to start a Windows search, hosted by Cortana.
- Bring the "eraser" button to the screen to undo, or "erase" your writing. In some applications, the eraser button can also be used to draw, though this may be a bit clumsy.

Side "right-click" button is located near the writing tip of the pen, on its flat edge:
- Hold the button and touch the screen for a right-click. This is the same action as touching the screen with your finger and holding.

Battery Indicator
- A single AAAA battery powers the pen. A tiny LED is located around the pen opposite the pen clip. If it glows red, your battery needs changing. You may want to keep a couple of spare AAAA batteries in your computer travel case.

Pen sensitivity can be adjusted by opening the free Surface App from the Microsoft Store . If you apply any kind of physical glass or plastic screen saver to your screen, you will certainly want to do this. For most people, the default sensitivity is just fine.

Get started:
To try out writing with your pen immediately, you might
- Give the "eraser" a single click, and begin writing into OneNote.
- From Edge Browser, click the icon of a pen in the upper-right (or tap it with your finger). Begin writing with the pen.

Connect the pen:
Of course, if your pen is not paired to your device, it must be set up.
1) Settings, Devices, Bluetooth
2) Turn Bluetooth on.
3) Hold the "eraser" button of the pen for seven seconds until an LED glows white.
4) Click Pair

If the pen shows as already paired, but is not working, select that item, and click Remove device. Then start from Step 3.

If you cannot get the pen to Show by name ready to pair in Bluetooth Devices:
Uninstall the pen device driver, and allow Windows to re-install. Updated drivers are also available here. Windows may not show the pen to be available when connecting the Surface Pen 4 to a Surface Pro 3 which previously had the Surface Pro 3 pen.
1) Start, type Device Manager
2) Find Human Interface Devices, Surface Pen Settings, and Uninstall the driver. Do not remove the driver, however. Immediately re-try to connect the pen, according to the instructions above.



Use a pen previously paired to a Surface
If the pen is already paired to another Surface device within range (less than 10m (33 feet) feet or so), you must either un-pair (remove) the pen from the Bluetooth list of that device, or power the device down. A single pen cannot be paired to two devices.

 

CHANGE DESKTOP BACKGROUNDS (WALLPAPER) AUTOMATICALLY

HowTo - Enable Desktop Background Wallpaper Slideshow with Windows 10 | Microsoft Surface Forums