Surface Pens turn on Office drawing automatically

Surface pens will now turn on the Draw tab in Word, Excel and PowerPoint automatically.

When you pick up a Microsoft Surface Pen, the Draw tab in Office 365 will automatically appear to choose color, thickness of the digital ink.

There are a few requirements, but they are pretty obvious:

  • The Surface Pen has to be paired to the device – Duh.
  • Word 365, Excel 365 or PowerPoint 365 must be ‘in front’/have focus. Again … Duh.

This feature is in Office 365 for Windows Insiders v1910 build 12030.20004

Microsoft admits it’s not perfect “Currently, we do not distinguish between the pen being moved or jostled vs. picked up.