5 Surface Pro 3 Tips and Tricks

After using the Surface Pro 3 Empired has provided to me for a few weeks, I have rounded up all the tips and tricks I’ve had to use in order to get the most from it. Hopefully this saves some time for others going forward.

1) How to fold out the kick stand properly

One of the first things someone told me was that the kick stand is fragile and needs to be used correctly or it would be in for repair in short order. Check out this post from Darryl Webster on how best to adjust the kick stand.

http://webster.net.nz/2014/12/surface-pro-3-correct-way-adjust-kickstand/

2) Making the Surface Pro 3 Pen’s eraser button work

One of the cool features of the Surface Pro 3 is that the top button on the pen is supposed to open OneNote. This didn’t work in my case, but was an easy fix. I just de-paired and then paired the pen again in one note. To get the pen to re-pair just hold down the eraser button for seven seconds until a light starts flashing on the clip, and then go to Bluetooth and pair the device “Surface Pro Pen”

3) Always have your USB cable

Quite a few of my colleagues were unaware of the fact that the Surface Pro 3 charger actually includes a USB port. This is such a handy feature for travellers as it means one less power pack to bother putting in the bag.

Darryl Webster gave me another tip for this which was zip tie your phone cable to the Surface Pro 3 charger cable. Good advice as it means no matter where you are, if you have your Surface Pro 3 charger, you’ll have a phone charger.

4) Touch/Typecover Function Key Lock

When I first received my Surface Pro 3 none of the function buttons on the typecover worked. This was frustrating as it meant I couldn’t change brightness, mute the volume, or use Home, End, Page Down or Page Up quickly. After a long while someone clued me onto the fact that hitting Capslock + FN will engage or disengage the function lock button. If you can’t use those keys on your touch or typepad then try hitting Capslock + FN first.

5) Where do I put my pen?

This one frustrates a lot of people, myself included. Where do you put your pen? There is a magnetic area that you can attach a pen to under the charging port on your Surface Pro 3, but this is weak and I’ve dropped my pen multiple times when walking to a meeting.

If you are using a dock, the left hand side of the dock has a magnetic area which will hold the pen very securely, however it is a little counter intuitive that it is on the opposite side from the magnetic area on the Surface Pro 3 itself.

I’ve also had colleagues who tuck it under their type or touchcover. This works, but over time frays the hinge of the cover, and makes it a bit manky. It can also scratch the display, so this probably is not your best option.

If you bought a Type Cover, then an adhesive backed felt loop will have come with it. Put this on the back (not the hinged part) of the Surface Pro 3 for a convenient pen holder that won’t lose your pen.

The best option is to check out Clean Stylus at http://cleanint.com/cleanstylus-surface-pro/. They offer a series of accessory stylus holders that can also colour match your cover.