Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 recently made Time Magazine’s list of 25 best inventions of 2014 and rightfully so, Microsoft’s tablet device is quite amazing. It is small, lightweight, and portable, so you can carry it with you anywhere you want. The Surface Pro 3 also received a warm response from consumers, unlike the original Surface lineup which ended up costing the software giant a hefty loss.
It’s the holiday season and if you were lucky enough to receive a brand new Surface Pro 3, or if you purchased one for yourself, we are going to share with you some top tips and tricks to get you started with your new Microsoft device. Let’s dive right in!
- Improve battery life by adjusting your display — The screen can easily drain your battery and if you are trying to squeeze every minute out of it, we highly suggest you reduce the brightness. Head over to the ‘Control Panel’ > ‘Power Options’ > and then select ‘Change plan.’
- Lock the screen rotation of the device — You can easily lock the screen rotation to your personal preference. Simply swipe from the right to bring up the Charms menu. Click on ‘Settings,’ then select the Screen icon on the bottom right. This will allow you to toggle your screen orientation.
- Take a screenshot — Simply hold down the press the volume down button and the Windows button at the same time to take a screenshot of whatever is running on your device. You can take a screenshot of a running program, your desktop, or whatever you feel like sharing.
- Show more apps on the Start screen — If you want more space on your Start Screen, you can actually adjust a setting to allow you to show more apps. All you have to do is swipe from the right side of the screen to access the Charms bar, select ‘Settings.’ Then select ‘Tiles’ and adjust the ‘Show more tiles on the Start screen’ option.
- I hate the Charms bar, how do I turn it off? — Easy, simply go to ‘Settings’, select ‘Change PC Settings’, then select ‘PC and devices’ > ‘Mouse and touchpad’ and turn off ‘Enable swiping in from left or right edge.’ You have just now disabled the Charms bar.
- Use your Surface Pen to take screenshots — Double-click the top button on your Surface Pen. Select what you want to capture in the screenshot by dragging the tip of the pen from one corner of the element on your screen to the opposite corner. When you lift the pen tip, your selection appears in a new page in OneNote.
- Automatic backup to OneDrive — Go to Settings > Change PC Settings > OneDrive. From there you can enable ‘Save documents to OneDrive’ by default, allowing you to save your hard work to the cloud automatically.
- The quick access menu — You can right click on the start button to access a quick access menu, or simply hit the Win key + X to bring it up. This menu gives you quick access to various system tasks.
- Access the task manager without a keyboard — If your keyboard stops working for some odd reason, you can still access the task manager. All you have to do is hold down the Windows button and press the power button. This will bring up a menu that allows you to lock your device, switch users, sign out, or launch the trusty task manager.
- Completely shut down a modern app — If you are having issues with an app and you want to shut it down completely, all you have to do is drag a modern app from the top of the screen to the bottom of the screen, hold for three seconds and watch the thumbnail of the app flip. Once you see it flip, let go and the app will exit from memory.
Hope you enjoy your new Surface Pro 3 device. For those of you who already own a Surface Pro 3, please share your tips or tricks in the comments below. If you are a new owner, please ask your questions in the comments below!
