Touchpad Edge Swipes - Enable or Disable in Windows 8

How to Enable or Disable Touchpad Edge Swipes in Windows 8 and 8.1​

   Information

Edge swipes allows you use a one-finger movement from the edge of the touchpad or trackpad in towards the center to quickly open the Charms bar, app Switcher, and Application bar.

However, when edge swipes is enabled, you find that it may cause an issue of opening them by mistake to easily as you use the touchpad or trackpad. This can get real annoying soon.

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable the edge swipes on a touchpad or trackpad device for opening the Charms bar, app Switcher, and Application bar in Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows 8.1, and Windows RT 8.1.

   Tip

Edge Swipe usage when enabled:

• A swipe from the left edge to the center switches from the currently open application to the previously open application.
• A swipe from the right edge to the center opens or closes the Charms bar.
• A swipe from the the top edge to the center opens or closes the Application bar.

   Note

Your actual settings will vary depending on the brand and model of touchpad and what driver version you have installed.

Please feel free to post screenshots of your settings if different than the ones in the tutorial to help others.

CONTENTS:

• Option One: To Enable or Disable Edge Swipes for Synaptics Touchpad
• Option Two: To Enable or Disable Edge Swipes for Lenovo UltraNav Touchpad
• Option Three: To Enable or Disable Edge Swipes for Alps Touchpad
• Option Four: Enable or Disable "Precision Touchpad" Edge Swipes in Windows 8.1

OPTION ONE

To Enable or Disable Edge Swipes for Synaptics Touchpad

NOTE: For the latest Synaptics touchpad drivers, see: Drivers | Synaptics

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Method One

Enable or Disable Synaptics Touchpad Edge Swipes in Properties

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1. Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the Mouse icon.​

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2. In Mouse Properties, click/tap on the Device Settings tab, and click/tap on the Settings button. (see screenshot below)​

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3. Check (enable) or uncheck (disable) the Enable Edge Swipes option, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)​

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4. Click/tap OK in Mouse Properties. (see screenshot below step 2)​

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Method Two

Enable or Disable Synaptics Touchpad Edge Swipes using a REG File

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1. Do step 2 or 3 below for what you would like to do.​

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2. Enable Edge Swipes for Synaptics Touchpad​

NOTE: This is the default setting.​

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A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.​

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Enable_Synaptics_Edge_Swipes.reg​

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3. Disable Edge Swipes for Synaptics Touchpad​

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A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.​

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Disable_Synaptics_Edge_Swipes.reg​

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4. Save the .reg file to your desktop.​

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5. Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.​

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6. If prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.​

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7. Sign out and in, or restart the PC to apply.​

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8. When finished, you can delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.​

OPTION TWO

To Enable or Disable Edge Swipes for Lenovo UltraNav Touchpad

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1. Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the Mouse icon.​

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2. In Mouse Properties, click/tap on the UltraNav tab, and click/tap on the Settings button under Touchpad. (see screenshot below)​

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3. Check (enable) or uncheck (disable) the Enable Edge Swipes option, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)​

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4. Click/tap OK in Mouse Properties. (see screenshot below step 2)​

OPTION THREE

To Enable or Disable Edge Swipes for Alps Touchpad

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1. Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the Mouse icon.​

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2. In Mouse Properties, click/tap on the EdgeAction tab, check (enable) or uncheck (disable) any left, top left, right, and top EdgeActions options you want, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)​

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OPTION FOUR

Enable or Disable "Precision Touchpad" Edge Swipes in Windows 8.1

   Note

This option is only available on Windows 8.1 PCs that have a precision touchpad. For example, on a Surface Pro 2 tablet with a touch cover attached.

The Windows Precision Touchpad is a new class of input devices that provide high precision pointer input and gesture functionality. By default, these devices generate ultra-high precision scroll wheel messages for desktop application consumption.

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Method One

Enable or Disable Precision Touchpad Edge Swipes in PC Settings

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1. Open PC Settings, and click/tap on PC and devices on the left side. (see screenshot below)​

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2. Click/tap on Mouse and touchpad on the left side, and do step 3 or 4 below for what you would like to do. (see screenshot below)​

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3. Enable Swiping in from the left or right edge of Precision Touchpad​

NOTE: This is the default setting.​

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A) On the right side under Touch keyboard, move the slider to the right to turn on Play key sounds as I type, and go to step 5 below.​

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4. Disable Swiping in from the left or right edge of Precision Touchpad​

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A) On the right side under Touch keyboard, move the slider to the left to turn off Play key sounds as I type, and go to step 5 below.​

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5. When finished, you can close PC settings if you like.​

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Method Two

Enable or Disable Precision Touchpad Edge Swipes using a REG File

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   Note

The .reg files below are for the registry key and value below.

   Note

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HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PrecisionTouchPad​

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EnableEdgy DWORD​

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0 = Disable edge swipes​

ffffffff = Enable edge swipes​

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1. Do step 2 or 3 below for what you would like to do.​

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2. Enable Swiping in from the left or right edge of Precision Touchpad​

NOTE: This is the default setting.​

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A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.​

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Enable_Edge_Swiping_Precision_Touchpad.reg​

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3. Disable Swiping in from the left or right edge of Precision Touchpad​

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A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.​

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Disable_Edge_Swiping_Precision_Touchpad.reg​

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4. Save the .reg file to your desktop.​

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5. Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.​

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6. If prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.​

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7. Sign out and in, or restart the PC to apply.​

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8. When finished, you can delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.​

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That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

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• Enable or Disable Switcher Top Left Hot Corner in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1
• How to Enable or Disable Charms Bar Hint Corners in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1
• How to Turn App Switching On or Off in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1
• How to Enable or Disable App Switching in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1
• Turn On or Off Swipe from Left Edge to Switch Directly to Most Recent App in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Turn On or Off a Precision Touchpad in Windows 8.1
• How to Turn On or Off Leave Touchpad On when Mouse is Connected in Windows 8.1
• Turn On or Off Reverse Scrolling Direction of Precision Touchpad in Windows 8.1
• How to Change Delay or Turn Off Taps for a Precision Touchpad in Windows 8.1
• How to Create a "Mouse and Touchpad" PC Settings Shortcut in Windows 8.1
• How to Turn On or Off Double-tap and Drag for Precision Touchpad in Windows 8.1
• How to Turn On or Off Right Clicks for Precision Touchpad in Windows 8.1

 

[mjmacky]

Hi all. I've registered after trying all methods here explained to tell you that the only way I've found to get rid of the *** charm bar on the edge of the touchpad is this: View attachment 62585

It works!

I've been having no luck with any of the methods as well, and I just signed up to say this is the most elegant solution I've ever seen. Stay beautiful, person.

 

[mjmacky]

OK, so this post is for anyone who has tried all of the other methods, but still find that swiping causes the Charms to appear. Just to clarify, I have tried everything in this thread (changing dword values in regedit, deleting those trees in regedit, older Synaptics driver, etc. etc. etc.). I have a Sager/Clevo running Windows 8.1 by the way.

I finally figured a perfectly working solution that allows me to have the most recent Synaptics drivers and disable Charms.

Files needed (have both packages at a known location on your system):

• Most recent Synaptics drivers from your laptop manufacturer's website, I'll refer to this as Touchpad drivers
• Most recent Synaptics drivers from the Synaptics website for your operating system, I'll refer to this as Generic drivers

Procedure:

1. Uninstall Synaptics from Programs and Features
2. Reboot
3. You're going to reboot the system again, but this time, you need to boot into the mode that allows you to install unsigned drivers. Detailed procedures can be googled, but here's an overview
   1. PC Settings ---> Update & Recovery ---> Recovery ---> Advanced Startup ---> Restart Now
   2. Troubleshooting ---> something about start up mode and I remember selecting option 7 (unsigned drivers option). Once the system is booted in this mode, move to next step.
4. Install Generic drivers
   1. Check that they were installed. Device Manager ---> Mice ---> PS/2 ---> Drivers)
   2. If it's still the Microsoft driver, update manually and point to the directory for the Generic drivers (mine was Synaptics 17.0.19 if that helps as a reference)
5. Reboot
6. Now, you should have the option in Synaptics settings to disable the edge swipe. Go ahead and do that.

• If this Synaptics package works nicely for you, you can stop right here. However, I had some major issues with these generic drivers such as touchpad delay and not being able to adjust other settings.
• Therefore, if you want better functionality from your touchpad, move to the next step to reload the more compatible driver.

Reinstalling compatible Touchpad drivers while preserving disabled swipe settings:

1. Manually update the driver in Device Manager, but this time point to your Touchpad drivers directory. (Don't run the setup file.)
2. Reboot.
3. You should have the more functional Synaptics touchpad settings as they appeared when you got the laptop from the manufacturer. The edge swipe feature should remain disabled even if it doesn't appear in your settings.
4. Profit.

I hope this helps at least one lucky *******.