What the pen buttons do
With the pen's factory settings, a right-click button undoes and the erase button switches to the eraser while you hold it. No setup needed.
With a Wacom pen on its factory settings, the barrel buttons work in PenLayer straight away: a button set to Right click undoes, and a button set to Erase switches to the eraser while you hold it.
Factory button settings
Measured on a Wacom Pro Pen 3:
| Pen setting | What it does in PenLayer |
|---|---|
| Click (the tip) | Draws |
| Right click | Undo |
| Erase | Eraser while held; your previous tool comes back when you let go |
| Pan/Scroll | Nothing |
Only the tip draws. Pressing a barrel button never starts a stroke.
The erase button
The eraser is momentary, the way a pen’s eraser is meant to work: hold the button and touch the tablet to remove strokes, then let go to return to the tool you had. If PenLayer loses track of the pen mid-erase, your previous tool comes back too, so it can’t get stuck on the eraser.
Pan/Scroll
A button set to Pan/Scroll sends scrolling rather than a button press, so PenLayer doesn’t see it. If you want that button to do something, reassign it in your tablet’s settings.
Buttons set to Undo, Redo or a keystroke
If you’ve set a button to Undo or Redo in the tablet’s settings, it sends ⌘Z or ⇧⌘Z, which are PenLayer’s defaults, so it works while you draw. For any other keystroke, see Map a pen button to a PenLayer action.
Still stuck? Email support@penlayer.com.