How can I get touchpad on Spectre laptop disabled when I type? Do I need indep software?

[Tolt]

HP Spectre X360 13-ac013dx

While I love this PC, it is the worst laptop I've ever owned for typing -- with touchpad.  **bleep** near every time I type something substantial, an errant brush of the touchpad causes a chunk of the composition to vanish.  MADDENING.  

I simply want to go back and forth between typing and using the touchpad, without having to tunnel into Synaptics Pointing Device, to manually turn off the touchpad before typing.  I would be happy with the touchpad shutting off every time I start to type a few words, and having to turn it on with a long press on the touchpad, which is apparently how this was solved in the past, before removing it.  Have it as an option that can be enabled/disabled.

I have "Smart Sense", "Tapping disable time after keystroke", and "Pointing disabled time after keystroke" all set to "Max"

The many touchpad laptops I've owned prior to this were all IBM/Lenovo units that never had this problem.  Of course they all had much smaller, less versitile touchpads.  How does Apple pull it off?  The touchpads are huge on Macs.

Next thing I'll try is to shrink the tapping and pointing zones.   Essentually shrinking the touchpad with software.  That's sure an ugly fix.

At least let me know that you are working on this issue, or if there is third party software that will help.

Thank you.

[Flower_Bud]

@Tolt

Welcome to HP Forums,

This is a great place to get support, find answers and tips,

Thank you for posting your query, I'll be more than glad to help you out 🙂

As I understand, you wish to disable the touchpad, 

Don't worry as I'll be glad to help, however, to provide an accurate resolution, I need a few more details:

What is the operating system on PC? 

Let's try these steps to resolve the issue: 

Disable the Touchpad or ClickPad

On some touchpads, you can turn on or off the TouchPad by double tapping in the upper left corner of the TouchPad. Double tap to turn the TouchPad on, repeat to turn the TouchPad off.

If you can't disable the touchpad by double tapping in the upper left corner, you can try disabling it from within Windows using the following steps.

1. Search Windows for 'mouse button', then click the Mouse or Change mouse settings Control Panel setting in the results.
2. Click the Device Settings or the ClickPad Settings tab of Mouse Properties. If you have a Synaptics device, the tab includes the Synaptics icon  and might vary from the graphic.

   Figure: Device Settings

   

3. Select the desired touchpad under the Devices list, and then click Disable to turn on the device.

   NOTE: If you wish to turn off TouchPad, click Enable.

Hope this helps,

Keep me posted how this goes,

Cheers 🙂

[Tolt]

This is just a duplication of what is already referenced in the post.  I do not have a Spectre with upper-left double-tap control of the touchpad.  I explain in my post that tunneling into a control to turn off the touchpad is not what I need.  Surely HP is adressing the need to be able to go back and forth between the touchpad and keyboard without clunky switching and maddeningly disruptive extended typing: entire carefully-crafted sentences vanishing without warning.

What might be working:

It's my right palm lightly brushing the touchpad that causes extended-typing carnage.  I have changed the size of the "starting zone", biasing it to the left.  So far so good.  Mouse Properties/ClickPad Settings/SmartSense/Cog-Wheel "Settings" icon.

[KrazyToad]

@Tolt

I'm glad you were able to get this issue sorted out.

Do visit our HP Forums and drop us a message anytime you need help

Thank you