Microsoft is making Windows 11 a little bit worse for touch users — I hope they change this

Zac Bowden
·2 min read
Surface Pro 9.
Surface Pro 9.

What you need to know

  • Microsoft is testing an update for Windows 11 that will change a core system-wide gesture on tablets.

  • Swiping in from the right now opens Copilot instead of your notification center.

  • This change means there is now no way to access your missed notifications with a gesture, and it is infuriating.

Over the last few weeks, an invisible update landing on some Windows 11 PCs has changed one of the core touch gestures that is really messing with my workflow. I use Windows 11 across a wide variety of device form factors, including tablets, and I really like it. But a recent Windows 11 update that is now in testing has swapped the gesture for accessing the notification center with opening the Windows Copilot panel instead, and it is infuriating.

Every modern platform has a system-wide gesture for accessing the notification center. On iOS and Android, it's a swipe down from the top of your screen no matter where you are. On Windows, it's always been a swipe in from the right. That was until a few weeks ago, when that gesture was changed to now open Windows Copilot instead, with no option to return it to its original behavior.

This update means there is now no easy way to access your notification center on Windows 11 when using a tablet device. Accessing the notification center is now a two-step process, first swiping up on the Taskbar to reveal the date and time button, then tapping that button to open your notifications. It's so frustrating, as I often check my notification center multiple times a day on my Surface Go, and that swipe from the right was the quickest and easiest way to do it.

Now, swiping in from the right opens a feature I never use, and it sucks that I cannot change it back. Microsoft began testing this feature a handful of months ago in the Windows Insider Dev and Canary channel, and it seems to be enabled by default for everyone on Windows 11 version 24H2, coming later this year. Hopefully, Microsoft reverses this decision, or at the very least allows us to configure what that gesture does.