Microsoft adds trackpad gesture shortcuts to Windows 10

Ever wish your Windows trackpad could perform the same shortcut gestures as the ones your colleagues perform on their Macs? Microsoft is about to level the playing field with new Windows 10 gestures that improve desktop navigation.

New gestures include three-finger swipes that control how you view content. A downward swipe will take you back to the desktop from any window you're working within. A swipe left or right lets you scroll through apps, and an upward swipe will bring you to the Windows 10 task view.

Windows 10 users will also gain access to improved Snap controls for multi-monitor displays. The improved Snap functionality will enable you to swipe three fingers upward and to the inside edge of your multi-screen setup to resize app windows.

Update: At the WinHEC 2015 conference in a session titled Designing Great Hardware for the Windows 10 UI, Microsoft detailed the new Windows 10 gestures for touchpads.

The company says that the new gestures will be coming to "precision touchpads." The slides below show how the gestures work.

In addition to gestures for precision multitouch touchpads, Microsoft will also be changing the behavior of edge gestures as well for touchscreen displays.

Windows 10 features

The new swipe features, which have yet to be rolled out, are just a few of the many upgrades Microsoft made to its Windows operating system.

New features like, improved Windows Explorer, universal apps and a revamped start menu are among the improvements we noticed comparing Windows 8 to Windows 10.

• Read our Windows 10 review
• Via: PCWorld