PDF XChange Forum

When I use the Pencil Tool to handwrite on a PDF with my Dell active pen, there is a delay whenever I touch the screen. The first fraction of a second of handwriting is not captured. Thus if I do hand writing, where you typically lift for gaps quite often, I have real trouble reading my own handwriting afterwards. When I use the exact same pen directly afterwards in PowerPoint's pencil function, there is no issue and very clear handwriting there. Thus I strongly believe this is an issue not with the Pen, Touchscreen or Dell, but within PDFXchange Editor Plus.
I have the "Keep Selected" activated (obviously) and the behavior occurs independently of having "Exslusive Mode" selected or not.
I use a licensed version of PDFXchange Editor 7.0 (Build 328.1).
Any help on how I could solve that?
Thanks
Kai

Hello Kai_jh,

Can you please take a screenshot of the Editor preferences, showing the "Performance" category.
After that, please press ctrl+Shift+Esc to open the task manager, and navigate to the Performance tab Let it sit for about 10 seconds, then use the Pen in the Editor for about 10 more seconds, and take a screenshot of the task manager after that so that we can see how much of the resources are in use.

Then please send us a document you have this issue in, and both of these screenshots, thank you!

Daniel,
thanks for your quick response. I have marked the area where I used the Pen within the PDFXChangeEditor in the sreenshot I took from the TaskManager Performance window.
Thanks
Kai

I have filmed the behavior with my mobile phone demonstrating the effect (pay attention to the mouse cursor in hover mode, which is correctly displaying), comparing the Powerpoint Pen (where everything works) and the PDFXchangeEditor. These videos were taken on the same machine without any difference in other software running / system performance.

https://we.tl/t-aFOc6d4Ui8
Downloadlink with WeTransfer is valid for 7 days.

Thanks
Kai

Hello Kai_jh,

Apologies for the delay, Myself and the Dev team have thus far been unsuccessful trying to reproduce this, and wanted to ask a few things.

1. What are the exact Makes and models of both your PC, and the Pen you are using?

2. What version of windows are you running?

3. Do you have all the latest windows updates installed? (if not please do so and let us know if the error persists)

Thank you!

Hi Daniel,
I am using DELL equipment, a just few weeks old machine and pen:
Latitude 7285 2-in-1
16GB memory, i7-7Y75 2 cores 1.3GHz, MS Win10 Enterprise, 64bit OS, x64 based processor
The system info of Windows also states: "Pen and Touch: Pen and Touch Support with 10 Touch Points"

The Windows version of Win10 Enterprise is 1803 (Build 17134.556) with all updates installed, I double checked that, even no optional updates are pending. Also not in the Dell Driver update center.

The PEN is a DELL PN557W Pen with also new batteries.

As shown in the videos I uploaded, I doubt that it is a general PC / OS problem, as the behavior is specific to PDFXchangeEditor and everything works reactive in MS PowerPoint.

Thanks for analyzing this further, let me know if I can support / test further,
Kai

Thank you for that Kai,

Everything we can do to minimize variables is important, even if it "doesn't seem like this could be the cause", it is important to consider every aspect.

We will let you know if anything else is needed!

All the best,

Daniel,
have you had the chance to analyze this any further? I am glad to help or provide further information, if you want to conduct further tests. I'd love to get this issue resolved soon, as I am using the pen alot with PDFXChangeEditor on the 2-in-1 machine.
Thanks
Kai

I have just purchased a Lenovo Yoga 930 2-in-1 and am experiencing even worse problems with the pen (Lenovo active pen 2 - works perfectly in Office applications). Only about 40% of my pen movements appear on the screen. The OS is Windows 10 Pro 64-bit. As I need this for annotating mathematics assignments the pen has to work faultlessly. I would prefer not to change to another annotation application if possible.

Further to my message above, this is what I am getting trying to reproduce the material on the left:

Hello rhgould, and kai_jh,

We are still looking into this currently. As we do not have any of the aforementioned devices handy, and seem to be completely unable to reproduce this without them, reaching a resolution will take a considerably longer time than usual.
I do apologize for the delays in this regard, but there is not much we can do without being able to reproduce this handling in an active environment.

As soon as we are able to create an environment wherein we can reproduce this, I am certain that the Dev team will work a fix into the nearest build for you.
Until then, keep your fingers crossed!

Same here, testing PDF X-Change with Thinkpad Yoga 460, dommage...
The pen works as expected in Adobe Acrobat on the same machine.

Hello Daniel,

has there been any advance on reproducing this problem and finding a solution for it over the past two months?

Thanks
Kai

Looks like this is the same issue I posted about in the touchscreen forum - viewtopic.php?f=68&t=32450

But it doesn't look like they have a solution yet

Hello All,
Terribly sorry we missed these posts earlier. Unfortunately the news is still unchanging. We have gone through a number of test machines and so far have still been unable to reproduce the issue locally.

Could I ask you each to post here your exact system specifications, including the version and build of windows, the exact make and full length product number (Lenovo has a help site explaining device model numbers). If you can discern which device is your stylus drivers from the windows device manager, it would be helpful to know what the name and version of the drivers installed are as well.

Kind regards,

Sure, here are my system details:

Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Yoga (1st Gen, Product #: 20FQCTO1WW)
Windows 10 Pro, Version 1803, Build 17134.706
Stylus comes with the Laptop (Lenovo branded), and is listed in Device Manager as "Wacom Device", Driver Version 7.6.2.17
PDF X-Change Version 8.0.331.0

Let me know if you need anything else.

My system details are:
Latitude 7285 2-in-1
16GB memory, i7-7Y75 2 cores 1.3GHz, MS Win10 Enterprise, 64bit OS, x64 based processor
Win 10 Enterprise Version 10.0.17763 Build 17763
Bios Dell 1.2.2

The PEN is a DELL PN557W Pen with also new batteries.
Driver: Wacom 7.5.2.19 "Dell Pen Device"

Thank you both for these,
I have passed this up to the Dev team so that they can see about getting a machine like one of yours to try and reproduce the issue with all the same hardware. *Fingers Crossed!*

All the best,

Hi Daniel - wanted to check in and see if you guys had success getting a repro of this issue and a potential fix?

Hi frankiea,

Thanks for the post - We currently have a pre-release build that we're asking users to test, should they be facing this issue, as it's not something that we can fully test locally. If you're interested in testing this release then please contact support@pdf-xchange.com directly.

Thanks,

I don't know about the others, but this issue was resolved for me with PDFXChangeEditor / Windows updates, the pen is now reactive as it is supposed to be.
Kai