Another S-pen config question 😃

[Birath]

Type of device* : Galaxy tab S7+
Brand and version of the device: Android
System** : Android

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Hey there, all you amazing Krita warriors!

A question for those of you who use a Galaxy Tab S7 as your main drawing device.

Like many before me, I’ve had a rather entertaining (and sometimes frustrating) time trying to figure out how to best optimize the tablet for Krita. I’ve gone through quite a lot of videos and forum threads, but I’ve noticed that most tips get outdated quickly – especially now that we’re on version 5.2.13. Some guides also refer to features available only in newer versions (like one video mentioning optimization in 5.3??) or older ones, which makes navigating all this a bit confusing to say the least. (If I had all the information myself, I’d absolutely make a proper updated guide to help my fellow Krita users – but I realize this isn’t the easiest task!)

Anyway, on to the main issue: the S-Pen configuration.

I’ve read tons of advice, but most of it is scattered and refers to different versions of both Krita and Samsung tablets. (Asking AI? Haha.. don’t get me started man!)

As many of you know, there are two types of S-Pens – one with Bluetooth (the Pro model) and one without, which is the standard version and the one I have.

After some research, here’s what I’ve done so far:

• Enabled Air Actions and set Krita as the target app.
• Disabled all other apps and functions not related to Krita.
• My goal is simply to switch between eraser mode and the color picker using the pen button – without tapping icons on the screen. Basically, any working combination would do.

When it comes to S-Pen settings in Krita (v. 5.2.13), there seem to be three relevant places:

1. Settings → Configure Krita → S-Pen actions – but according to the documentation, this only applies to Note 10 and S6 models.
2. Keyboard Shortcuts → S-Pen actions – you can see some commands here, but there isn’t much to actually configure.
3. Display settings → Input/Gestures – here you can add finger gestures and adjust the S-Pen button behavior.

The problem is that the list of available actions is quite limited.
For example, there’s no regular eyedropper function available – only a few specific actions.

From what I’ve gathered:

• If your pen doesn’t have Bluetooth, Air Actions won’t work, so all those swipe or “magic gesture” features are out of the question.
• The S-Pen actions tab in Krita doesn’t seem to apply to the S7+ unless you have the Bluetooth pen.
• You can’t bind the pen button to a shortcut manually.
• And under Display Settings, there are only a few options available.

As it stands right now, I’ve assigned eraser mode to the pen button. For color picking, I currently have to tap the eyedropper icon on the toolbar. It works, but it’s not exactly smooth in practice.

So my question to you all is:
Is there *any* way to assign the Color Picker function to the pen button on a Galaxy Tab S7+ using the non-Bluetooth S-Pen?
Or should I just give up on this one?

For clarity:

• It doesn’t work through shortcuts.
• The “S-Pen actions” tab has nothing relevant for my model.
• I can’t find any dedicated option under Display Properties either.

P.S.
I’m familiar with all available video guides. My workspace is clean and optimized, with a minimalist toolbar and the “Show Dockers” toggle as a quick button in Only Canvas Mode so I can switch easily. I haven’t tested switching between different workspace profiles, but I doubt that would make much difference here.

Best regards – and as a small reward for reading all this, here’s a picture of a seagull in a storm!

[sooz]

I read your comments twice but still don’t understand which S-Pen you have. I’m going to assume your pen doesn’t have actions available.

That’s the pen I have. Non bluetooth, therefore incapable of actions.

I assigned the color sampler to the S-Pen button (this button press is read in Krita as a middle mouse click). Set the color sampler in Alternate Invocation to middle button, Sample Foreground Color.

You can also choose One Finger Drag for Sample Foreground Color.

I use both.

I also have installed 5.2.3 from the nightlies and I’m happy to tell you that we will have long press available for the color sampler. It’s a dream. I have heard that this is such a good upgrade that it will actually be available in 5.2.14 (so we don’t have to wait for 5.3).

[Birath]

@sooz Oh my, sometimes I feel like I’ve completely lost my mind, or flushed it down the drain… but I’ll blame it on being super tired the other day and a bit scatterbrained.

Anyway—it turns out I actually *do* have a Bluetooth pen! Just realized that now, haha. Damn, talk about luck! I bought my S7+ via Refurbed just a few days ago, and it didn’t come with any manual. I also bought the pen separately, and that one didn’t include any instructions either.

I hadn’t quite understood that the pen needs to charge on the back of the tablet (I’m used to the iPad and Apple Pencil, so the weight and lack of a charging port made me assume it didn’t use Bluetooth). Then by accident I happened to place the pen on the back, noticed it clicked into place—and now it’s charging! What a pleasant surprise. It seems I actually have the model that normally comes with the tablet in retail stores, the one with just a single button but built-in Bluetooth.

A huge thanks, my friend, for the tip about the color picker! I hadn’t even thought about that, since I tried the one called *From foreground or merged layers*, but that totally messed things up and I had to restart. It wouldn’t let me switch back to any other tool—it’s happened before on my PC as well. And since none of the other tools were simply called *Color picker* or *Eyedropper*, I just never tried it. Kind of embarrassing, but I’ll blame that one on being tired too.

I’ll check out the Nightly build tonight as well—it’s great to hear about the new update! Really looking forward to it. Have an amazing day, and thanks again for the feedback. Just knowing I’ll be able to assign the color picker to the pen’s middle button changes everything. As for the air actions, I’ll have to do some more research there.

Best,
Carl

[sooz]

You’re quite welcome. I could regale you for hours with stories of my mis-steps in Krita and with my Samsung, so don’t feel bad. I’m super happy for you that you ended up with a pen with actions. You’ll be able to help others on the forum once you are familiar with its abilities.

[CrazyCatBird]

In the following post, I gave a link to a video showing some things that can be done for using the SPen.

How can I change S Pen shortcuts?

Well I turned the action menu off. So right now when the pen is near the surface the tablet as always detects it as a cursor but when I press the button it acts as a pan (I assume it triggers a mouse button or finger gesture). It would be nice if there was a distance check like is the pen actually touching the screen then it should trigger the touch gesture (canvas pen in this case) but if it’s away from the screen then just detect the button press and trigger the action/shortcut related to that…

I have found that if you want to trigger the SPen actions menu only, you should hold your pen a bit further from the screen. Otherwise, have your pen closer to trigger the desired shortcut and dismiss the Actions menu, that’s what I do.

[Selk]

I think sooz has already mentioned it, The configuration you need to assign to the S Pen button must be done in canvas preferences or keyboard shortcuts, not on spen actions. Asign “middle mouse button” to the one you need. Is what krita understand when you press that button.

I have the bluetooth spen and another without (creators edition). Also on the s25 ultra without bluetooth, 3 buttons works the same way. The only difference is the “air gestures” that you can do with the spen with bluetooth. At first I thought it was funny and a good idea, but it fails a lot. In the end, it’s faster to perform actions with finger gestures or by selecting the tool.

I have this video on YouTube to make the Krita interface as comfortable as possible for working with a touchscreen. It’s in Spanish, but you can turn on subtitles. YouTube sent me an email saying my channel will soon have AI-powered automatic dubbing, but it’s still not active.

In this YouTube short, I also include an extra tip for showing and hiding the layers panel.

https://youtube.com/shorts/u4mOGnJ472g?si=BIEXgbdInB5d0Xs7

[CrazyCatBird]

Hmm, auto translate is not working for me.

[Selk]

No, at this time, the only thing you can do is translate the automatically generated subtitles.

[Birath]

@Selk Muchas gracias amigo. Si la traducción no funciona, puedo pedirle a mi artillero y amigo Rodde, de Bolivia, que me la traduzca. Veré tu video en cuanto pueda. ¡Que tengas una buena noche!

[Birath]

Cheers and thanks for the feedback, my friend — really good info! Yeah, I’ve been evaluating and trying out those “ninja actions” earlier today… but yeah, they felt more like snail-combat roundkicks on horse mode (heroin for the rookie), haha!

Anyway, I think @sooz gave me the exact heads-up advice I needed — a way to have the color picker activated by that tricky, hard-to-find middle button. Hehe. The eraser mode is easy to toggle on and off with one of my leftover “finger drags,” without breaking my flow.

I disabled the single-finger drag for zoom and pan, since the dominant two-finger drag already handles both pan and zoom/rotate smoothly when moving the canvas around.

Now, the one-finger drag became my eraser, and the three-finger drag controls resetting rotation.

One thing that still annoys me though is that the selection tools react instantly to finger drags — it starts selecting before I can even use the pen. But hey, who cares, right? As long as the color picker works where I want it!

Cheers again for your feedback — wishing you a great evening!

[Birath]

Haha, I’d love to hear some actually! It’s so easy to refeel and recognise onerselve in all these “What!” moments from time to time — it’s just hilariously lovely.

But another thing, now that you mentioned it… maybe, if I find the time during the holidays, I’ll finally make that small, straightforward guide I was jabbering about earlier. I’ll see what I can do — as long as it helps fellow Krita friends, it’s totally worth the time spent.

Hey @sooz , wishing you a splendid evening! Paint on!!

Best,
Carl

[sooz]

Here’s another tip for that hard-to-find stylus button. I added 3 drops of dark acrylic paint to the button so that I can locate it by feel or visually. Using a toothpick I was able to make raised dots (and not let any get inside the barrel - yikes).

[Birath]

Haha, awsome!! Thats actually another good advice! Gonna do that.. this drives me nuts..

Ive been using that anti slip tape you have on skateboords and on some kitchen floors in bars, it’s like small, smooth asphalt kinda thing feel . works aswell, but tends to drop of after some usage.

[Selk]

I even bought a silicone case for the stylus that leaves the button accessible. And even then, I still keep losing it!

I’ll try the 3-dot trick that @sooz says.

[Birath]

Oh man, i did the simar thing today, had one of those kids-things, used in schools, for better handle n grip.. but obviously i frikkin need a obest-dinosoure to get the “feel” for it, ridiculous, keept losing it and keept more fokus on how to handel the “lump” then on where that little axx-hat was hiding..

naa, i believe Sooz has the thing there with those dots.. Some rather small sensory tingles, to chanalise the position, just to tick the movment of the fingertips, ro adjust to the right position.

.. or, what the heck, just shove it in a muffin, and call it a day. ..

About that. ..

God night!!