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Microsoft is rolling out a significant update for laptop power users, introducing a suite of advanced touchpad features aimed at making navigation faster and more intuitive. Announced on May 8, 2026, the latest Windows 11 Insider Preview builds bring new gesture-related functionality to the Experimental channel, signaling a major boost for productivity on the go.
Table of Contents
Precision Touchpad Improvements
The standout addition this week is a collection of four new touchpad options found in the Settings menu. These features are designed to reduce the physical strain of navigating long documents and web pages:
- Automatic Scrolling: This allows scrolling to continue indefinitely without the user having to lift their fingers. You can activate this by moving your fingers toward the edge of the touchpad or, on supported hardware, by pressing down harder while holding your fingers still.
- Accelerated Scrolling: For those working with massive files, repeatedly scrolling will now increase the travel speed, allowing for a much quicker traversal of long documents.
- Single-Finger Scrolling: A handy new edge-scroll feature that lets you perform a vertical scroll using just one finger along the left or right side of the touchpad.
- Scroll/Zoom Speed Control: Users can now finally set a custom baseline speed for these specific gestures to suit their personal preference.
While these features are becoming widely available, Microsoft noted that apps built on WinUI3 may require updated versions of the WinAppSDK to be fully compatible.
Free Windows 11 Pro Education Upgrades
Beyond navigation, Microsoft is also simplifying things for the classroom. Windows Insiders in K-12 education environments now have access to a seamless, free upgrade path from Windows 11 Home to Windows 11 Pro Education. This change is designed to make it easier for schools to buy affordable consumer devices and quickly bring them under official school management.
You may also like to read: Windows 11 Now Includes a Console Style Xbox Mode
WIP Rollout and New Builds
These updates arrive as Microsoft continues to transition to a new Windows Insider Program (WIP) experience. While the company is expanding the rollout, users in the Canary 29500 Series and Beta channels haven’t been moved to the new experience just yet, though that change is expected in the coming weeks.
If you are currently in the Beta Channel and want to ensure you keep all your existing features during this transition, Microsoft recommends moving to the Dev Channel before the new Beta experience officially takes over.
Current Build Numbers:
- Beta Channel: Build 26220.8370
- Experimental (Former Dev): Build 26300.8376
- Experimental (26H1): Build 28020.2075
- Experimental (Future Platforms): Build 29585.1000
