TabletFriend is a free, open-source, on-screen toolbar builder designed specifically for Windows touchscreens and tablets like the Microsoft Surface. It acts as a bridge for artists, note-takers, and power users who want to use heavy desktop applications without having a physical keyboard attached. Instead of fumbling through complex app menus with a stylus, you can tap custom on-screen buttons to execute your most frequent shortcuts instantly. Key Capabilities
Simulate Any Input: It can emulate single key presses, complex hotkey combinations, and even continuous “press-and-hold” states (like holding Shift or Alt while drawing).
Automate Commands: Beyond simple keys, it can type out predefined strings of text or trigger command-line scripts (like Batch or PowerShell) to launch external programs.
Dynamic Layout Swapping: You can link different toolbars together, allowing a button on one layout to seamlessly open an entirely different set of tools.
Visual Flexibility: The toolbars can be docked to the top or side of your display, and you can map over 4,000 vector icons to your custom buttons to keep the layout highly intuitive. Layout Customization (How It Works)
TabletFriend does not rely on a complex visual editor; instead, it reads simple, highly human-readable YAML configuration files. Whenever you update and save your YAML file, TabletFriend instantly updates the on-screen toolbar without requiring a restart. Code Example
The syntax is designed to handle positioning automatically based on a grid width. Below is an example configuration for a basic digital art layout:
layout_width: 2 # Sets the toolbar to be 2 grid-cells wide before wrapping buttons: undo_btn: action: ctrl+z text: Undo redo_btn: action: ctrl+y text: Redo spacer_line: # Inserts empty space to separate tools visually spacer: true size: 2,1 brush_btn: action: b text: Brush style: accent # Applies a distinct visual theme color Use code with caution.
Automatic Wrapping: You only need to define the layout_width. The app automatically stacks the buttons from left to right, wrapping them to a new line when the width limit is reached.
Spacers: By using a spacer: true block, you can insert transparent gaps to separate tool groupings into clean visual zones.
Formatting Rule: It is critical to use tabs (not spaces) for indentation within the YAML files, as mixing them will break the app’s configuration parser. Setup and Management
Installation: Download the zip archive from the official TabletFriend GitHub Releases page, extract it, and run the executable. It can be run in portable mode or copied to your application data directory.
Accessing Files: Right-click the TabletFriend icon in your Windows taskbar tray, go to settings, and choose Open files directory to quickly drop in or edit your layout .yaml files and external theme sheets.
Themes: Button styles, sizes, and color schemes are easily managed by linking your main layout file to external theme files.
Martenfur/TabletFriend: Toolbar builder for Windows tablets. – GitHub
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