Get to know Windows

There’s a lot to explore in Windows. Here’s a quick overview.

Start screen: Your favorite things

The Start screen has all the information you care about in one place, such as your contacts, the weather, and the next appointment on your calendar. The tiles on your Start screen are live, meaning they update with content like new photos or the latest news.

There are a few ways you can get to Start:

• Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and then tap Start.
• Point to the upper-right or lower-right corner of the screen, and when the charms appear move the pointer to Start and tap the trackpad.
• Press the Windows button on Surface or the Windows logo key on Touch Cover or Type Cover. 

You can pin your favorite apps, websites, photo albums, and people to Start. For more info about this, see Customize the Start screen and Rearranging tiles on Start.

The charms: Search, Share, Start, Devices, and Settings

No matter where you are in Windows, the charms help you do the things you do most often, like search, share links and photos, connect devices, and change settings. Here’s how to open them:

Touch: Swipe in from the right edge of the screen.

Mouse: Point to the upper-right corner of the screen, then move the mouse pointer down.

Keyboard: Press a charm key on Touch Cover and Type Cover.

For info on what you can do with the charms, see Charms: Search, share, start, devices, and settings.

Connected to the cloud

Surface is cloud-connected. When you sign in with your Microsoft account on Surface, you can connect to the people, files, and settings that you care about.

• People: Your friends’ contact info and status updates from places like Outlook, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. For more info, see People app: Stay in touch.
• Files: You can view and share your photos, docs, and other files from places like SkyDrive, Facebook, and Flickr.
• Settings: Your personal settings can be synced across PCs running Windows 8. For more info, see Sync your settings and favorites.
• Family Safety: With Microsoft Family Safety, you can set up accounts for your children and monitor or restrict their activity. For more info, see Family Safety.

If you didn’t sign in with a Microsoft account when you set up your Surface, you still can.

1. Open the Settings charm, tap or click Change PC settings, and then tap or click Users.

2. If you have a local account, (didn’t sign up with an email account) tap or click Switch to a Microsoft account.

–or–

2. If you have a domain account, (for instance, on your company’s network) tap or click Connect your Microsoft account.

To learn more about accounts, see All about accounts.

Use SkyDrive

You can also store your pictures, documents, music, and videos in the cloud using SkyDrive. This way you can access your files from Surface, other computers, and your phone. For more info, see the SkyDrive FAQ.

Apps and the Windows Store

Surface comes with built-in apps like Mail, Calendar, SkyDrive, Photos, People, and Messaging.

The Windows Store has tons more apps. Browse, search, see staff picks, or view lists of the most popular apps to find exactly what you want.

Tap or click Store on the Start screen to open the Windows Store.

Touch, keyboard, pen, and mouse

Surface lets you mix things up. You can switch between touch, keyboard, pen, and mouse. Use whatever you like, whenever you like. You can type and click, swipe and tap, or use a combination of both. For more info, see Touch: tap, swipe, and beyond and Touch Cover typing.

Note  You can use a capacitive pen (sold separately) with Surface RT. Surface Pro includes a digital pen.

App commands

App commands help you do things like add attachments and make text bold in an email, or pause and skip tracks while listening to music. Commands in apps aren’t new, but they now stay hidden until you need them so you can use the whole screen for what you’re doing.

App commands at the bottom of the screen

App commands can appear at the top and/or bottom of your screen. Swipe up or down from either edge to see the commands. Commands may also appear when you select or right-click an item, like a tile or photo. For more info, see Open app commands.

Work with apps

You can open multiple apps from the Start screen and switch between them using touch, mouse, or the keyboard. For info on how to switch between open apps, see Switch between apps.

By default, apps from the Windows Store open full-screen. You can, however, use two apps at the same time, side-by-side. For info on how to do this, see Use two apps at the same time.

Find help

You can find help topics about Windows in general, or about specific apps. Here's how:

• Open the Search charm, enter Help, and then tap or click Help and Support.
• When you're in an app, you can find out how to use and customize that app. Open the Settings charm, and then tap or click Help. (Some apps might put help in other locations, so check the company's website if you can't find help in the Settings charm.)