Windows 10 Technical Preview 2 Tip: Enable Tablet Mode

Windows 10 Technical Preview 2 is the first pre-release version of Microsoft’s next OS to enable a feature called Continuum, which provides a sort-of seamless way to transition between the traditional windowed desktop view and a full-screen tablet mode. But Continuum only works with Surface Pro 3 in this build. So here’s how you can enable tablet mode on any PC or tablet running WTP2.

The trick is to use a Quick Action in the new Action Center, the notification center in Windows 10. Based on a similar feature in Windows Phone, Quick Actions are small tiles that sit in Action Center, providing you with quick access to commonly-needed features.

You enable Action Center by clicking the Action Center icon in the tray notification area. Or, on a touch-based system, you can swipe in from the right edge of the screen. (In Windows 8.x, this gesture displays Charms.)

In Windows Phone, Quick Action tiles can be found at the top of Action Center. But in Windows 10, they’re at the bottom.

Tablet Mode is one of the four default Quick Actions. So to enter—or exit—tablet mode, just select that Quick Action tile in Action Center. The effect is a bit subtle. But it will cause the Start menu and all Modern apps to run full screen.

Here’s the desktop before enabling tablet mode.

And here it is after enabling tablet mode.

Note: You can also and more laboriously toggle tablet mode from the Settings app: Navigate to System and then Tablet Mode.

Microsoft tells me that other detachable PCs will get Continuum in the future but that this feature requires PC makers to explicitly support it.