I do a lot of work in powerpoint. Sometimes it's useful to draft a quick picture / chart to illustrate a concept. It's awkward at best using a mouse.

Is it possible to connect a USB pad of some type and easily draw things in powerpoint using a digital pen?

I'm looking for something cheap ($100?), not made in PRC (or at least made in PRC for an America / EU / Japanese company). Needs to work with Windows drivers and SW (powerpoint) - IT managed device and drivers / SW are generally not allowed unless approved by IT.

I've poked around Prime and Best Buy and haven't found anything to buy.... Looking for first hand experience and recommendation.

Edit: nevermind, saw the requirement that it must run natively without drivers...

I don't have any first hand experience with any drawing tablets that run natively without drivers. In order to replicate natural drawing and writing, most tablets need drivers to report pen tip pressure (and sometimes pen angle) data. I don't recall ever seeing such functionality built into Windows.

Wacom is one of the leaders in this area. I think you're going to have trouble meeting your cost and driver requirements, though.

Doing a little searching, the Intuos line meets your money requirements and there is some Reddit talk about it "working like a mouse" without drivers. Not clear how that relates to being able to draw versus just using the cursor.

Thanks - will check them out.

IT doesn't like us to install SW / drivers that they don't approve.

It is also not intuitive to use a writing tablet. I suck at it no matter how hard I try.

The problem I have is I am looking at my screen and drawing on something else as opposed to just seeing what I am drawing on a regular ink writing pad.

I can draw on a regular tablet all day long, even an iPad etc. but writing tablets do not work for me.

I was using the Wacom writing tablet.

Good input. Makes sense.

Can I use the writing tablet while sharing a powerpoint presentation over Teams.

I'm still trying to figure out if the writing pad will work with powerpoint.

In normal use, a drawing tablet is basically just a mouse, and doesn't have anything to do with any specific program. The position of the mouse cursor on the screen will follow the position of the stylus on the drawing tablet.

Most styli have one or two buttons, one of which is a mouse right-click button. There is not typically a left-click button, because you "left-click" by touching the stylus to the surface of the tablet (if you just want to move the cursor around WITHOUT clicking, you have to hold the stylus just above the surface of the tablet without touching it).

Given they are mostly used for art, drawing tablets will report some extra information that a mouse doesn't - a mouse button is on/off, but a drawing tablet will typically also report pressure level (so that e.g., a line can get darker or larger as you push harder). Some will also report stylus tilt and a few will report stylus rotation (e.g., to simulate paintbrush dynamics).

Applications that don't do anything with the extra pressure/tilt/rotation information will just ignore it and nothing will happen.

Some tablets have driver packages that are application-aware and will change the behavior of the tablet based on what application is being used, but usually in minor ways and many keyboards and mice can do that, too (even the Logitech driver software will do it, much less the specialized gaming or creative professional brands).

So yes, you can use a drawing tablet in PowerPoint, assuming you can get it working without drivers.

It would be absolute crap for actual art, but an inexpensive touchscreen monitor with a stylus might be a possibility given your very particular use case. Frequently touchscreens do not require special additional drivers, and while you won't get the art-specific features of a drawing tablet, a capacitive stylus will basically work like a more precise fingertip on one.

Thanks! I don't know how any of this stuff works. But I know that these electronic pens exist and it would be great if they were cheap and could do the trick easily.

Drawing quick conceptual graphs or pictures on the computer is really worth a thousand words when you aren't face to face in front of a whiteboard.

I just can't do it easily or quickly with a mouse.

ETA: based on the inputs and help above, sounds like the Intuous Medium, while more expensive than desired, may be the ticket.

Wacom is the standard, to the point that their name is almost as generic as “Kleenex”. The Intuos is a solid product.

Just make sure you buy it from somewhere you can take it back if it won’t work without drivers.

Ok, I just acquired some real life data for you.

I have a Huion H640P tablet. I just plugged it into my work computer to see if it will run on generic drivers.

Work computer is a Thinkpad T495 running Windows 10 Enterprise.

I plugged it in and the generic windows drivers automatically installed. I don't have admin privileges and this computer is enterprise managed.

Opened up PowerPoint, and started drawing on a slide. Works as anticipated, with some level of pressure sensitivity (press harder for thicker lines).

Under system settings (Ctrl Panel > System and Security > System), my computer now indicates that the system has "Pen Support" under Pen and Touch with the tablet plugged in, and "No Pen or Touch Input is available for this Display" when tablet is unplugged.

Hope that helps.

AWESOME!! Thanks for your help! This is great.

I can buy with confidence now.

Thanks much!!