Transmitter axis projection for capacitive sensing is disclosed. Transmitter axis projection includes having processing system. The processing system includes sensor circuitry configured to be coupled to transmitter electrodes and receiver electrodes. The sensor circuitry is configured to drive the transmitter electrodes with first transmitter signals and receive first resulting signals from the receiver electrodes, and drive only a first subset of the receiver electrodes with second transmitter signals and receive second resulting signals with the transmitter electrodes. The processing system further includes processing circuitry connected to the sensor circuitry and configured to partition the receiver electrodes into the first subset of receiver electrodes and a second subset of receiver electrodes, and generate a transmitter axis projection from the second resulting signals.