Windows 10: Hide or Show Notification Area Icons on Taskbar in Windows 10

How to: Hide or Show Notification Area Icons on Taskbar in Windows 10

How to Hide or Show Notification Area Icons on Taskbar in Windows 10


The notification area is located at the right end of the taskbar, and it contains app icons that provide status and notifications about things like incoming email, updates, and network connectivity. You can change which icons and notifications appear there.

This tutorial will show you how to select which icons appear on the taskbar notification area for your account, specific users, or all users in Windows 10.

*note If you choose to hide icons, you won't be notified about changes or updates for that app from the icon. To view hidden icons at any time, click the arrow next to the notification are on your taskbar.


CONTENTS:

• Option One: Hide or Show All Notification Icons while in Tablet Mode from Taskbar
• Option Two: Hide or Show All Notification Icons while in Tablet Mode using a BAT file
• Option Three: Hide or Show Icons in the Notification Area from Settings
• Option Four: Turn On or Off "Always show all icons in the notification area" using a BAT file
• Option Five: Enable or Disable "Always show all icons in the notification area" in Local Group Policy Editor
• Option Six: Enable or Disable "Always show all icons in the notification area" for All Users using a REG file

EXAMPLE: Notification Area Icons on Taskbar










OPTION ONE [/i] Hide or Show All Notification Icons while in Tablet Mode from Taskbar
1. While you have tablet mode turned on, right click or press and hold on the taskbar, and click/tap on Show all notification icons to check (show) or uncheck (hide) it for what you want. (see screenshot below)








OPTION TWO [/i] Hide or Show All Notification Icons while in Tablet Mode using a BAT file

*note The .bat files below will modify the DWORD value in the registry key below.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

UseTabletModeNotificationIcons DWORD

0 = On
1 = Off

1. Do step 2 or step 3 below for what you would like to do.


2. To Hide All Notification Icons in Tablet Mode
*note This is the default setting.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Turn_Off_Show_all_notifcation_icons_in_Tablet_Mode.bat

Download

3. To Show All Notification Icons in Tablet Mode
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Turn_On_Show_all_notifcation_icons_in_Tablet_Mode.bat

Download
4. Save the .bat file to your desktop, and unblock the .bat file.

5. Double click/tap on the .bat file to run it.

6. You will now notice your screen flicker as explorer is restarted.




OPTION THREE [/i] Hide or Show Icons in the Notification Area from Settings
1. Open Settings, and click/tap on the Personalization icon.

2. Click/tap on Taskbar on the left side, and click/tap on the Select which icons appear on the taskbar link under the Notification area section on the right. (see screenshots below)



3. Do step 4 (all on) or step 5 (select) below for what you would like to do.


4. To Always show all icons in the notification area
A) Turn on Always show all icons in the notification area at the top, and go to step 6 below. (see screenshot below)




5. To Select which icons appear on the taskbar notification area
A) Turn off Always show all icons in the notification area at the top. (see screenshot below)

B) Turn On (show) or Off (hide) each icon listed for how you want them to appear on the taskbar notification area, and go to step 6 below when finished.




6. When finished, you can close Settings if you like.





OPTION FOUR [/i] Turn On or Off "Always show all icons in the notification area" using a BAT file

*note The .bat files below will modify the DWORD value in the registry key below.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

EnableAutoTray DWORD

0 = On
1 = Off

1. Do step 2 or step 3 below for what you would like to do.


2. To Turn Off Always show all icons and notifications on the taskbar
*note This is the default setting.

When turned off, each notification area icon will hide or show based on what you have set in step 5 of option three above.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Turn_Off_Always_show_all_taskbar_icons_and_notifcations.bat

Download

3. To Turn On Always show all icons and notifications on the taskbar
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Turn_On_Always_show_all_taskbar_icons_and_notifcations.bat

Download
4. Save the .bat file to your desktop, and unblock the .bat file.

5. Double click/tap on the .bat file to run it.

6. You will now notice your screen flicker as explorer is restarted.





OPTION FIVE [/i] Enable or Disable "Always show all icons in the notification area" in Local Group Policy Editor

*Warning You must be signed in as an administrator to do this option.

*note The Local Group Policy Editor is only available in the Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education Option Six.
1. Open the all users except administrators Local Group Policy Editor for how you want this policy applied.

2. In the left pane of the Local Group Policy Editor, click/tap on to expand User Configuration, Administrative Templates, and Start Menu and Taskbar. (See screenshot below)



3. In the right pane of Start Menu and Taskbar, double click/tap on the Turn off notification area cleanup policy to edit it. (see screenshot above)

4. Do step 5 (enable) or step 6 (disable) below for what you would like to do.


5. To Enable "Always show all icons in the notification area"
*note This option will override Option Three and Option Four.
A) Select (dot) Enabled, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)

6. To Disable "Always show all icons in the notification area"
*note This is the default setting. This option allows users to use Option Three and Option Four.
A) Select (dot) either Not Configured or Disabled, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)

*note Not Configured is the default setting.




7. When finished, you can close Local Group Policy Editor if you like.

8. restart the computer to apply.





OPTION SIX [/i] Enable or Disable "Always show all icons in the notification area" for All Users using a REG file

*Warning You must be signed in as an administrator to do this option.

*note The downloadable .reg files below will add and modify the DWORD value in the registry keys below.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

NoAutoTrayNotify DWORD

(delete) = Disable
1 = Enable

1. Do step 2 (enable) or step 3 (disable) below for what you would like to do.


2. To Enable "Always show all icons in the notification area" for All Users
*note This option will override Option Three and Option Four.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Enable_Always_show_all_notification_area_icons_for_all_users.reg

Download

3. To Disable "Always show all icons in the notification area" for All Users
*note This is the default setting. This option allows users to use Option Three and Option Four.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Disable_Always_show_all_notification_area_icons_for_all_users.reg

Download
4. Save the .reg file to your desktop.

5. Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

6. When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

7. restart the computer to apply.

8. You could now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.

That's it,
Shawn


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:)

 

Notificaton area icons

Hi,

How to Hide or Show Notification Area Icons on Taskbar in Windows 10

Notification Area Icons - Reset

 

How do I know if mt W10 Desktop PC is protected?

Type Windows Defender in the Cortana search. Right click on the result and Pin to Start or Taskbar. Open it up and you'll find out.

If you don't have the icon in the notification area, add it.

Windows Defender Notification Area Icon - Hide or Show in Windows 10

Hide or Show Windows Defender Notification Area Icon in Windows 10

 

The tray link, (Option One/Step 2), seems to be depreciated in Build 10130, go to Settings via the other Steps or directly:

 

Hi Edwin, thanks for responding. Its the little upturned arrow beside the icons that iI normally disable so all the systray icons showing on the taskbar rather than a select few.

 

Turn this on:

 

Tutorial updated. *Smile

 

Thanks for the great tutorial. I'm bummed that I can no longer just customize directly from the hidden icons box, but am glad I found this so I could make some changes.

I'd love it if TenForums added a "This helped me" voting tool.

-Chris

 

You're most welcome Chris, and welcome to Ten Forums. *Smile

Just posting is a great way for a "This helped me".

 

Hello all.

I've been using this method to cherry-pick which icons I want to always show in the system tray. Unfortunately, these settings don't stick and I quite often have to go back and reconfigure which icons I want shown.

I have not tried to select showing all icons, as I do not want that...

I haven't really tried much other than rebooting - not sure why these settings wouldn't stick in the first place.

 

Hello arrrghhh, and welcome to Ten Forums. *Smile

Some programs may have their own setting for their notification area icon that may override this setting.

In addition, I've had some people report that Windows Update may sometimes reset some settings back to default.

 

Well I've had this issue with the "Safely Eject" tray icon for Windows Explorer, so I don't think it's a program specific setting.

As for the Windows Update portion, I haven't had an update in a few days - in fact, checking the Windows Update history it's been more than a week. These settings break for me everytime I shut down the machine if I'm not mistaken (I will try to monitor it closer).

I'm thinking I should have waited for SP1 on Win10... I've had my start menu mysteriously produce a 'critical error' 2x now which was so crippling I had to reset the OS and reinstall all my third party software.

 

You might also see if they may stick after resetting the notification area icons.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5...dows-10-a.html

 

Thanks, I will try that.

 

Hi All,
My biggest complaint with the notification area icon's is the fact that even after you have un-installed some software that you were previously using, there's still a listing of that software shown in the settings/system/notifications & actions area. It sure would be nice if those entries would 'automatically' be deleted when the software is un-installed.
David *Wink