Windows 10: Microsoft may restore these popular Taskbar features in Windows 11

When Microsoft launched Windows 11, at least some users who upgraded to the new operating system were disappointed by the taskbar of the operating system.

The problem was not that Microsoft changed the default alignment to center from left, but that taskbar features of previous versions of Windows were not supported anymore.

Among the complaints were that the taskbar could not be moved to the top or sides anymore, that other customization options were missing, and that Microsoft removed support for taskbar labels and icon behavior.

Taskbar item labels display the name of applications on the taskbar. Windows 11 displays only icons at the moment and users may need to hover over icons to find out more about the program they represent.

Item grouping is also the default right now on Windows 11. When a Windows 11 user opens multiple instances of a program, e.g., several browser windows, then all of the open windows are grouped together under a single icon on the taskbar.

Previous versions of Windows supported ungrouping taskbar icons, so that each program instance was displayed separately on it, and the option to display taskbar labels for all of the open programs.

At least these two missing features could be reintroduced in Windows 11 soon. The latest Windows 11 Developer builds include these two options. While Microsoft has been working on these for some time, the latest version seems to be almost ready for launch in stable versions of the Windows 11 operating system.



The news comes from Albacore on Twitter, who analyzed the behavior and took it for a test drive. They published a short video on Twitter to demonstrate the functionality.

The screenshot above shows taskbar labels on Windows 11's taskbar. Taskbar labels remain, even when making changes to the taskbar settings. Center or left aligned items work already and it seems that little work is left before the feature could launch in Windows 11.

Closing Words

Microsoft removed customization options in Windows 11 and the restoration of some of these features is a welcome change. While most Windows 11 users may stick with the defaults, some may prefer labels or ungrouped icons on their taskbar, and it looks as if they can customize Windows 11 soon to make that a reality.

Now You: do you prefer taskbar labels or icons, groups or ungrouped?

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Windows 11 Taskbar feature loss

In addition to unlocking (as discussed here), there are two more Taskbar features that seem to have disappeared in Windows 11. Am I looking in all the wrong places, or is the reduction in Taskbar features really this bad?

1. If the Taskbar has space, show separate buttons for each application window (in Windows 11, it seems that the only option is a button per application, meaning I have to either Alt-Tab or hover over the button to find the window I need. Alt-Tab is cumbersome with many windows open; hovering takes too much time. And clicking an application button merely toggles the last-used application window up or minimized, as if the other windows don't exist.
   
2. On the 2nd (and subsequent) monitors, show only the taskbar buttons of windows that are actually displayed on that monitor. In Windows 11, all taskbars show all buttons, even if an applications has no windows on the 2nd screen.
   

Maybe these should be feature requests? Though it feels wrong somehow to submit a feature request for features that Microsoft seems to have removed with evil intent.

In any case. productivity is significantly reduced for me with the loss of these two features!

 

Windows 11 Taskbar: Settings to Mimic Windows 10?

Feature request for Windows 11 Taskbar and Start to mimic Windows 10.

A simple toggle in settings to switch from Windows 11 Taskbar and Start to Windows 10.

• Make customization options options available after selecting Windows 10 "Classic" Taskbar and Start:
  
  • Never Combine Buttons
    
  • Use small taskbar buttons
    
  • Position Taskbar: Left, Right, Top, Bottom
    
  • Drag to resize Taskbar
    
  • Pin
    
  • The full Taskbar slide out menu
    
  • 2-column Start menu
    
  • and so on...
    

Third party software and registry tweaks can restore all of the Windows 10 Taskbar and Start features. It seems that Microsoft, as the "parent" of Windows, should be able to provide the same capability.

 

Can't move taskbar on windows 11

Hi Mads,

I am Sumit here to assist you with this question.

Moving the Taskbar is not supported, yet.

List of Changed or removed features/functionalities in Windows 11

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/for...

Move the Taskbar: Moving the Taskbar to any part of the screen and resizing it is not supported yet.

Microsoft is tracking collection of this in the Feedback, I suggest you to vote for the same in the Hub.

Something like ExplorerPatcher may help in the meantime.

Improve Windows 11 Taskbar functionality using these tools

https://www.yourwindowsguide.com/2021/09/restor...

ExplorerPatcher

ExplorerPatcher is a 3rd party tool that aims to bring the older Windows 10 styled functionality in the Windows 11 Taskbar by adding DLL files in 3 specific directories of WIndows. Because the older code is still present in Windows 11, the Windows 10 styled taskbar is enabled by putting the DLL file. Some of the functionalities the developer claims is restored are below:

Restores Windows 10 styled taskbar menu.

Restore Windows+X context menu.

Show app list by default in Start menu.

Ability for start menu and search to align left and many more

How to use ExplorerPatcher

Download the Software from this GitHub Repository:

https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/rele...

Hope that helps.

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