Windows 10: Turn On or Off Auto-hide Taskbar in Desktop Mode in Windows 10

How to: Turn On or Off Auto-hide Taskbar in Desktop Mode in Windows 10

How to Turn On or Off Auto-hide the Taskbar in Desktop Mode in Windows 10


Information By default, the taskbar is located at the bottom of your screen(s) in Windows. You can set to auto-hide the taskbar to create more space. If you don't see the taskbar anywhere on the screen, it might be hidden.

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off to auto-hide the taskbar in desktop mode for your account in Windows 10.



Note To Show Taskbar when Hidden:

• Hover pointer on border of taskbar location.
• Press the Win+T keys.
• On a touchscreen, swipe inwards from the border where the taskbar is located. Swiping inward from the left border will still open action center instead.
• Starting with only auto-hide the taskbar in tablet mode.

CONTENTS:

• Option One: To Turn On or Off Auto-hide Taskbar in Desktop Mode in Settings
• Option Two: To Turn On or Off Auto-hide Taskbar in Desktop Mode in Registry Editor

EXAMPLE: Taskbar









OPTION ONE [/i] To Turn On or Off Auto-hide Taskbar in Desktop Mode in Settings
1. Open Settings, and click/tap on the Personalization icon.


Note You can also right click or press and hold on the taskbar, and click/tap on Taskbar settings.






2. Click/tap on Taskbar on the left side, and turn On or Off (default) Automatically hide the taskbar in desktop mode on the right side. (see screenshot below)

3. You can now close Settings if you like.









OPTION TWO [/i] To Turn On or Off Auto-hide Taskbar in Desktop Mode in Registry Editor
1. Press the Win+R keys to open the Run dialog, type regedit, and click/tap on OK to open Registry Editor.

2. If prompted by UAC, click/tap on Yes.

3. In Registry Editor, browse to the location below. (see screenshot below)
*Arrow HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StuckRects3




4. In the right pane of the StruckRects3 key, double click/tap on the Settings binary value to modify it. (see screenshot above)

5. Do step 6 (off) or step 7 (on) below for what you would like to do..


6. To Turn Off Auto-hide the Taskbar
NOTE: This is the default setting.
A) Change the value highlighted in yellow below to 02, click/tap on OK, and go to step 8 below. (see screenshot below)




7. To Turn On Auto-hide the Taskbar
A) Change the value highlighted in yellow below to 03, click/tap on OK, and go to step 8 below. (see screenshot below)




8. Close Registry Editor.

9. Either sign out and sign in to apply.



That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Turn On or Off Auto-hide the Taskbar in Tablet Mode in Windows 10
• How to Hide or Show Taskbar on Multiple Displays in Windows 10
• How to Use Large or Small Taskbar Buttons in Windows 10
• How to Always, Sometimes, or Never Combine Taskbar Buttons in Windows 10
• How to Change Taskbar Location on Screen in Windows 10
• How to Change Height or Width Size of Taskbar in Windows 10
• How to Show Taskbar in Full Screen mode in Windows 10

:)

 

I have windows 10 and have lost my task bar. How do I get it back?

Hi,

Make sure the task bar auto-hide option is turned off

Turn On or Off Auto-hide Taskbar in Desktop Mode in Windows 10

Hope this helps.

 

lost my bottom taskbar and icons

Please see if Taskbar isn't set to Auto-hide:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/23817-turn-...

If you have a multiple Monitor display, then please see this:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/3899-hide-s...

 

Hello Oliver, *Smile

If you like, you could create a couple of .bat files or .reg file to make it easy to toggle this on/off, and restart explorer afterward to apply.

 

do you mean "me"?
I'm afraid I don't know how to create that

 

You could use TranslucentTB to make taskbar transparent, which is sort of a trade off of both options.

 

Thanks
I applied it, but that's not what I'm looking for
I'm looking for a way to easily hide/unhide the taskbar but expanding the visible screen (not keeping the taskbar space "empty" when it is hidden -for my purpose that would be useless-)

by the way how can I reverse what that program did? it did change the color of my taskbar and I don't want that

 

Hi there. I think the best you'll do without hack or 3rd party is auto hide the Taskbar and use WinKey/T to see it and then Alt/Tab to hide it again.

Escape used to work in previous OSs, but changed in 10. Esc will rid the thumbnails seen here, though.

 

Using Option One from the taskbar to Settings would probably be the easiest way to toggle this on/off though.

 

I don't care to use a 3rd party program as long as it does what I'm looking for which is to be able to have always the taskbar visible and when I need to get more space at the screen to press a hotkey so that I can also take advantage of the space now used by the taskbar and then be able to press again to come back at the normal way

I guess I'm not the first one interested in that.

The programs I found (or autohotkey scripts) where keeping blank the space and won't help me since my desire is to hide the taskbar only if I can make use of that area to further visibility

thanks

 

@Brink

quite awkward to use when working with graphics and interested in expanding visibility quite frequently

is there an automate way to fulfill "option one"?

 

@OliverPedro,

If you like, export your StuckRects3 key as a .reg file, and upload it here. I'll be happy to create some .bat files for you that you can use to toggle this on/off.

I didn't include this in the tutorial since the Settings value in the StuckRects3 key includes more settings than just this one.

 

@OliverPedro,

If you like, here are some .bat files with my default settings that you can use to toggle on/off auto-hide taskbar in desktop mode.

Turn_ON_auto-hide_taskbar.bat

Turn_OFF_auto-hide_taskbar.bat

 

great!

BTW is there a way to avoid the message that Windows Defender SmartScreen prevents this app?

Second question: since this is affecting the Reg, could I have problems if I use it frequently? (cautious question)

 

Unblocking the .bat files will stop the smartscreen messages.

Unblock File in Windows 10 Windows 10 Security System Tutorials

Changing the registry entries with the .bat files will not cause any issues since it's no different than changing this in Settings since this is the same thing changed by Settings.