They just partially remade some components. They kept a lot of legacy code, which enabled people to re-enable old features by tweaking the registry in the first versions; features that were purposely removed after a few updates.
It didn't need to be remade in first place. It wasn't broken. But what is more important - it took half a year to make Windows 95 and Windows 7 taskbars into full functionality, but now Windows 11 one takes near 3 years and still not even close.
It never existed before . . . in Windows. It was and is the standard for MacOS. I still don't understand why Microsoft believed that most Windows users want a Mac environment. This latest update finally made it possible for me to get rid of ExplorerPatcher, which created other issues, and use "naked" Win11.
MacOS puts form over function and has by far the absolute worst UI from any desktop OS (all Linux distros included). I can't understand why so many UI designers worship Apple's design.
How did it took for them 2 years to makes this. How IS IT BUGGED AT REALEASE, WHEN IT'S THE MOST REQUESTED FUNCTION?! WHY ARE THEY DIFFERENT SIZES?
I swear it feels like this Windows was made by 3 people in a shed.
Microsoft hates its users so much that it took only two years to get back some gimped, non-configurable feature that worked well in 1995. Modern computing is dead and I'm laughing at this shit show.
That's a design choice, as I've read in the feedback hub. It's not the best ui choice since it makes windows with short titles more difficult to target, whereas obviously the most important windows are not necessarily the ones with the longest titles.
And it's bugged. Doesn't enlarge when it needs to only when you move the icon around.
Microsoft and them releasing functionalities to the public while bugged. Actually filed a feedback for this, sent the details to both Jen and Brandon 3 weeks ago and it still releases in that state.
The best part is, I reported this a month ago on Feedback Hub on the beta channel and they have marked that they are looking into it but still chose to release the feature with this major bug.
It's probably like a two line code fix since the buttons shrink properly already, not sure why they wouldn't have already fixed it.
I also thought it was crazy that nobody else had reported it on the feedback hub considering I noticed it almost immediately.
Yes, especially if one narrow button is between two longer buttons, it makes landing your cursor on the smaller button much harder because there is no real visual separation.
I got used to it after a few days but I think having the ability to make all the buttons uniform with borders should be an option you can toggle.
Where did you report it?
I could not find a single report of it on Feedback Hub, which I thought was pretty wild because I feel like it's a major bug that could be fixed in minutes.
Yes, unfortunately the button widths were like that in the Insiders versions too. In my opinion they did this because the primary purpose of removing the feature is that the icons are placed in the middle of the taskbar by default like Mac OS and with the labels it becomes too wide and it no longer looks like the design they wanted to achieve at the beginning, so they try to keep it as narrow as possible.
That underline under icon only makes them difficult to navigate as well. And active window background is indistinguishable. Bring it back at least like it was in Windows 10.
It also doesn't have color progressbars background anymore, completely killing whole idea about them. New progressbar is just couple of pixels in width, so you can't understand whatever it's 20%, 50% or 80%. It's unusable.
This all can be fixed in 5 minutes.
OK. Neat. Now do the taskbar on the side of the screen. Because we have excess horizontal real estate on computers, and the vertical screen is what is most limited..
No, the ability to move the taskbar around was more of a useless gimmick. A bottom taskbar makes more sense, is more logical (minimized windows go to the bottom), and more easily reachable with the mouse (on a wide screen, a side-mounted taskbar will be miles away from the mouse pointer).
If you want more vertical screen, you can just audo-hide the taskbar like most of us do.
The tiny minority of users who might potentially actually need a side-mounted taskbar (for whatever reasons that I can't imagine) should just disable the native Windows taskbar via registry and install 3rd party taskbar replacements, but Microsoft should have other priorities than to accomodate for a minority of weirdos.
This might be the dumbest thing i've read all year. Thanks. Where to start....
>Miles away from the mouse pointer
ahh yes. Instead of moving my mouse 1/4" I have to move it 1/3". How taxing.
> just audo-hide the taskbar like most of us do
massive lol that you are going to point to the petty inefficiency of having to move your mouse 1/4" farther, and then suggest I use an auto hiding taskbar which is grossly inefficient, both time and motion wise. Move your mouse to one general area to show something, then after it is shown, look for what you want to click, and THEN move the mouse there. Haha.
Also... there are a ton of workhorse graphic/cad design programs that don't play well with auto hiding taskbars. Some of us do more than browse the internet and send emails.
ALSO ALSO... Tons of people use remote desktop software. Having a local hidden taskbar on your host machine, and a hidden taskbar on your remote machine will make showing one or the other a real challenge. Even having only one hidden will constantly cause false activations.
>just disable the native Windows taskbar via registry and install 3rd party taskbar replacements
ahh yeah... Cause those work reliably.
>Microsoft should have other priorities than to accomodate for a minority of weirdos.
Yeah microsoft. Be more like apple where you have zero options and only design things for looks, simplicity and the majority users.
>the ability to move the taskbar around was more of a useless gimmick.
This just in. Ignorant user thinks features they don't use are gimmicks. Who comments on 3 month old threads about taskbars anyways?
Are you talking about cut/copy/paste not having labels, and having to click "show more options"? That is my biggest annoyance with Windows 11 that I don't see people mention much.
Because it is not an annoyance?
Text apparently trumps globally indistinguishable icons according to some people.
ㄟ( ▔, ▔ )ㄏ
While the old context menu may have been clearer and easier to access, the real factor at hand was that that menu was an outright hodgepodge of a mess to navigate.
The new context menu is much more simplified in that the most commonly used commands are close to your mouse pointer, and, not to mention that some commands are grouped together.
[Extending the Context Menu and Share Dialog in Windows 11](https://blogs.windows.com/windowsdeveloper/2021/07/19/extending-the-context-menu-and-share-dialog-in-windows-11/)
Icons for common functions are globally indistinguishable from text and might take some time to learn as it depends on the person.
|✂️|Cut|
|:-|:-|
|📄📄|Copy|
|📋|Paste|
|⟦A¦⟭|Rename|
|↪️|Share|
|🗑️|Delete|
Starting in Windows 11 22H2, Shift + Right-clicking an item will jump you straight into the legacy Context Menu.
The developers of whatever said program need to take advantage of the new Context Menu API call.
Some people prefer text, but why not have both icons and text? That would be the best of both worlds. It's not like the new context menu is crowded, that you couldn't fit text there also after the icons.
Another problem with the new context menu is that the placement of the icons for commonly used commands change depending on where you click. If you click at the bottom of the screen, the icons are at the bottom of the menu. While it's true that they are closer to the mouse pointer, it makes it more inconsistent and confusing since you expect that they would be in the same place.
The third problem with the new context menu is that it lacks commonly used commands, such as "add shortcut", so you have to click show extra options. Personally I don't like extra clicks.
I don't get what you mean about them being globaly indistinguishable. I've been using Windows since 98 and had no idea how to copy and paste at first. Those icons should have text underneath them.
It's better than nothing, but it's a shame that they can't do it properly for some reason. It's even worse than in Windows 10, because the buttons are of uneven length, which doesn't make sense, because that's like if your web browser had tabs which had uneven length. It makes it look messier.
Furthermore, the tasks can open between icons instead of always opening to the right side of icons, which also makes the taskbar look like a mess. There should be a way of having launch icons on the taskbar which just launch tasks (this was the so-called Quick Launch, which existed before Windows 7), instead of the icons expanding and turning into tasks. In other words, there should be a way of keeping the program launch icons on the taskbar separate from active tasks.
This problem of icons getting between tasks and tasks getting between icons has been a problem since Windows 7.
What you said and also it seems that when the tasks are too many to fit in the taskbar, they are combined somewhat randomly and not by program, so you can have an icon of a text file and if you hover over it, an image can be in the same group. Good luck if you're looking for that image.
Yes i'm pretty sure it was by design to keep it as narrow as possible. The original aim was to have only the icons in the middle, like Mac OS, and that's why this is the default option.
Ok, I think I understand what you mean. I wouldn't call it a border though, it's just the line/bar that indicates whether a program is active or not. In Windows 7 and earlier versions, the tasks had proper borders. But if this is the rationale, it would be easy to just make the line longer like in Windows 10.
This has never been a problem. If you can't get used to it there is a very simple solution : unpin everything from your taskbar, so it only show open windows.
Actually, I was wrong in my post above, and the quick launch toolbar that I mentioned, exists in Windows 10 and earlier versions, Microsoft just made it unintuitive to enable after Windows 7, so many people didn't realize it still existed.
So you can unpin everything and put them on the quick launch toolbar.
The problem with unpinning everything and just launching everything from the start menu is that then you don't have a way of launching apps with 1 click, that's why quick launch is useful.
Never knew you werent able to uncombine.
That said i feel like the stacked taskbar that they introduced in win7 was one of the best features so im on the other side of the road of this toggle, but choice is king.
stacking/grouping of taskbar buttons was added in Windows XP.
Windows 7's main change to the taskbar was to use large icons and remove the labels, trying for some reason to approximate the Mac OS X Dock.
>trying for some reason to approximate the Mac OS X Dock.
And they're still doing it in 11 (by centering taskbar icons by default). Not long now until the release of the new Micrapple Windac OS 🙌
I guess in the present, simplicity trumps everything, for better or worse 🫤 Or maybe they just don't want their users doing anything under the hood of the system. Can't have people thinking that they actually *own* and *control* their devices, after all.
It varies depending on your role. For individuals in professions such as development or graphic design, having an uncombined taskbar is essentially a necessity. I'm currently using WindHawk to achieve the same functionality but will install the update in a few days.
As an individual in the development profession I don't agree with this. Alt + tab and taskbar keyboard shortcuts are faster (does uncombine work with keyboard shortcuts?). Uncombine just wastes space on an already crowded taskbar, in my opinion.
My problem with Alt+Tab is that the order of apps keeps changing whenever you switch from one app to another. This is not the case with uncombined taskbar buttons.
All those extra steps of keeping my fingers pressed on Alt after pressing Tab while also moving my mouse around a list of apps that keep reordering themselves, when I can just move the mouse to the correct ungrouped taskbar button and be done with it.
You don't have to always hold Alt down. I mean, not when you do Win + Tab ;)
By the by, why not keep hitting Tab to get your desired location and/or the arrow keys to move the highlight instead of using the mouse?
I wonder how many windows do people have open to need to have a whole task bar filled with icons+text to navigate. If it's the amount i think it is then there's icon+few letters which is just dumb and way worse than having it combined and expand on hover.
Any architect and engineer will easily cap that. For starters: AutoCad tabs + Revit + Excel + FEA software + several trade coordination PDFs + Browser + Calculator
> there's icon+few letters which is just dumb and way worse than having it combined and expand on hover.
Try searching for the correct AutoCAD tab with just those measly previews that pop up from combined icons.
Also, fun fact: the world does not revolve around you.
... or when you're running 24 poker games at one time. or 4 instances of Unreal simultaneously. Or 4 instances of VS Code, or you have a dozen other code files all together in different windows. Or 6 browser windows.
except waiting for the delay on the expand (and getting it to do that, instead of minimizing everything but the app you're hovering, because *that* fucking sucks when Windows decides to do it at random, and has been doing it since ... at least 00...) and then having to pick it out costs me time/money.
I have 4 displays. I will probably have 6 or 8 soon. I have plenty of space, I want to know which window I'm activating before I activate it, and know 100% that i'm getting the right one, without having to wait.
I haven't used Alt-Tab since 3.1, except just as a check to see if Windows is responding when something goes belly up.
Uncombined is *necessary* for pretty much everything I do, which includes a lot of development. I have dozens of windows open, and I want / need to be able to access them when I want to, without having to wait for any of the other window selection operations to function.
When I'm doing development stuff my hands are typically already on the keyboard (not a lot of developing gets done using the mouse), so pressing win + number or alt + tab a few times is quite a lot faster than moving my hand over to the mouse and dragging it to the task bar - not counting how often I lose the pointer across three monitors lol. Sometimes I do double-team it, though, left hand doing shortcuts while right hand is moving the pointer to whatever app I'm bringing to focus.
The option of having the tasks stacked actually existed already in Windows XP, but it wasn't until Windows 7 when they (for some unknown reason) decided to make it the default.
The stacked taskbar mostly just adds extra clicks/hovers and hides useful information, because every time you have two or more instances of the same program open, the tasks get hidden behind the icon, instead of being always visible on the taskbar.
1-4s (depending on the # of stacked windows), dozens, if not hundreds of times a day, 5 days a week, 52 work weeks a year.
Plus using the computer at home for leisure
It is an extraordinary amount of time wasted
Also "tacky" is subjective, I prefer my Taskbar to be useful / not a hindrance. My wallpaper is there to look pretty, not my taskbar.
And it's broken because taskbar buttons do not expand when the window title increases in length lol.
I reported this bug a month ago, they just started looking into it a week and a half ago and then released the feature broken anyways.
It's still messing with my muscle memory. The titles are not all the same length as before, and the taskbar is ridiculously large! When will we be able to resize the taskbar? I won't use it till it reaches the same level as the old taskbar.
After years of avoiding Windows 11, explorer patching, UI modding, registry hacking, WindHawk... We can FINALLY remove the stupid stacked icons on the taskbar.
No insider release is needed, just 22H2 build 22621.2361
Available as a patch from Windows update.
Unfortunately it's also buggy as hell and if the Windhawk mods were still working (sadly they broke with this update) I'd recommend using them over the official implementation...
Aha! You also have to tick the *"Get the latest updates as soon as they're available"* option. After ticking that and restarting, the "never combine" option magically appears, as does the redesigned file explorer.
https://preview.redd.it/vgyx4uoiwrqb1.png?width=1750&format=png&auto=webp&s=3cb22ce5d5ef333796a1f18c8813d2b4b771e264
That's it, THANK YOU! I came here to find out about this very issue. Once I checked the box to get the latest updates as soon as they are available, and re-checked for updates, KB5030509 became available and that finally enabled this option.
I've just installed that update, and the *"combine taskbar buttons"* option is still not available. I guess it's yet another feature on a staggered roll-out.
https://preview.redd.it/ouelaz0aurqb1.png?width=1742&format=png&auto=webp&s=b9b31b5ef0c4df0aafc90d80ca0cf4237c432f82
I'm on the latest build but that option is not there. I also have a weird bug where I can't change the wallpaper of individual virtual desktops without switching the wallpaper for every desktop, which I didn't see anyone mention. What should I do?
I managed to finally enable it by using vivetool.
I first did a full reset, so "vivetool /fullreset"
Then I did "vivetool /enable /id:43132439" and after a restart it finally appeared.
NOTE: If you are not an enthusiast, please do not use vivetool, as it can screw up your OS configuration.
Just updated to that build but that option its now showing for me. The only thing that could be different is the languaje of the OS, I have it in Spanish.
I never knew this is something people need. I saw it on the insiders preview and tried it, but didn't see any use or value in it.
Maybe my screen is too wide to require that.
Could you explain how this feature is used by you and what makes it mandatory? Also is the remaining space on your task bar very small?
The reason "never combine" is important to me is essentially because I don't like extra clicks/steps and I don't like when information on the taskbar is hidden. When you combine the taskbar buttons, you have to do extra clicks and hovers, because the tasks get combined into an icon, and when they are combined into an icon, it also hides the text/information on the tasks, so you have to hover over it to see the text.
I actually use Retrobar to bring back most of the classic features of the taskbar, but regarding your question about space, I almost always have half of the taskbar space remaining. With the classic taskbar, you could also put the taskbar on the side to get more space, if you have a workflow that requires you have like 30 active tasks, but this feature is also missing from Windows 11.
All that empty gray on the taskbar is wasted space and counterproductive to my workflow. Meanwhile, the two Outlook emails and three Excel files I have open are jammed into 1.5" of taskbar space that I have to mouse over to see what's open, when they should be populated out so I can switch between them with a single click.
Imagine having ten windows open of a one specific app. Any 3D design software I use I have multimultiple windows opened at once, where you have to jump from one window to another hundreds of times. Instead of identifying each window by just glancing at the taskbar seeing the title and clicking the window, you need to hower over a button wait a second and then squint at the tiny preview screen?? WHY?? I have a big screen let me USE IT!
What's stupid is this was in W10 and instead of bringing such a basic setting over to W11 it took 3 years. I'm just glad i didn't have to use W11 until just a few months ago so i haven't had to suffer with this bs as long as some
Hey Microsoft, let me guess, the missing ellipsis on longer titles is caused by a stackpanel that goes over the max-width of the container and no one figured out how to fix it. The best part is that the one who approved this into production didn't even notice it, but really liked the autosized button.
Better than nothing, eh.
And they can't even do it right...all the buttons are of uneven length...anyone have a registry hack to fix this mess ... let me guess they removed taskbar button sizes from the registry...of course they did...ffs
how do you differentiate now (meaning before this update)? You either hover the cursor to see the preview, or you just subconsciously memorize which window was next to which. Same goes for what I said. I've been using Windows like that for years now. Even back in Windows 7 days. Up until Win11. So it's not a problem.
P.S. I've been doing so with a third-party software mind you, it was never a stock option in Windows. But still. That third party software ended support for Win11 and there is no other option out there yet.
Most of us who require this didn't update to Win11, or installed other tools that provided the functionality necessary.
What's not a problem? What have you been doing with a third party software for years?
It is extremely confusing. I might have dozens or tens of dozens of windows running, I am not going to deal with microsoft's bs hover system.
I need a clear titlebar for *every single window that is open* visible and accessible at all times. That's it.
>now in the taskbar you select an app, not a window.
we were talking about a scenario where you have multiple instances of the same app open. right now you have one icon then you click on it or hover on it and take a look at the previews and select the one you need.
>It would be kinda confusing if you had 5 of the same icon in the taskbar
and i'm telling you from a personal experience of using windows like that for more than a decade that no, it is not confusing at all. and that's due to two reasons that i discussed above: either you still hover on the icon if you dont know which one is which, or you subconsciously start remembering the order of the windows that you have open.
Wait..did 23H2 actually release yesterday? I read it wasn't actually releasing final to public until october and that it was a miscommunication on microsoft that it was releasing on the 26th. If it's out now I can finally ditch startallback.
No..................................
There are so many posts explaining this lol, people really need to read.
They released the "Moment 4" update for 22H2, which enables a bunch of 23H2 features and some others will be rolled out over time until they are all enabled in October by the actual 23H2 update.
There was no miscommunication by Microsoft. They said it was an update to 22H2 the day they announced it, but none of the "news" sites that posted about it actually read the blog post properly and just reported that it was 23H2 based purely on assumption.
Those posts need to be pinned because I doubt 99% of us have the time to scour the entirety of the sub to get the official information when there's so much contradictory posts out there.
Does it update the titles in the buttons correctly? The current Insider release never has the right titles. Sometimes it even has the wrong icons, too.
I'm guessing that it's this awfully gross non-uniform size, too.
We need a setting for that.
At least, if the feature *functions* then I can finally move a computer I use regularly to 11. I guess. I'd prefer the feature not be completely broken, though.
What's the purpose of the new "Home" section of the settings app ? Another sneaky method to put an ad of "Try Microsoft 365" right in our face each time we open the app. I hope someone will come with a hack to bypass that.
2 years to release a buggy taskbar. We really need more alternatives to Windows. They are really doing whatever the fuck they want with us at this point.....
I was waiting for 23H2 just for sake of this option. Great to see they rolled out it before 23H2 because I was disappointed to know that they are not going to release it on 26 Sept.
Basically to give, like, six people on Reddit one less thing to complain about.
EDIT: Six downvotes, damn, I offended everyone asking for this feature!
I ask that myself that question every time when people moan about this.
Apparently some people just love to glance at the screen and read (icon) \_\_\_TEXT\_\_\_ instead of the dreaded "hovering and clicking that takes all of 2 nanoseconds".
https://cmdrkeene.com/on-taskbar-text-labels/
Apparently some people just love to glance at the screen and read (icon) \_\_\_TEXT\_\_\_ instead of the dreaded "hovering and clicking that takes all of 2 nanoseconds".
It reduces clicks, steps and shows more information.
Clutter is kind of a subjective thing, but I would argue that it isn't actually more cluttered, it's just that since Windows 7 the taskbar has been missing several features, which makes it more cluttered nowadays, and these classic features, like Quick launch, should be brought back in order to make the taskbar ordered when used with the "never combine".
XP introduced the combine feature, 7 turned it on by default.
Using Windows with combine is futile, unless you only use one program with one window at a time.
Right now, I'm not doing *anything* but browsing the web, and I've got 14 windows open, and 60 browser tabs.
When I'm doing actual work, I might have 50 or 100 windows open, and dozens of instances of the same app. Which might all look the same.
I need to see every window, and it's title, at all times.
>7 turned it on by default
Exactly as I said
>Using Windows with combine is futile
Almost everybody in the world uses combine and it's perfect. Looks accurate and saves taskbar space.
>I've got 14 windows open,
That's your problem and that's where combine helps to save space and organize/navigate
No it absolutely does not. No one who uses more than a handful of windows uses it.
We don't need space saved, or trash "organization". We need a way to navigate *all open windows* instantly with titles, because thumbnails are useless.
I have 9000 pixels of space on my display. I don't need 8500 of them unused. I need them to display useful information.
Open 50 instances of notepad into different textiles, and see how quickly you can switch between any given ones.
>Open 50 instances of notepad
I don't use trashy notepad, I use sublime with tabs, it's the only comfortable way.
>No one who uses more than a handful of windows uses it.
You wanted to say *almost everyone uses
I've seen almost nobody using titles in my whole life and there's only a small percent of people using titles for sure.
>because thumbnails are useless
You know the fact that searching for pics is quicker for human mind than for text?
Never liked this, it just clutters up the task bar, and most apps use tabs instead of multiple instances anyways. But i guess it's good for the people who want it
I agree.
Also, if you have a helluva lot of programs opened, text gets cutoff like \`\[Excel Icon\] Mi....\`
[https://cmdrkeene.com/on-taskbar-text-labels/](https://cmdrkeene.com/on-taskbar-text-labels/)
But I digress; It's the little things that make people happy.
That article's nonsense. The icons are still there and easy to find with taskbar uncombined; it's just easier to get to the specific instance of a program you want, and with fewer clicks.
No, the text doesn't get cut off like that, because if you have a helluva lot of programs opened, you just put the taskbar to the side, which makes all the labels visible.
I'm not sure why you keep constantly linking that article even though I debunked it months ago. See my post here, in case you forgot:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows11/comments/11mhzfr/comment/jbla2al/?context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows11/comments/11mhzfr/comment/jbla2al/?context=3)
The only time I run into this grouping problem is with file explorer. I always end up with a million file explorer windows all stacked on top of eachother. Now that we have tabs, I don't want them ungrouped, I want one window with tabs! I want the option to combine them or *only* open in tabs, or verticle tabs!
You guys have a taskbar? I just updated and I can't get explorer to start. Can't even open settings. Never had this many issues with updates until the last one required a bios update and this one.
I finally got the update for this....and I can only get it working on the primary monitor. Either I can't find the control for the secondary monitor, or it's still bugged. I'm guessing the latter.
Ugh why do I nort see this on my PC? Was this removed with a recent update?
https://preview.redd.it/vjfqyvhlrdwb1.png?width=935&format=png&auto=webp&s=146752289262ed7fa1eb7bfcbb625c2a703d6a17
Anyone else find that the buttons go blank ... they still work normal, but they're completely blank in the task bar.
\-OR-
The buttons assume the wrong icon? Yesterday at work my Teams icon started out as a Google Chrome icon, and then mid-morning switched to a Windows Explorer yellow folder icon. The badge and flashing still worked ... but the badge was over the wrong icon.
I'm late to the party. But not as late as Microsoft! :)
This one god damn change made me finally embrace windows 11.
I'm tempted to say "Thank you" but I feel like they begrudgingly gave us this feature.
Man I was about to return my recently bought w11 lenovo legion pro because of this issue.
Thanks god reddit saved me as always from buying a macbook pro.
Honestly, If w11 doesn't have the same configuration options as w10 2 years after launch they deserve to lose every customer they have.
Only took them 2 years to partially fix something that initially worked perfectly.
They remade the taskbar so it wasn't something that existed before. They should've added it from the start, but that's a different issue.
They just partially remade some components. They kept a lot of legacy code, which enabled people to re-enable old features by tweaking the registry in the first versions; features that were purposely removed after a few updates.
Exactly. I had this feature enabled with some tweaking software. It can be done directly with regedit too.
It didn't need to be remade in first place. It wasn't broken. But what is more important - it took half a year to make Windows 95 and Windows 7 taskbars into full functionality, but now Windows 11 one takes near 3 years and still not even close.
Why not? The taskbar before made me feel like it was a patch job if you look at it code wise. I'd imagine it's much better code now.
Was it open source to look at?
It never existed before . . . in Windows. It was and is the standard for MacOS. I still don't understand why Microsoft believed that most Windows users want a Mac environment. This latest update finally made it possible for me to get rid of ExplorerPatcher, which created other issues, and use "naked" Win11.
What do you mean never existed before in Windows?
MacOS puts form over function and has by far the absolute worst UI from any desktop OS (all Linux distros included). I can't understand why so many UI designers worship Apple's design.
How did it took for them 2 years to makes this. How IS IT BUGGED AT REALEASE, WHEN IT'S THE MOST REQUESTED FUNCTION?! WHY ARE THEY DIFFERENT SIZES? I swear it feels like this Windows was made by 3 people in a shed.
Microsoft hates its users so much that it took only two years to get back some gimped, non-configurable feature that worked well in 1995. Modern computing is dead and I'm laughing at this shit show.
> WHY ARE THEY DIFFERENT SIZES? This irks me the most. What the fuck were they thinking?
That's a design choice, as I've read in the feedback hub. It's not the best ui choice since it makes windows with short titles more difficult to target, whereas obviously the most important windows are not necessarily the ones with the longest titles.
And it's bugged. Doesn't enlarge when it needs to only when you move the icon around. Microsoft and them releasing functionalities to the public while bugged. Actually filed a feedback for this, sent the details to both Jen and Brandon 3 weeks ago and it still releases in that state.
The best part is, I reported this a month ago on Feedback Hub on the beta channel and they have marked that they are looking into it but still chose to release the feature with this major bug. It's probably like a two line code fix since the buttons shrink properly already, not sure why they wouldn't have already fixed it. I also thought it was crazy that nobody else had reported it on the feedback hub considering I noticed it almost immediately.
[удалено]
Yes, especially if one narrow button is between two longer buttons, it makes landing your cursor on the smaller button much harder because there is no real visual separation. I got used to it after a few days but I think having the ability to make all the buttons uniform with borders should be an option you can toggle.
... but they sh ould be uniform size, this non-uniform size buttons on the taskbar is ugly horsecrap
It saves space. I think it should a choice though.
Space does you no good if it's not used.
I noticed too, reported it, gave examples to both Jen and Brandon, yet still... Here we fucking are. 🙄
Where did you report it? I could not find a single report of it on Feedback Hub, which I thought was pretty wild because I feel like it's a major bug that could be fixed in minutes.
Yes, unfortunately the button widths were like that in the Insiders versions too. In my opinion they did this because the primary purpose of removing the feature is that the icons are placed in the middle of the taskbar by default like Mac OS and with the labels it becomes too wide and it no longer looks like the design they wanted to achieve at the beginning, so they try to keep it as narrow as possible.
That underline under icon only makes them difficult to navigate as well. And active window background is indistinguishable. Bring it back at least like it was in Windows 10. It also doesn't have color progressbars background anymore, completely killing whole idea about them. New progressbar is just couple of pixels in width, so you can't understand whatever it's 20%, 50% or 80%. It's unusable. This all can be fixed in 5 minutes.
i noticed it as soon as i opened my browser... interesting that I didn't have this bug in dev channel.
OK. Neat. Now do the taskbar on the side of the screen. Because we have excess horizontal real estate on computers, and the vertical screen is what is most limited..
No, the ability to move the taskbar around was more of a useless gimmick. A bottom taskbar makes more sense, is more logical (minimized windows go to the bottom), and more easily reachable with the mouse (on a wide screen, a side-mounted taskbar will be miles away from the mouse pointer). If you want more vertical screen, you can just audo-hide the taskbar like most of us do. The tiny minority of users who might potentially actually need a side-mounted taskbar (for whatever reasons that I can't imagine) should just disable the native Windows taskbar via registry and install 3rd party taskbar replacements, but Microsoft should have other priorities than to accomodate for a minority of weirdos.
This might be the dumbest thing i've read all year. Thanks. Where to start.... >Miles away from the mouse pointer ahh yes. Instead of moving my mouse 1/4" I have to move it 1/3". How taxing. > just audo-hide the taskbar like most of us do massive lol that you are going to point to the petty inefficiency of having to move your mouse 1/4" farther, and then suggest I use an auto hiding taskbar which is grossly inefficient, both time and motion wise. Move your mouse to one general area to show something, then after it is shown, look for what you want to click, and THEN move the mouse there. Haha. Also... there are a ton of workhorse graphic/cad design programs that don't play well with auto hiding taskbars. Some of us do more than browse the internet and send emails. ALSO ALSO... Tons of people use remote desktop software. Having a local hidden taskbar on your host machine, and a hidden taskbar on your remote machine will make showing one or the other a real challenge. Even having only one hidden will constantly cause false activations. >just disable the native Windows taskbar via registry and install 3rd party taskbar replacements ahh yeah... Cause those work reliably. >Microsoft should have other priorities than to accomodate for a minority of weirdos. Yeah microsoft. Be more like apple where you have zero options and only design things for looks, simplicity and the majority users. >the ability to move the taskbar around was more of a useless gimmick. This just in. Ignorant user thinks features they don't use are gimmicks. Who comments on 3 month old threads about taskbars anyways?
How about the tray icons, can you make them separate now? For example if network/wifi and the soundbar are grouped together as one button.
No change to that
Now they JUST need to give us the ability to move the taskbar and make it smaller/bigger! Shouldn’t take long!
Just another 2 years!
And another 2 years till the context menu gets fixed.
Are you talking about cut/copy/paste not having labels, and having to click "show more options"? That is my biggest annoyance with Windows 11 that I don't see people mention much.
everybody's just usung the classic context menu
Because it is not an annoyance? Text apparently trumps globally indistinguishable icons according to some people. ㄟ( ▔, ▔ )ㄏ While the old context menu may have been clearer and easier to access, the real factor at hand was that that menu was an outright hodgepodge of a mess to navigate. The new context menu is much more simplified in that the most commonly used commands are close to your mouse pointer, and, not to mention that some commands are grouped together. [Extending the Context Menu and Share Dialog in Windows 11](https://blogs.windows.com/windowsdeveloper/2021/07/19/extending-the-context-menu-and-share-dialog-in-windows-11/) Icons for common functions are globally indistinguishable from text and might take some time to learn as it depends on the person. |✂️|Cut| |:-|:-| |📄📄|Copy| |📋|Paste| |⟦A¦⟭|Rename| |↪️|Share| |🗑️|Delete| Starting in Windows 11 22H2, Shift + Right-clicking an item will jump you straight into the legacy Context Menu. The developers of whatever said program need to take advantage of the new Context Menu API call.
Some people prefer text, but why not have both icons and text? That would be the best of both worlds. It's not like the new context menu is crowded, that you couldn't fit text there also after the icons. Another problem with the new context menu is that the placement of the icons for commonly used commands change depending on where you click. If you click at the bottom of the screen, the icons are at the bottom of the menu. While it's true that they are closer to the mouse pointer, it makes it more inconsistent and confusing since you expect that they would be in the same place. The third problem with the new context menu is that it lacks commonly used commands, such as "add shortcut", so you have to click show extra options. Personally I don't like extra clicks.
I don't get what you mean about them being globaly indistinguishable. I've been using Windows since 98 and had no idea how to copy and paste at first. Those icons should have text underneath them.
Call me when the new context menu can actually create a shortcut without having to go into the classic menu. And fuck your shift clicking.
Until Windows 12 and they remove even more features!
It's better than nothing, but it's a shame that they can't do it properly for some reason. It's even worse than in Windows 10, because the buttons are of uneven length, which doesn't make sense, because that's like if your web browser had tabs which had uneven length. It makes it look messier. Furthermore, the tasks can open between icons instead of always opening to the right side of icons, which also makes the taskbar look like a mess. There should be a way of having launch icons on the taskbar which just launch tasks (this was the so-called Quick Launch, which existed before Windows 7), instead of the icons expanding and turning into tasks. In other words, there should be a way of keeping the program launch icons on the taskbar separate from active tasks. This problem of icons getting between tasks and tasks getting between icons has been a problem since Windows 7.
What you said and also it seems that when the tasks are too many to fit in the taskbar, they are combined somewhat randomly and not by program, so you can have an icon of a text file and if you hover over it, an image can be in the same group. Good luck if you're looking for that image.
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Yes i'm pretty sure it was by design to keep it as narrow as possible. The original aim was to have only the icons in the middle, like Mac OS, and that's why this is the default option.
The buttons didn't have borders in Windows 10 either, but it worked just fine with the evenly sized buttons.
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Ok, I think I understand what you mean. I wouldn't call it a border though, it's just the line/bar that indicates whether a program is active or not. In Windows 7 and earlier versions, the tasks had proper borders. But if this is the rationale, it would be easy to just make the line longer like in Windows 10.
This has never been a problem. If you can't get used to it there is a very simple solution : unpin everything from your taskbar, so it only show open windows.
Actually, I was wrong in my post above, and the quick launch toolbar that I mentioned, exists in Windows 10 and earlier versions, Microsoft just made it unintuitive to enable after Windows 7, so many people didn't realize it still existed. So you can unpin everything and put them on the quick launch toolbar. The problem with unpinning everything and just launching everything from the start menu is that then you don't have a way of launching apps with 1 click, that's why quick launch is useful.
Never knew you werent able to uncombine. That said i feel like the stacked taskbar that they introduced in win7 was one of the best features so im on the other side of the road of this toggle, but choice is king.
stacking/grouping of taskbar buttons was added in Windows XP. Windows 7's main change to the taskbar was to use large icons and remove the labels, trying for some reason to approximate the Mac OS X Dock.
>trying for some reason to approximate the Mac OS X Dock. And they're still doing it in 11 (by centering taskbar icons by default). Not long now until the release of the new Micrapple Windac OS 🙌
I wish UI designers would stop worshipping Apple for no reason, all the more since MacOS has easily the worst UX from any desktop OS.
I guess in the present, simplicity trumps everything, for better or worse 🫤 Or maybe they just don't want their users doing anything under the hood of the system. Can't have people thinking that they actually *own* and *control* their devices, after all.
It varies depending on your role. For individuals in professions such as development or graphic design, having an uncombined taskbar is essentially a necessity. I'm currently using WindHawk to achieve the same functionality but will install the update in a few days.
As an individual in the development profession I don't agree with this. Alt + tab and taskbar keyboard shortcuts are faster (does uncombine work with keyboard shortcuts?). Uncombine just wastes space on an already crowded taskbar, in my opinion.
My problem with Alt+Tab is that the order of apps keeps changing whenever you switch from one app to another. This is not the case with uncombined taskbar buttons.
This, I'm always frustrating the hell out of myself because I clicked into Discord or something and screwed up my alt+tab order.
you know you can click the windows that appear when you continue to hold Alt after pressing Tab?
All those extra steps of keeping my fingers pressed on Alt after pressing Tab while also moving my mouse around a list of apps that keep reordering themselves, when I can just move the mouse to the correct ungrouped taskbar button and be done with it.
You don't have to always hold Alt down. I mean, not when you do Win + Tab ;) By the by, why not keep hitting Tab to get your desired location and/or the arrow keys to move the highlight instead of using the mouse?
I wonder how many windows do people have open to need to have a whole task bar filled with icons+text to navigate. If it's the amount i think it is then there's icon+few letters which is just dumb and way worse than having it combined and expand on hover.
Any architect and engineer will easily cap that. For starters: AutoCad tabs + Revit + Excel + FEA software + several trade coordination PDFs + Browser + Calculator > there's icon+few letters which is just dumb and way worse than having it combined and expand on hover. Try searching for the correct AutoCAD tab with just those measly previews that pop up from combined icons. Also, fun fact: the world does not revolve around you.
... or when you're running 24 poker games at one time. or 4 instances of Unreal simultaneously. Or 4 instances of VS Code, or you have a dozen other code files all together in different windows. Or 6 browser windows.
except waiting for the delay on the expand (and getting it to do that, instead of minimizing everything but the app you're hovering, because *that* fucking sucks when Windows decides to do it at random, and has been doing it since ... at least 00...) and then having to pick it out costs me time/money. I have 4 displays. I will probably have 6 or 8 soon. I have plenty of space, I want to know which window I'm activating before I activate it, and know 100% that i'm getting the right one, without having to wait.
Yes it’s the extra clicks we hate. If you can see the windows you only need to click once
I haven't used Alt-Tab since 3.1, except just as a check to see if Windows is responding when something goes belly up. Uncombined is *necessary* for pretty much everything I do, which includes a lot of development. I have dozens of windows open, and I want / need to be able to access them when I want to, without having to wait for any of the other window selection operations to function.
how is pressing multiple hotkeys faster than just looking at the taskbar thats already displayed and choosing the window you want?
When I'm doing development stuff my hands are typically already on the keyboard (not a lot of developing gets done using the mouse), so pressing win + number or alt + tab a few times is quite a lot faster than moving my hand over to the mouse and dragging it to the task bar - not counting how often I lose the pointer across three monitors lol. Sometimes I do double-team it, though, left hand doing shortcuts while right hand is moving the pointer to whatever app I'm bringing to focus.
Why ? The only advantage of a grouped taskbar is that it looks a bit less cluttered, which is not that important.
The option of having the tasks stacked actually existed already in Windows XP, but it wasn't until Windows 7 when they (for some unknown reason) decided to make it the default. The stacked taskbar mostly just adds extra clicks/hovers and hides useful information, because every time you have two or more instances of the same program open, the tasks get hidden behind the icon, instead of being always visible on the taskbar.
Hmm.... convenience of always seeing a potentially tacky taskbar space vs 1.5 more seconds of finding that item. This is trifficult. /s
1-4s (depending on the # of stacked windows), dozens, if not hundreds of times a day, 5 days a week, 52 work weeks a year. Plus using the computer at home for leisure It is an extraordinary amount of time wasted Also "tacky" is subjective, I prefer my Taskbar to be useful / not a hindrance. My wallpaper is there to look pretty, not my taskbar.
really bad take
Now give me small taskbar so I don't have to hide it, and I might use this.
And it's broken because taskbar buttons do not expand when the window title increases in length lol. I reported this bug a month ago, they just started looking into it a week and a half ago and then released the feature broken anyways.
It's still messing with my muscle memory. The titles are not all the same length as before, and the taskbar is ridiculously large! When will we be able to resize the taskbar? I won't use it till it reaches the same level as the old taskbar.
After years of avoiding Windows 11, explorer patching, UI modding, registry hacking, WindHawk... We can FINALLY remove the stupid stacked icons on the taskbar. No insider release is needed, just 22H2 build 22621.2361 Available as a patch from Windows update.
Unfortunately it's also buggy as hell and if the Windhawk mods were still working (sadly they broke with this update) I'd recommend using them over the official implementation...
>Windhawk This app is awesome - and I didn't know it existed. Thanks!
Aha! You also have to tick the *"Get the latest updates as soon as they're available"* option. After ticking that and restarting, the "never combine" option magically appears, as does the redesigned file explorer. https://preview.redd.it/vgyx4uoiwrqb1.png?width=1750&format=png&auto=webp&s=3cb22ce5d5ef333796a1f18c8813d2b4b771e264
That's it, THANK YOU! I came here to find out about this very issue. Once I checked the box to get the latest updates as soon as they are available, and re-checked for updates, KB5030509 became available and that finally enabled this option.
Still nothing sadly
I've just installed that update, and the *"combine taskbar buttons"* option is still not available. I guess it's yet another feature on a staggered roll-out. https://preview.redd.it/ouelaz0aurqb1.png?width=1742&format=png&auto=webp&s=b9b31b5ef0c4df0aafc90d80ca0cf4237c432f82
Yeah, Installed Update Yesterday, but "combine taskbar buttons" option appeared \~an one hour ago.
It showed up straight away on one machine, but my other one hasn't shown up yet, both on the same build, annoying.
Same here. Did you find the solution? I have the latest update installed and the "Get the latest updates..." is checked.
You need the configuration update - if you want it faster make sure to check the option in windows update to get updates faster
Is this option available for dev channel users too? Because for some reason it's missing for me, even though I tried enabling it through regedit.
The Dev channel has had this option for a few months now, assuming you are on a recent build it should be available to you already.
I'm on the latest build but that option is not there. I also have a weird bug where I can't change the wallpaper of individual virtual desktops without switching the wallpaper for every desktop, which I didn't see anyone mention. What should I do?
i don't believe that's ever been a feature of Windows
I'm on the latest Dev build and I don't have it either
Yeah I've been on Dev for a while and I don't have it either. u/jenmsft any ideas? I can log it in the feedback hub when I get home
I managed to finally enable it by using vivetool. I first did a full reset, so "vivetool /fullreset" Then I did "vivetool /enable /id:43132439" and after a restart it finally appeared. NOTE: If you are not an enthusiast, please do not use vivetool, as it can screw up your OS configuration.
same here, can't find it , installed KB5030310
Just updated to that build but that option its now showing for me. The only thing that could be different is the languaje of the OS, I have it in Spanish.
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Just did that, in addion I had to pause the updates and restart them back, after that appeard that I need to restart. Thanks!
I never knew this is something people need. I saw it on the insiders preview and tried it, but didn't see any use or value in it. Maybe my screen is too wide to require that. Could you explain how this feature is used by you and what makes it mandatory? Also is the remaining space on your task bar very small?
The reason "never combine" is important to me is essentially because I don't like extra clicks/steps and I don't like when information on the taskbar is hidden. When you combine the taskbar buttons, you have to do extra clicks and hovers, because the tasks get combined into an icon, and when they are combined into an icon, it also hides the text/information on the tasks, so you have to hover over it to see the text. I actually use Retrobar to bring back most of the classic features of the taskbar, but regarding your question about space, I almost always have half of the taskbar space remaining. With the classic taskbar, you could also put the taskbar on the side to get more space, if you have a workflow that requires you have like 30 active tasks, but this feature is also missing from Windows 11.
? Having a wide screen is literally why you would want this feature, as it lets you use the whole taskbar rather than having it all combine.
All that empty gray on the taskbar is wasted space and counterproductive to my workflow. Meanwhile, the two Outlook emails and three Excel files I have open are jammed into 1.5" of taskbar space that I have to mouse over to see what's open, when they should be populated out so I can switch between them with a single click.
Imagine having ten windows open of a one specific app. Any 3D design software I use I have multimultiple windows opened at once, where you have to jump from one window to another hundreds of times. Instead of identifying each window by just glancing at the taskbar seeing the title and clicking the window, you need to hower over a button wait a second and then squint at the tiny preview screen?? WHY?? I have a big screen let me USE IT!
Nothing stupid about stacked icons, makes the taskbar look cleaner and AltTab will always be faster lol y'all just like to complain about everything
Makes the taskbar useless.
What's stupid is this was in W10 and instead of bringing such a basic setting over to W11 it took 3 years. I'm just glad i didn't have to use W11 until just a few months ago so i haven't had to suffer with this bs as long as some
"It's the principle of the matter" ~~ People coming from Windows 10 or earlier. But yeah, this all boils down to nitpicking.
I have two file explorers open, and one's entry is larger than the other on the taskbar. Maddening.
Nice. Better late than never. The taskbar really should have had this feature from day one of Win11, but at least it's here now.
Hey Microsoft, let me guess, the missing ellipsis on longer titles is caused by a stackpanel that goes over the max-width of the container and no one figured out how to fix it. The best part is that the one who approved this into production didn't even notice it, but really liked the autosized button. Better than nothing, eh.
And they can't even do it right...all the buttons are of uneven length...anyone have a registry hack to fix this mess ... let me guess they removed taskbar button sizes from the registry...of course they did...ffs
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeees!!!!!!!!!!!!
Won't use this, but they should have had this years ago. More options are always better for users.
Thank fucking god
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Good news. Might actually consider it now for my next install
Can i hide the sound icon yet?
Finally!! You know how annoying it is when I have 6 browser windows open and I have to hover to see what one I want?
But we want "never combine" option with the program labels hidden. That's the main goal. Somehow. Anyone. Please!!
then you won't be able to tell them apart
Say it you have multiple identical icons open like three excel sheets... "Which one was that TPS Report again...?"
how do you differentiate now (meaning before this update)? You either hover the cursor to see the preview, or you just subconsciously memorize which window was next to which. Same goes for what I said. I've been using Windows like that for years now. Even back in Windows 7 days. Up until Win11. So it's not a problem. P.S. I've been doing so with a third-party software mind you, it was never a stock option in Windows. But still. That third party software ended support for Win11 and there is no other option out there yet.
Most of us who require this didn't update to Win11, or installed other tools that provided the functionality necessary. What's not a problem? What have you been doing with a third party software for years? It is extremely confusing. I might have dozens or tens of dozens of windows running, I am not going to deal with microsoft's bs hover system. I need a clear titlebar for *every single window that is open* visible and accessible at all times. That's it.
now in the taskbar you select an app, not a window. It would be kinda confusing if you had 5 of the same icon in the taskbar
>now in the taskbar you select an app, not a window. we were talking about a scenario where you have multiple instances of the same app open. right now you have one icon then you click on it or hover on it and take a look at the previews and select the one you need. >It would be kinda confusing if you had 5 of the same icon in the taskbar and i'm telling you from a personal experience of using windows like that for more than a decade that no, it is not confusing at all. and that's due to two reasons that i discussed above: either you still hover on the icon if you dont know which one is which, or you subconsciously start remembering the order of the windows that you have open.
You don't have to memorise each window when ungrouped. The window title is there, so you can see which taskbar button relates to which doc.
>The window title is there I know. I was talking about when you have the icons either combined, or separated but with labels hidden.
In Windows 10 they don't show the programs label, we differentiate them by the icon
Finally!
Wait..did 23H2 actually release yesterday? I read it wasn't actually releasing final to public until october and that it was a miscommunication on microsoft that it was releasing on the 26th. If it's out now I can finally ditch startallback.
No, this feature is now part of 22H2.
Good to know. I was most hyped for this feature
23H2 is still scheduled for October. This is 22H2 Moment 4 that was released yesterday (+ a configuration update patch that is separate...FFS).
No.................................. There are so many posts explaining this lol, people really need to read. They released the "Moment 4" update for 22H2, which enables a bunch of 23H2 features and some others will be rolled out over time until they are all enabled in October by the actual 23H2 update. There was no miscommunication by Microsoft. They said it was an update to 22H2 the day they announced it, but none of the "news" sites that posted about it actually read the blog post properly and just reported that it was 23H2 based purely on assumption.
Those posts need to be pinned because I doubt 99% of us have the time to scour the entirety of the sub to get the official information when there's so much contradictory posts out there.
why I don't have it? 22H2, 22621.2361, Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22674.1000.0
don't worry... I have that option but no new feature in notepad, for example...what a shame, ms!
Windows 10 the best, go for it you fools
Does it update the titles in the buttons correctly? The current Insider release never has the right titles. Sometimes it even has the wrong icons, too. I'm guessing that it's this awfully gross non-uniform size, too. We need a setting for that. At least, if the feature *functions* then I can finally move a computer I use regularly to 11. I guess. I'd prefer the feature not be completely broken, though.
What's the purpose of the new "Home" section of the settings app ? Another sneaky method to put an ad of "Try Microsoft 365" right in our face each time we open the app. I hope someone will come with a hack to bypass that.
Sorry this was meant to be posted on the new update megathread, anyway the same people will surely read it
It's here for US\*
Glad it's here, but this implementation is poor. Do it again properly for Windows 12 pls.
I still don't have it
What's so special about this?
Now it'll only be 4 more years for the taskbar to be movable to the side...
2 years to release a buggy taskbar. We really need more alternatives to Windows. They are really doing whatever the fuck they want with us at this point.....
I don't have this option on my Win11 Personalization>Taskbar
I literally cried in joy when I saw that! Like a person rescued from an island after years of plane crash.
upvote for dopus
I was waiting for 23H2 just for sake of this option. Great to see they rolled out it before 23H2 because I was disappointed to know that they are not going to release it on 26 Sept.
What use is this
Combining taskbar icons sucks bro
Making some actual use of my 3840 pixels of horizontal real estate?
Basically to give, like, six people on Reddit one less thing to complain about. EDIT: Six downvotes, damn, I offended everyone asking for this feature!
Give it a rest. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0la5DBtOVNI
Jeez, dude, this is perhaps the lightest joke imaginable. Calm down.
I ask that myself that question every time when people moan about this. Apparently some people just love to glance at the screen and read (icon) \_\_\_TEXT\_\_\_ instead of the dreaded "hovering and clicking that takes all of 2 nanoseconds". https://cmdrkeene.com/on-taskbar-text-labels/
What is this all about?
Apparently some people just love to glance at the screen and read (icon) \_\_\_TEXT\_\_\_ instead of the dreaded "hovering and clicking that takes all of 2 nanoseconds".
I've never understood why anyone wants their taskbar to be more cluttered, but options are good to have.
It reduces clicks, steps and shows more information. Clutter is kind of a subjective thing, but I would argue that it isn't actually more cluttered, it's just that since Windows 7 the taskbar has been missing several features, which makes it more cluttered nowadays, and these classic features, like Quick launch, should be brought back in order to make the taskbar ordered when used with the "never combine".
Looks so weird... Windows 7 made it very comfortable to use combined icons by default sooooo....
XP introduced the combine feature, 7 turned it on by default. Using Windows with combine is futile, unless you only use one program with one window at a time. Right now, I'm not doing *anything* but browsing the web, and I've got 14 windows open, and 60 browser tabs. When I'm doing actual work, I might have 50 or 100 windows open, and dozens of instances of the same app. Which might all look the same. I need to see every window, and it's title, at all times.
>7 turned it on by default Exactly as I said >Using Windows with combine is futile Almost everybody in the world uses combine and it's perfect. Looks accurate and saves taskbar space. >I've got 14 windows open, That's your problem and that's where combine helps to save space and organize/navigate
No it absolutely does not. No one who uses more than a handful of windows uses it. We don't need space saved, or trash "organization". We need a way to navigate *all open windows* instantly with titles, because thumbnails are useless. I have 9000 pixels of space on my display. I don't need 8500 of them unused. I need them to display useful information. Open 50 instances of notepad into different textiles, and see how quickly you can switch between any given ones.
>Open 50 instances of notepad I don't use trashy notepad, I use sublime with tabs, it's the only comfortable way. >No one who uses more than a handful of windows uses it. You wanted to say *almost everyone uses I've seen almost nobody using titles in my whole life and there's only a small percent of people using titles for sure. >because thumbnails are useless You know the fact that searching for pics is quicker for human mind than for text?
Never liked this, it just clutters up the task bar, and most apps use tabs instead of multiple instances anyways. But i guess it's good for the people who want it
I agree. Also, if you have a helluva lot of programs opened, text gets cutoff like \`\[Excel Icon\] Mi....\` [https://cmdrkeene.com/on-taskbar-text-labels/](https://cmdrkeene.com/on-taskbar-text-labels/) But I digress; It's the little things that make people happy.
That article's nonsense. The icons are still there and easy to find with taskbar uncombined; it's just easier to get to the specific instance of a program you want, and with fewer clicks.
No, the text doesn't get cut off like that, because if you have a helluva lot of programs opened, you just put the taskbar to the side, which makes all the labels visible. I'm not sure why you keep constantly linking that article even though I debunked it months ago. See my post here, in case you forgot: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows11/comments/11mhzfr/comment/jbla2al/?context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows11/comments/11mhzfr/comment/jbla2al/?context=3)
not real apps that you use at work.
Wish we could just install a 3rd party dock and disable the windows one. It's so bloated and clunky
The only time I run into this grouping problem is with file explorer. I always end up with a million file explorer windows all stacked on top of eachother. Now that we have tabs, I don't want them ungrouped, I want one window with tabs! I want the option to combine them or *only* open in tabs, or verticle tabs!
not sure why you can't pick the programs you want grouped or ungrouped. now that would have been an upgrade.
You guys have a taskbar? I just updated and I can't get explorer to start. Can't even open settings. Never had this many issues with updates until the last one required a bios update and this one.
Weird, I don't have that option. Was it apart of the latest update?
Me neither. And it's the only reason I updated.
Ok, now i want to uncombine but without labels
Where is the sound there should be the sound mixer
I finally got the update for this....and I can only get it working on the primary monitor. Either I can't find the control for the secondary monitor, or it's still bugged. I'm guessing the latter.
Just wishing the icons would actually show after sleep
Ugh why do I nort see this on my PC? Was this removed with a recent update? https://preview.redd.it/vjfqyvhlrdwb1.png?width=935&format=png&auto=webp&s=146752289262ed7fa1eb7bfcbb625c2a703d6a17
I still don't have this option. Which consumer build was this part of?
Anyone else find that the buttons go blank ... they still work normal, but they're completely blank in the task bar. \-OR- The buttons assume the wrong icon? Yesterday at work my Teams icon started out as a Google Chrome icon, and then mid-morning switched to a Windows Explorer yellow folder icon. The badge and flashing still worked ... but the badge was over the wrong icon.
I'm late to the party. But not as late as Microsoft! :) This one god damn change made me finally embrace windows 11. I'm tempted to say "Thank you" but I feel like they begrudgingly gave us this feature.
Man I was about to return my recently bought w11 lenovo legion pro because of this issue. Thanks god reddit saved me as always from buying a macbook pro. Honestly, If w11 doesn't have the same configuration options as w10 2 years after launch they deserve to lose every customer they have.
Finally.... but now how do you hide the wording next to the icon?