Forum Discussion
How to enable 'Never Combine taskbar buttons'. Windows 11 ?
portolyan this is just an average day for my personal computer. I currently have 17 windows open right now for 9 different tasks I'm working on concurrently: 1 Outlook, 2 OneNotes, 1 File Explorer, and 13 Edge windows. None of them are labeled. To switch between any of the 9 tasks or 17 windows requires me to hover over the icons and look at every single one of the little thumbnails that open up to try to figure out if that's the one I'm looking for. If 2 or more are similar in appearance, I literally just have to click through multiple windows until I find the ones I'm looking for. And when I need to have multiple windows open for a single task, it is an absolute nightmare trying to open the "groups" of windows I need at the same time every time I switch.
The next best option is to use virtual desktops to group them, which complicates things even more, because several of Microsoft's own applications (like MS Teams) do not allow you to open the app up in multiple virtual desktops. You can only have one instance open in one window. So if you want to use it in multiple virtual desktops, you have to keep changing switching desktops just to use that one app. It is a horrible, horrible design. And then there are the apps like OneNote which will ALWAYS open the first instance in Desktop #1. So if you want to use OneNote in Desktop #3, you have to go open it in Desktop #1 first, then go to Desktop #3 and open a 2nd instance.
It is obvious that Windows 11 taskbar and virtual desktop was rolled out without thorough testing, even with Microsoft's own applications. Some of them do not even work with it or don't work correctly.
https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2022/04/13/announcing-windows-11-insider-preview-build-22598/
"[Taskbar]
Updated the tooltip on the volume icon to tell you when you’re using spatial sound. "This is the latest available build in the insider program -> there are no improvements we are waiting for!
Unfortunately, everyone who could stay with Windows10 is working normally!
I like the idea of Home being extended to Pro with features like in Windows10!
- Totally agree. It's absurd that we are expected to memorize what every random icon looks like for every application that we will ever use. That is literally impossible. It's almost as bad as the millions of indiscernible icons that mobile apps are using now. The vast majority of them are just totally random shapes or colors that have no correlation to the name or purpose of the app. Microsoft seems hell-bent on forcing the Windows taskbar to have the same God-awful, indecipherable icon cluster. I really don't get it.
If they want to give that layout for all of the millions of Windows users who treat their laptops as nothing more than toys for email and Web surfing, then why can't they just make that the default layout for Windows Home, but for Pro and Pro for Workstations, just give us a high-productivity interface that is conducive to multi-tasking? I really do not get it. I've been a software engineer for over 25 years and am a Microsoft devotee but am just dumbfounded by the Windows 11 taskbar situation. It makes absolutely no sense that they would remove almost every feature that aided multi-tasking. It is perplexing.
