Forum Discussion
How to enable 'Never Combine taskbar buttons'. Windows 11 ?
Hi @all
I did not find this function 'Never Combine taskbar buttons'. How can this function be found and enabled in windows 11?
I can't work with multi-tab on windows 11.
Thank you!
601 Replies
- As others have said, while this really SHOULD be available as an option out of the box, using Explorer Patcher worked great for me, even gives a GUI to change additional settings once it's setup. You can ungroup taskbar buttons on all monitors, show the clock on all monitors, even make the taskbar and icons smaller again. I have mine sent to align left and also use Open Shell as my Start Menu so have had no issues with that either.
For reference again, Explorer Patcher:
https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/blob/master/README.md
Open Shell:
https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu/blob/master/README.md I've just finally been offered my copy of Windows 11 - and I am impressed, I am happy, it is very nice, it is new, it is feature rich, new tech, etc etc. But but but...COMBINED WINDOWS that we cannot ungroup !??
Like...come on dear Microsoft, I have literally been UNGROUPING windows for prolly 2 decades, I do not even remember ! I never got used to it, I cannot function properly with it, I am 3x slower with that feature, I already suffer ADHD and I really cannot cope with my WINDOWS GETTIN COMBINED INTO GROUPS WHICH'S CONTENT I CANNOT POSSIBLY REMEMBER AND KNOW ALL THE TIME !!!
I mean....folks...I would like to know what was the thought process behind this decision ?? It is seriously fascinating! As a scientist I find it impressively fascinating!
So, with the grouping feature...and 10-20 open windows, terminals, etc...all grouped in, what, like often just 3-4 types of windows...we should be able to precisely know BY HEART in which group is the particular window that we need at any particular moment. Or we have to alt+tab, WIN+tab, shift+tab, etc. and search and nail it. Is that...does anyone consider it a rational decision?
BRING THORAZINE !!
This is the first time I am making a fuzz regarding a Microsoft Windows feature, honestly. There should be an urgent quality of life patch addressing this issue - distributed globally as soon as YESTERDAY!
Please forgive my tone - I love you all at Microsoft and wish you the best New Year ever!- You are spot on with this milanputnik
- Microsoft engineers must not use Windows 11 themselves, cause I can't think of anyone that can use the combine taskbar buttons function and be productive.
- Indeed. To arbitrarily remove a feature that so obviously facilitates productivity says a great deal about the work ethic of said engineers. When they're more concerned about look and feel than actually getting their job done, it explains a lot.
MarcusD2125 Spot on sir. Judging from the TV commercials, it seems Micro$oft is targeting the gamers / casual users for Win11 and the people who do actual work be damned...otherwise this would've been addressed by now.
- 106K+ views of people interested in fixing the Windows 11 taskbar grouping.
This is a pretty significant UX and productivity killer. You may not be an Apple iOS Podcasts user, but many people didn't like what they did to it past iOS 10.3.3. Many people complained. That did not stop them from keeping it FUBARed to this day and it to this day a screwed up UX but also has become a dysfunctional app. Many people used the feedback tool for Apple for them to fix it or restore simple and very useful functionality. Some 5 years later, it's still FUBARed. I guess for some, if it's working well, they feel they'll look bad.
Many people life and work in front of their computer, many can't go outside and are disabled. Many people make their living with a computer. It's what they use to program, draft, design, and provide support with. On their Windows computer. They see the world and interact with the world through their computer. Anything like this that detracts and reduces productivity is a pretty major thing. This isn't Calculator or Paint, it's the main Windows UX that people interact with.
Aren't we all glad our trillion-dollar companies FUBAR things up unnecessarily, don't listen to us when we ask nicely for them to make a simple adjustment, fix something they screwed up and we pay for?Agreed. This is absolutely bonkers. Why even remove? That's an intentional decision to hobble your own OS. What are you gaining, Microsoft??
hoanglongsonsame issue
I have TWENTY TWO windows open right now - 7 folders, 4 Outlook windows, 1 Chrome window, my phone window, 4 Excel windows, 2 Acrobat windows, 1 Irfanview window, 1 Adobe Photoshop window, and settings. This is pretty normal for me - a variety of things I'm working on at various times throughout the day or week - some are tied together, some are just random things I'm not done with - but getting to the window I need (or even knowing what windows are still open) now takes a lot more effort! In the attached screen shot, LOOK AT ALL THE EMPTY TASKBAR SPACE I CANNOT USE DUE TO THIS SILLY CHANGE! How hard can it be to NOT change this - it seems like it's more programming work to make tasks combine than to make tasks NOT combine!
This absolutely is a productivity problem for working folk, but it's also wasteful of time for us retired folk that work on various projects as our mood and time permit! I do a lot of photography work and cataloging of photos - requiring Irfanview, Photoshop, and multiple folders to be in use at the same time - but now I have to spend time hunting for the right folder that is already open, but not visible without more clicks and mouse movement. I also do a lot of spreadsheet work that goes back and forth between spreadsheets and webpages where I am tracking information - now I have to spend a lot of time hunting for Excel windows that used to be available to me without hunting.
Seriously - this is a change that should never have happened, and I have to wonder if developers are too arrogant to appreciate that other people work differently than they do, or if management is too arrogant to listen to input or consider the value of diversity of working styles. "Clean" looks are really not important to me - I'll take functionality and customization over "clean" any day. I have a tower computer and a laptop - most of my work is on the tower - where I have a 35" monitor - and the task bar is about 80% empty because all the tasks are bundled into 20% of available taskbar space...
- Please don't blame this change on developers. Developers do NOT make decisions like this. In fact developers also typically have 10-20 windows open while working. Decisions like this are made by product owners and planners, some of which have very little or no development experience. Two very different worlds and skillsets.
Yeah, I agree, for such a big release or any other small release, it is not in developer's hands because the scope is driven by business.
You are absolutely right, I can only add to this:
Microsoft needs to realize its own versatility. Windows can be used for simple desktop work for simple users (like MacOS), but it can also be an extremely productive platform, and Microsoft seems to have forgotten that. I think that the bulk of Microsoft's customers use Windows for the latter. Home users usually have other devices: phones, tablets, Chromebooks, Apple devices, but when it comes to productivity, Windows is king.
Where I work, everyone has a triple monitor setup: Laptop + 2 screens.
And I mean everyone: Developers, designers, account managers, accounting, support.
I've got 4 screens at home (3 screens + laptop), my partner has 3 screens.
4 screens, 4 taskbars... Do you have any idea how much taskbar space I have that's now wasted?
I don't see why that option has been removed. I can understand you want to merge it on small screens, but this was already possible.
It seems like Microsoft wants to make it more like Apple or something.
Apples are just not productivity machines, I'm sure they exist, but have you ever seen a dual or triple monitor setup on an Apple?
So Microsoft, you don't have to make it look like an Apple. Be better than that!
- I couldn't have said it better myself!
- Again, we don't want to try any other 3rd party ways to enable this functionality, we want an official Microsoft update to fix it.
hoanglongson It would be nice to see MS put the option back in, but based on past precedent it's unlikely. Maybe in Windows 12 they'll put it back.
Ungrouping Taskbar Icons
That went smoothly for me !https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/windows-11-look-like-windows-10One Windows 10 feature you might miss is the ability to maintain separate taskbar icons for each of your windows. By default Windows 10 and 11 both combine all your windows from a particular program -- for example, your web browser -- into a single icon, which you must hover over to see the window titles. However, in Windows 10 and -- if you use one of the hacks below -- you can change this behavior.
The best way to ungroup taskbar icons is to install StartAllBack and select "Never" from the Combine Taskbar buttons menu on the Taskbar tab.
hoanglongson I am happy to the point that I introduced Windows 11 in a VM prior to updating some other PC. This is a setting that mood killer on each PC or server I use as I find having the taskbar consolidated and the marks eliminated baffling and unintuitive to https://bouncyhop.com/collections/inflatable-bounce-house. I will not be redesigning anything until this oversight is settled.
- Agree, not being able to ungroup taskbar buttons is very annoying.
- Give up. Upgrade back to 10. 11's interface is still a downgrade and will be until we can move the taskbar, not combine taskbar buttons, and disable the recommended section in the start menu. I refuse to move to 11. Not until their 🤪 managers give up this "touch bar" crusade and start listening to their users again. Removing features, adding fancy zones, and enabling android apps is NOT an upgrade. In total 11 gives less and restricts more.
- Usually going from I most recent version to a previous version would be considered downgrade. But I agree that the real downgrade was from windows 10 to 11!
