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
- Since everyone is being ignored here by msft, it's time to start talking directly to some folks.
There's a couple options.
- Tie up their phone support lines as much as possible. Call center costs are not trivial. Ask about this setting, force them to explain the situation to you, waste their time.
- Start complaining directly to Tali Roth and her incompetent subordinates. Tali: https://twitter.com/TeaAndDates, Jen: https://twitter.com/JenMsft
Complain responsibly now! It's the weekend, I'm sure they'd love to hear from their fans 😉- I'm using 11 for all of the additional WSL stuff it provides, was my main reason to jump to 11.
- Microsoft, we need the "Never combine taskbar buttons" option returned! Our company recently updated to Windows 11 after waiting almost a year and grouped taskbar buttons in highly inefficient. Instead of an instant single click I now have to hover over the group, scan the group, determine which instance is needed, and select it. Although additional time is minimal, the additional mental energy is infuriating. Previously with ungrouped icons the customer experience was automatic and instantaneous. Now it requires mental effort every time I need to simply go to a different instance of the program. Needless. Pointless. Please put the power to not combine taskbar buttons back into the hands of the user. Thank you!
- Totally agree !!
- On this morning's welcome screen on my computer when I woke it up: "Built with accessibility in mind, Windows 11 is empowering everyone to do more." Seriously - that is a verbatim quote! I found it so amusing, in light of this Never Combine forum, that I wrote it down! Forced combining icons is exactly the opposite of empowering everyone to do more - it slows us down to do less in the same amount of time (unless they are implying we are doing "more work" to do the same thing!!!!!) Great quote, Microsoft - celebrating everyone doing more (work)!
Here's the solution for me. IT team is rolling me back to Windows 10. They dislike 11 for a lot of other reasons, so it's a win-win for both of us. No interest in going to 11.
hoanglongson May be very late to this but in case it helps future visitors, I think I've found it!
I right click on the taskbar, and go to "Properties" instead of Taskbar Settings. There is a column of subjects on the left, the top one being "Taskbar." Left-Click that, and on the right side of the window, the top of the list should say "Taskbar style." If you Left-Click that it should give you a dropdown option of "Windows 11 (default)" and "Windows 10." You should be able to click on Windows 10 and some default settings will populate at the bottom.
I hope this is the fix!!
Loia022 Are you able to share a screenshot of the right click where Properties comes up?
and a screenshot where you left click to get the dropdown menu?
I may have to wait for the current update. The only thing I get when I right click on the taskbar is taskbar settings and clicking this brings up Personalization > Taskbar.
Thank you for your help.
- Pernille-Eskebo
i don't like the windows11.
windows 10 was better by far.....
they depolyed the last windows 11 version but still now we can't to ungroup the tasks bar.
why microsoft close this feature???- I used the Feedback Hub found under Start.
Clicked "Report a Problem"
1. Enter feedback
Summarize your feedback: slows/diminished productivity. Bring back the "Never Combine Taskbar Buttons" option. Explain in more detail: Being able to customize windows 11 like previous versions make it more productive for users to meet their needs. The lack of "Never Combine Taskbar Buttons" has slowed productivity.
2. Choose a category - Desktop Environment > Taskbar
3. Find similar feedback: Update the Windows 11 taskbar to provide more customization options
Desktop Environment > Taskbar
4. Add more details
checked the box Prioritize this as high severity
checked Loss of Productivity
Added screenshot of multiple blank excel workbooks open while hovering to show all the open blanks and inserted a comment that hovering and trying to choose a file has slowed productivity instead of just clicking on the button like previous versions of windows.
checked Save a local copy of diagnostics
checked I agree to send attached filed and diagnostics to Microsoft along with my feedback.
Submit
Pernille-EskeboDo you have an ETA when 'never combined' feature will be added to Windows 11?
We do not want Windows to look and feel like a MAC.
Thank you!- JUST PATHATIC Pernille-Eskebo
- I got my annual work review and I told my boss my productivity is down due to Widows 11 taking out the uncombine on the task bar. She agreed that this was frustrating and has slowed down her productivity as well.
Yes!! My productivity has also been affected. I typically have several windows open and I find myself WASTING time looking for the correct Window to click... on all my previous Windows versions, I expand the taskbar to accommodate several windows and still be able to read their titles... of course ALT+TAB is not very intuitive.
At home, I can careless if the windows are combined or not.Whoever decided to remove or not make available the 'never combined' feature for professional versions of Windows 11 Pernille-Eskebo should reconsider it.
- Pernille-Eskebo What the hell is happening? When are we getting an update to fix this?
Here is another sad win 11 customer who really miss the "never combined" task bar.
I love win11. However, the combined application icons are so inefficient. It hurts my productivity every day as I always open multiple Word docs and browser windows and switch between them frequently.
That's so fooking pain in the azz that I need to pay attention to the window thumbnail before switching to the doc that I want to edit with one extra mouse click. Very annoying. It was easy in win10 with just a glance if "NEVER COMBINED".Bring it back Pernille-Eskebo
- Is anyone from Microsoft monitoring this thread and perhaps offer up an indication of whether it will be addressed in a future plan release?
- I doubt that feature exists in Windows 11. If you are coming from Windows 10, the Never Combine taskbar buttons was super useful. However, if Microsoft decides to introduce this feature, I would expect it to see in one of the insider releases.
- There is a free utility called Explorer Patcher that gets you back the 'Never combine taskbar buttons'. I've been using it for months and very happy with it. I do believe MS is doing themselves a disservice by not fixing it in the regular Windows 11 distribution.
https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher
- ** Pernille-Eskebo - Please make an official public statement about this **
There are many people hurt by daily every time they switch task now having to click - look - and click again. The old behavior is more efficient - click. Windows is a multi-tasking operating system. Please make it suitable for work without wasting time and causing frustrations.
As a work around for anyone who does not want to switch to Linux now, StartAllBack really works - it seems you get a 100 day eval and it can be installed for the current user only without requiring administrative privileges.Whats more, the start all back also brings very nice time and date functionality. I have had enough to have static clocks without seconds and unchangeable date.
"Start All Back" is not all that costly- I have bought the license
This all problems with Windows 11 problems are a big fail of your work Pernille-Eskebo. Also, it is a big fail when you don't provide repair/ability to change the behaviour as soon as people start to complain.
I also complain to functionality of Office group of programs. BRING BACK THE OLD RIBBONS!!! (from before 2003 year!!!) Those old ribbons were much more productive that the travesty we are forced to use for 20 years now! All those unusable icons on screen and those I need are spread through hidden menus!
I would migrate to Linux if the company I work in didn't require this OS and Office!!!
