Forum Discussion
How to let windows 11 "never combine taskbar buttons"?
- The November 2023 update added “never combined” mode on the taskbar for Windows 11. To find this feature, go to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors. Set Combine taskbar buttons and hide labels to Never. It also added a separate setting for turning this feature on for other taskbars when you use multiple monitors.
In Windows 11, you can choose how taskbar buttons are combined or displayed for open windows. If you want to set the taskbar to "never combine taskbar buttons," you can do so by following these steps:
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Right-click on an empty area of the taskbar. This will open the context menu.
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Click on "Taskbar settings" from the context menu. This will open the Taskbar settings page in the Settings app.
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Scroll down to the "Combine taskbar buttons" section in the Taskbar settings.
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Click the drop-down menu under "Combine taskbar buttons" to reveal the available options. By default, it may be set to "Always" or "When taskbar is full."
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Select "Never" from the drop-down menu. This option will ensure that taskbar buttons are never combined, even when you have multiple windows of the same application open.
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Close the Settings app, and your taskbar buttons should now be set to "never combine."
Keep in mind that this setting may take effect immediately, so you'll notice the change in how taskbar buttons are displayed right after you select "Never."
Please note that the steps may vary slightly depending on your specific version of Windows 11, but these general instructions should guide you to the taskbar settings where you can adjust how taskbar buttons are combined or displayed.
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This doesn't help all the time and still leads to an unstable situation where Windows 11 will repeatedly and randomsly gow back and forth to group and ungroup icons in the taskbar tray depending on if you exceed a certain set number of open files or close one or two. It's frustating because sometimes even when you don't increase the files that are opened it will suddnely and randomly decide to group them, but a few seconds later it ungroups them. I just saw this happening while writing this comment, though I was not doing anything to those files. This happens even when there is a large amount of open taskbar space that shouldn't necessitate the groups action. Has anyone else experienced this? netpoint935
BrianJ2290 "This doesn't help all the time and still leads to an unstable situation where Windows 11 will repeatedly and randomsly gow back and forth to group and ungroup icons in the taskbar tray depending on if you exceed a certain set number of open files or close one or two."
Yes, while it works correctly most of the time for me, occasionally it will suddenly put half my icons in the overflow bar, even though half my taskbar is empty. No idea what sets this off, but the fix seems to be shutting down all my programs and then reopening them.MSRX92 The behaviour you are describing suggests that you have the combine taskbar setting set to "when taskbar is full", if so change it to Never.
- drdoug "The behaviour you are describing suggests that you have the combine taskbar setting set to "when taskbar is full", if so change it to Never."
Thank you for the response. I wasn't sure, but I check and my setting was set to "never." I think it is a Windows glitch, it only happens once every few weeks or so, so just a mild annoyance.
