Yet another taskbar issue

It looks like you’ve run into one of those frustrating quirks of the Windows 11 taskbar. The behavior you’re seeing with the three dots overflow menu and the misaligned divider is unfortunately by design — Microsoft simplified the taskbar quite a bit compared to Windows 10, but in doing so removed a lot of flexibility.

At the moment, there isn’t a native setting that gives you the exact mix you’re looking for (no tiny icons, no forced combining of windows, and no wasted space from the overflow). You basically have to pick between:

Overflow enabled → keeps labels/icons visible, but introduces the three-dot menu and divider.

Combine when full → eliminates the overflow, but merges multiple windows from the same app.

If you want more fine-tuned control, third-party tools are really the only way forward right now. Many people use ExplorerPatcher or StartAllBack to restore the more customizable Windows 10-style taskbar. They let you turn off combining, resize icons, and avoid the overflow without wasting space.

So short answer: Windows 11 can’t do this natively (yet), but with the right utility you can get the exact taskbar behavior you’re used to from Windows 10.