How to enable 'Never Combine taskbar buttons'. Windows 11 ?

[hoanglongson]

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!

[#2]

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.

[#3]

Agree, not being able to ungroup taskbar buttons is very annoying.

[#4]

Much better, thanks!

[#5]

This is from above:

ByteIT   replied to  hoanglongson

‎Nov 18 2021 03:40 AM - edited ‎Nov 18 2021 03:42 AM 

https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/releases

Install EP_SETUP.EXE and run it, restart your PC and off you go.

Has anyone tried this? Is there a discussion or forum of people that had problems with this?

I hope this above solution is a safe solution. Not sure why has Microsoft made life so miserable for me to do my work. I need to roll back to Win 10 to do my work.

[#6]

@Rocko262c 

I just tried it on a test VM of Windows 11 and it did absolutely nothing.

The "Never Combine" setting is the very first thing I change on a new install of Windows right before turning off the hiding of known file extensions, so Windows 11 didn't even get past the 1 minute test for me. This omission is even worse than the ridiculous decision to remove the "Up One Folder" button in Windows 8. Won't be installing 11 as my driver until a safe and reliable solution is available. Frankly, I may not even bother at all now.

EDIT: Actually it did work, have to right click the taskbar and select "Properties" and it's in there.

[#7]

@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 utilize. I will not be redesigning anything until this oversight is settled.

[#8]

@Rocko262c 

Works fine for me

[#9]

UndockingDisabled : 1
PSPath : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Sh
ell\Update\Packages
PSParentPath : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Sh
ell\Update
PSChildName : Packages
PSDrive : HKLM
PSProvider : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Registry

New-ItemProperty : The property already exists.
At line:6 char:1
+ New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersi ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ResourceExists: (HKEY_CURRENT_US...tVersion\Search:String) [New-ItemProperty], IOExcepti
on
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.IO.IOException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.NewItemPropertyCommand

[#10]

@Elboylerthere is a mention that the install is not safe for the comuper on your website https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/releases/tag/22000.348.39.1_493cf27

[#11]

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.

[#12]

@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.

[#13]

Ungrouping Taskbar Icons

That went smoothly for me !

How to Make Windows 11 Look and Feel Like Windows 10 | Tom's Hardware (tomshardware.com)

One 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.

[#14]

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...

[#15]

Thanks StevenO59, great post.

I am the same. I am a scientist and run large projects. I have to click so much more with this new upgrade to find anything. I can't alt-tab all the time either as a solution.

I need to drag and drop files into emails, folders, or programs that are sitting in the taskbar when I have a maximized window, you can't do that anymore.

Why would Microsoft do this to us and why won't they give a proper response? Why can't they give this new interface to my kids and then give us the old interface so that I can work. I hate working in the Windows 11 environment.

[#16]

This problem has been reported to the Microsoft feedback hub - please upvote it here:

https://insider.windows.com/en-us/feedbackhub/fb?contextid=215&feedbackid=70fc827b-26fd-48f7-8853-af...

[#17]

Thanks @Mad_Cat  for the information about the Feedback hub!

I clicked on the link you provided, but it said I couldn't give feedback. I then clicked on "login", logged in, and then searched for "Ungroup Taskbar". I selected the topic "Update the Windows 11 taskbar to support never combining app icons and showing labels" and clicked on "upvote" as you have suggested.

Thanks again and hopefully this isn't the only feedback that Microsoft listens to.

[#18]

@hoanglongsonsame issue

[#19]

@Mousefluff 

ALMOST works, I just have no access to my start menu now.

I am shocked that no one on the design team realized that never combining taskbar buttons was much more productive.

[#20]

your solution don't work, hotkeys not working, winkey notworking, not showing time etc

[#21]

I couldn't have said it better myself!