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!
- Dear Microsoft,
Please stop emphasizing form over function. Most of us who use Windows are trying to get work done as efficiently as possible. Did anybody think what would happen if you opened more than 1 spreadsheet?- Please Microsoft, bring the never combine taskbar icons back. Far too many people rely on it for their daily activities
I have serious trouble understanding what kind of a brainworm infestation could a person designing taskbar for Wins 11 have to not only go on with this useless and insulting feature of combining buttons but only make it the only option.
hoanglongson for now you may try https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/releases
You just put dxgi dll into windows folder, restart and you can tweak taskbar to be like in windows 10 with nevercombine options etc. Everything is described in the link.
- thank you so much!
- I saw on this thread on october 2021 that Microsoft will put in the feature. But I have check Windows Update, until today still there is no Uncombined taskbar Feature for Windows 11.
I recommend you to drop a feedback on this to Microsoft, using Feedback hub app.
Also, see if this guide helps you:
https://www.kapilarya.com/enable-never-combine-taskbar-buttons-in-windows-11
FYI, there is already a long discussion about this in following thread:
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-insider-program/how-to-let-windows-11-quot-never-combine-taskbar-buttons-quot/m-p/2513043/page/2*This reply was updated to make sure it is valid.
- I have talked to Microsoft support, they said there will be an official update to fix this problem, enable 'Combine taskbar buttons' Windows 11
I hope that update comes soon
Take a look at the chat picture: https://www.mediafire.com/view/5nokaqkxkrec5ut/Indira-Microsoft_support.png/filehoanglongson does Microsoft employee speak English at all? - that screenshot doesn't look legit. 2 sentences and 22 mistakes...
- Thank you Kapil for thi info
- Over 9000!!!! https://aka.ms/AAeyt69
Even I am facing the same issue. Hope Microsoft resolve this issue soon till then switching to windows 10.
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...
- 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.This problem has been reported to the Microsoft feedback hub - please upvote it here:
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!
- 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.
Yes, the developers had to adapt to the highest security priority - which was assigned to them to be performed by the product designers - unfortunately, the processes and functions that definitely accelerated the work were disabled!
- 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 !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.
Unless you want to use at least two 3rd party apps, you can't... Microsoft Windows is not for power users anymore! I have 2 (VERY old) Linux machines and bought a new laptop with Windows 11... I used to prefer Windows for 99% of what I do... The Linux machines were for very technical tasks only.
I'll hold on to Windows 11 on my new laptop for another month or 2 in hopes that they AT LEAST fix the taskbar icon grouping issue, and hope they return more user options/settings to tweak the GUI, but for me, this is a deal-breaker and it seems likely I will be removing Windows from my new machine and installing Linux. Windows 7 was terrible in look and many functions but usable, 8 was quirky and not very good either - a slight improvement over 7, 10 was usable but oversimplified - fixed many of 8's issues but still very few user options, 11 is so oversimplified that it is nearly unusable... I would rather use Windows 98's OS/GUI or even XP/NT/2000 if it was compatible with my new hardware than Windows 11. There are many good reasons Apple isn't used for productivity, I would highly suggest Microsoft NOT imitate them.
I have already had to enter about 20 registry keys just to get back a few features that you should be able to turn on by simply going into Control Panel or Settings... nobody says you have to MAKE people turn these options on, but PLEASE, at least give them/us the OPTION to do so! Having to enter these has actually managed to make Windows LESS user friendly than Linux!!! Something I thought was impossible!
...Not to mention Windows 11 STILL feels Bulky/Heavy/Slow (just slightly faster than previous versions) and although my hardware is not a gaming machine, it is FAR from slow... but Windows 11 is like a heavy anchor, and it's lack user interface customization is like attaching a very short chain to that anchor... you can try, but you're not getting anywhere with this software!
Dear Microsoft,
Without the ability to UNGROUP taskbar icons/tasks even a Chromebook is just as good for productivity, and in the professional world, using a Chromebook for work is still a joke, but it and Google Docs are gaining ground... If you want to loose market-share to Android/Chromebook, Apple, Linux, and any other competition, this is how you do it... this is how you GIVE them (your competition) that ground, this is how you give away your user base to your competition, this is how you turn a versatile OS and an great GUI that works for average Joes AND power-users too into unproductive garbage. This is how you loose the tech race.
I am so glad that I installed Windows 11 in a VM before upgrading any other computer. This is a setting that turn off on every PC or server I use as I find having the taskbar combined and the labels removed frustrating and unintuitive to use. I won't be upgrading anything until this oversight is resolved.
THIRD PARTY/COMMERCIAL SOFTWARE IS NOT THE SOLUTION HERE. I'm not going to install yet another thing in my already bloated system. I am not going to install software from an unknown source that may contain spyware. I like the Windows 11 interface enough to keep it. But I just want the option to not combine icons. I can live with the rest of the changes. Just not the one that is the subject of this discussion. Why is Microsoft not taking this 17 page thread seriously? Aleks Lopez, Heather_Poulsen, Hari_Pulapaka
Hi of course I agree, but in MTC it is primarily user discussions, Microsoft employees also help, but this case is without a solution , because you can not in Windows11 -> restore this function!
To explain this, a response from Microsoft engineers is necessary 🙂
As far as I know, this rule resulted in the removal of this function:
What is Zero Trust and is it the Future of Cybersecurity? (microsoft.com)
- RE: "To explain this, a response from Microsoft engineers is necessary, which will not be."
Will not be what?
