Microsoft may restore these popular Taskbar features in Windows 11

[harlan4096]

When Microsoft launched Windows 11, at least some users who upgraded to the new operating system were disappointed by the taskbar of the operating system.

The problem was not that Microsoft changed the default alignment to center from left, but that taskbar features of previous versions of Windows were not supported anymore.

Among the complaints were that the taskbar could not be moved to the top or sides anymore, that other customization options were missing, and that Microsoft removed support for taskbar labels and icon behavior.

Taskbar item labels display the name of applications on the taskbar. Windows 11 displays only icons at the moment and users may need to hover over icons to find out more about the program they represent.

Item grouping is also the default right now on Windows 11. When a Windows 11 user opens multiple instances of a program, e.g., several browser windows, then all of the open windows are grouped together under a single icon on the taskbar.

Previous versions of Windows supported ungrouping taskbar icons, so that each program instance was displayed separately on it, and the option to display taskbar labels for all of the open programs.

At least these two missing features could be reintroduced in Windows 11 soon. The latest Windows 11 Developer builds include these two options. While Microsoft has been working on these for some time, the latest version seems to be almost ready for launch in stable versions of the Windows 11 operating system.



The news comes from Albacore on Twitter, who analyzed the behavior and took it for a test drive. They published a short video on Twitter to demonstrate the functionality.

The screenshot above shows taskbar labels on Windows 11's taskbar. Taskbar labels remain, even when making changes to the taskbar settings. Center or left aligned items work already and it seems that little work is left before the feature could launch in Windows 11.

Closing Words

Microsoft removed customization options in Windows 11 and the restoration of some of these features is a welcome change. While most Windows 11 users may stick with the defaults, some may prefer labels or ungrouped icons on their taskbar, and it looks as if they can customize Windows 11 soon to make that a reality.

Now You: do you prefer taskbar labels or icons, groups or ungrouped?
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