7+ Taskbar Tweaker

7+ Taskbar Tweaker
7+ Taskbar Tweaker allows you to configure various aspects of the Windows taskbar.
Most of the configuration options it provides can’t be tweaked using the taskbar properties or the registry.
The tweaker is designed for Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.

Download

exe 7tt_setup.exe (1.78 MB, changelog)
Latest version: v5.15.1
Note: The installer can be used to extract a portable version. Refer to the FAQ below for details.

Beta version
exe 7tt_setup_beta.exe (1.79 MB, changelog)
Latest beta version: v5.15.1.2
More info about beta versions.

Windows 11 Support Status

  • 7+ Taskbar Tweaker doesn’t support the Windows 11 taskbar, and probably never will. See this blog post for more details.
  • Some of the tweaks are available in Windows 11 as Windhawk mods. See here for the list of mods, and vote for missing mods that you’d like to see implemented. Read more about Windhawk here.
  • 7+ Taskbar Tweaker works on Windows 11 with the old taskbar which can be restored with third party tools. See this blog post for more details.

Demo video

Here is a video that demonstrates some of the tweaks:

Source code

https://github.com/m417z/7-Taskbar-Tweaker

FAQ

Q: Which registry keys does 7+ Taskbar Tweaker modify? I don’t need extra processes in my system.
A: The only registry keys the tweaker modifies are its own settings. There are no registry keys for the options it provides. The tweaker does that by injecting a DLL to explorer, hooking/subclassing/some other methods of the dark side.
As for extra processes, the tweaker is a native program, and is very lightweight. It shouldn’t slow down your system, and uses an extremely small amount of memory. Also, you can hide the tray icon if you want.

In case you want to remove the tweaker’s settings from the registry, look for them here:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\7 Taskbar Tweaker
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run (“7 Taskbar Tweaker” value)

P.S. if you’re a programmer, you might want to take a look at the 7+ Taskbar Tweaking Library.

Q: My antivirus complains about 7+ Taskbar Tweaker.
A: It’s a false positive. I guarantee that the tweaker binaries (and any other files on this site, unless specifically noted) are 100% clean.
Also remember that the tweaker injects into explorer and modifies its memory, which is indeed suspicious.

Q: Can I Group/Combine/Label only some of the items on the taskbar?
A: Yes, use Taskbar Inspector.

Q: May I use 7+ Taskbar Tweaker in a commercial environment?
A: Yes, feel free to use it wherever you want.

Q: Where is the portable version?
A: When installing the tweaker, choose the Portable type of install, as shown on the image below.
The portable version will be extracted to the selected folder.

Selecting the portable installation type

Note: If the tweaker is already installed on your computer, the option won’t be visible. You can launch the setup with the /portable command line switch to force a portable installation.

Q: I want to report a bug/suggest a feature! What is the best way to do it?
A: Post it on the UserEcho page.

Q: I want to translate 7+ Taskbar Tweaker to my language.
A: The archive below contains the files needed to be translated.
Please read readme.txt before proceeding.

zip 7tt_translate.zip (758.63 kB)

If you are brave enough to translate the help file, contact me for the required software and files.

Posted in Releases, Software by Michael (Ramen Software) on September 30th, 2009.
Tags:

6,605 Responses to “7+ Taskbar Tweaker”

  1. Prashant says:

    Please add an options to change taskbar icon size in win 8… they are way too big and not like windows 10.

  2. InterPanorama says:

    7+ Taskbar Tweaker: Konnte die Prgrammbibliothek nicht öffnen (107)!!!

    Das ist die Information bei einem Update auf Widows 10 Version 14295!!!

    Windows hat also die Funktion des Programms blockiert!!!

    Was kann man da tun???

  3. InterPanorama says:

    7+ Taskbar Tweaker: Was the program library is not open (107) !!!

    That is the information when you update to Windows 10 version 14295 !!!

    Windows has therefore blocked the function of the program !!!

    What can you do there ???

  4. Stamimail says:

    How to “Open With” by “Drag and Drop” upon a taskbar button?
    I have a .lnk file (a website shortcut), and I want to get a new instance when dropping the .lnk file on the browser taskbar button.
    IE8 – works
    Firefox/Chromium – Doesn’t work.

    • The “Open With” feature is a built-in feature of Windows, not a feature that the tweaker adds. You can activate it by holding the Shift button. All that the tweaker does is making Windows think that you’re holding the button.

      As for your question, sorry, but I don’t exactly know how the functionality works.

  5. Brian says:

    Windows Defender keeps thinking 7+ Taskbar Tweaker is malware http://i.imgur.com/2QwUdx5.png

  6. Atlan says:

    Love this tool. There is one problem with foxit reader. It won’t display a context menu when right clicking the taskbar item. It does display one when 7+tt is off. Any idea?

    • You’re probably using the “Standard window menu” option. Foxit has this menu disabled for some reason.
      You can turn off the tweaker, Shift+Right click on the Foxit button, and you’ll that there’s no menu in that case, too.

  7. Atlan says:

    Yes, you’re right. Thanks!

  8. h-h says:

    Hello,

    I’m using Windows 10 with a vertical taskbar and just discovered the extended option “w10_large_icons”. It seems to increase the icon size from 24 px to 32 px when the “small icons” options from Windows is disabled.

    However, I prefer to ENABLE the “small icons” option from the Windows taskbar settings! The “w10_large_icons” option does nothing in this case. 🙁 24 px icons would fit perfectly in the small taskbar button height. So, could you please enable increasing the 16 px icons to 24 px icons when the said option of 7+ Taskbar Tweaker is enabled? This would be a great help!

    • h-h says:

      Any opinion about that? Did I make the point clear?

      • The tweak of changing 24×24 icons to 32×32 icons is quite tricky – it misuses the fact that the number 24 isn’t used in the code except for the icon size. The same trick won’t work to change 16×16 icons to 24×24, and unfortunately, I’m not aware of another solution for this.

        • h-h says:

          Is it possible to come closer to a solution step by step? In my understanding you would have to replace some byte with the value 16 by the value 24. Even if a user has to accept many crashes of “explorer.exe”, wouldn’t it be possible to find out which occurence has effect and replace only this occurence from then on?

          • It’s not that flexible. I cannot just hardcode the address of the correct value of 16, and patch it, because there are many versions of explorer.exe. Even if I decide that this feature will be for Windows 10 only, there are several versions of explorer.exe. Thus, the tweaker has to find creative ways to do the modification.
            For w10_large_icons, it hooks one of the common API functions, and changes 24 to 32 every time the value 24 is passed as an input.

  9. AAA says:

    Is there any way to remove the program title from the taskbar without removing the filename? I know There’s a setting to show icons only but I’d still like to see the filename.

    For example, if I open a textfile it’ll show the notepad icon, then the filename, then a space hyphen space, then the program name “Notepad”.

    Sometimes there’s programs that show the program name first and I can’t even see the filename. I’d like to remove the program title system wide rather than just be selective. Thanks.

  10. nico239 says:

    Hi
    I’m using TT for a long time now.
    But I’m looking for a program (for W7) which could LOCK (not pin but LOCK) the icons on taskbar

    Why
    I’m using
    program X – 6 icons (the program is opened 6 times) similar
    program Y – 2 icons
    program Z – 2 icons
    etc with some other programs

    BUT I WANT all these icons ALWAYS stay at the same place….

    A solution with TT or another unknow (by me) program?

    Best regards

    Nico

  11. RockeyDA says:

    When i do windowskey+e to open a new explorer window even though i have grouping off it still opens next to all the other explorer windows instead of being the furthest to the right on the task bar, i can move it there but thats annoying.

    also anothern thing that should be a option is to prevent windows from chaning there icons, explorer on wnidows 10 changes the task bar icon based on its folder, i want all explorer icons to look the same becase thats how i use windows.

    and 1 more thing, your a god, but this in combination with classic shell makes windows 10 usable. if thoes problems were fixed and winfilp was back i would drop server 2008.

  12. Fatih Fırıncı says:

    Thanks for continuously support. You are a very good man.

  13. Roger Thornhill says:

    With Taskbar Tweaker under Windows 7, how can I drag taskbar icons between multiple pages? I often have two or more rows (pages) of taskbar icons. Don’t want to group icons.

  14. Gerardo Considerato says:

    Hi, I’m using this program and I think you’ve done a really great job 🙂
    However, I’d like to suggest you some features to implement in future releases:
    – Automatic center-alignment of taskbar icons (and right alignment too);
    – Restoring “keep taskbar always on top of other windows” option, in order to give us an option to enable/disable the standard Windows 7/8/10 behaviour of taskbar;
    – Change transparency of taskbar.

  15. dnae says:

    Is there an option to push Windows applications from under the Windows 7 Taskbar?
    Great app!

  16. Windoze Wictim says:

    I have to say a huge THANK YOU for this tool. As usual, it takes awesome work by 3rd party developers to make Windows usable by adding what should really be a Windows DEFAULT functionality! After installing about a DOZEN of different 3rd party utilities, I finally arrive at a reasonably usable Windows 10 system. I have to wonder if it were not possible to have all these tweaks and add-ons, just how many of us would dump Windows? I am certainly one of them, because the first thing I do with every version of Windows is download 3rd party software. Shame on Micro$oft. What do they spend all those BILLIONS of R&D on? Must be living in a (gold plated) cave…

  17. TSRh says:

    Спасибо, RaMMicHaeL, практически незаменимая программа!

    5.1 и 5.1.0.8 beta при запуске на Win10х64 Insider build 14342 “Ошибка не удается загрузить библиотеки (107)”

    • Спасибо за отзыв!
      Насчет ошибки, на данный момент insider builds не поддерживаются.

      • Yaroslav says:

        Жаль 🙁 Все равно спасибо вам

        PS Теперь придется опять учится не попадать случайно по икнокам в таскбаре

  18. Anixx says:

    Option to kill Metro

    Even if one does not use Metro, it is still running, consuming processor power and disk throughput share. The only way to disable Metro is to kill this thread in Procass Hacker/Process Explorer:

    http://storage4.static.itmages.ru/i/16/0514/h_1463260085_2062844_4993bcba6d.png

    I mean the one having start address in module windows.immersiveshell.serviceprovider.dll

    It would be great to kill Metro as well as the other Metro-related threads, the ones with start point in twinui.appcore.dll.

  19. Joshua says:

    Please include an option to automatically center the taskbar icons. I’ve been searching for one for ages but can’t find a proper one. All i can find are people instructing to use empty toolbars to push them to center but that doesn’t look the same way when using the custom theme I have.

  20. Anixx says:

    Classic volume control on Windows 10:
    http://winaero.com/blog/enable-old-volume-control-in-windows-10/

    This is an easy to implement option, only registry change is needed.

  21. Jack Durrant says:

    TL;DR: I’d like an option to hide icons for full size taskbar buttons.

    I want to make a small feature suggestion for 7+ Taskbar Tweaker, but first, I’d like to thank you for this excellent utility. Its added customisation makes me far more productive whenever I need to use Windows and I’m thankful that you chose to release it for free.

    Now to the feature suggestion: On my desktop, I have ungrouped full size taskbar buttons next to their corresponding app shortcuts. With this set up, I have a lot of redundant icons occupying the limited space in my taskbar. Would you consider adding an option to hide icons for full size taskbar buttons? Thanks.

  22. TATYANA says:

    I install developer build of windows 10 (with linux bash) and got error ” library is not open (107) ”

  23. cluch says:

    launch 7+ Taskbar Tweaker, error message “7+ Taskbar Tweaker: Could not load library(1003)”.what can i do?

    • The 1003 error means that the tweaker failed to run the injected code as part of the explorer’s process.
      This can be caused by an antivirus, which denies access to explorer due to security concerns.
      Try whitelisting the tweaker.

  24. Herbert says:

    Hello, I’m using Windows 8.1 64 Bits
    Thanks for the very useful Taskbar Tweaker, and Textify apps.

    I was wondering if there was a RaMMicHaeL’s utility, or a program done by someone else,
    that could improve the way the active window and the mouse-hovered window are highlighted within the Taskbar.

    For information, I’m using a custom theme file with Aerolite, I’m not using the high-contrast themes.
    I get quite a good contrast everywhere beetween backgrounds and foregrounds, so I don’t want to change the colors in my .theme file.

    I would prefer a program that could overridde the system colors only for Taskbar.
    (well, this program might not exist for windows 8.1 …)

  25. Stamimail says:

    I have a Portable folder of +7TT.
    I’ve created a .lnk file in this folder for getting the -hidewnd argument.

    PATH=”C:\Portable Programs\7+ Taskbar Tweaker.exe” -hidewnd

    If I move this folder to other computer by USB Flash, this link is broken, because the Path now begins with F:\ …

    Can I make the .lnk path to be a Relatvie Path, so that I will be able to open it from every location?

  26. Tom says:

    I love you!

  27. Herbert says:

    Ooops, my comment #comment-6583 has been deleted…

    I was thanking you for the Taskbar Tweaker (and Textify app),
    and asking if there was any of your app, or a program from someone else,
    that could increase the contrast inside the taskbar beetween the active window and inactive windows.

    (I’m using Win 8.1 64 bits, so I can not use the ‘Windows 10 Color Control’ tweak)

  28. ronna says:

    Help! MS Word 2003 is all of a sudden grouping today. It worked fine yesterday! I have multiple MS Word documents open at any given time and having them group really messes up my work flow!
    How can I “fix” this??

  29. ronna says:

    oh, nevermind. whew! It was a setting in MS Word itself.
    I don’t know HOW or WHEN that changed from yesterday to today.

  30. Jacker says:

    Can you fix it please?? I am using StartIsBack start menu
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFiX7jdGGSk

    • I’m not interested in fixing compatibility with StartIsBack.
      If you’re using both StartIsBack and the “Hide the Start button” tweaker option, it’s legitimate to expect for incompatibilities.
      As far as I know, there are no issues when the “Hide the Start button” tweaker option is not used.

  31. Greg says:

    Works brilliantly for me – thanks!

    Are there any possible configurations for the Notification area? I have a vertical taskbar, and the notification icons show in a single column however there is room for two columns. Any way to configure that?

  32. Matt says:

    I thought I posted this but it’s not showing up.

    Do you have plans to support the Anniversary Update that is coming out August 2nd? I’ve been holding off on the Insider builds because I can’t live without your great tweaker.

  33. Arthur says:

    Hello. Can I do this with this program:

    always combine programs AND show label in taskbar

    …just like the old days with XP and 2K. So, for multiple Adobe Acrobat files open, there should be one entry with the label Adobe Acrobat.

    • Yes, that’s possible. Choose “Taskbar buttons: Never combine” In the taskbar properties, and choose the “Combining: Combine grouped buttons” tweaker option.

      • Stamimail says:

        If you need it only for Adobe Acrobat program, you can set it alone (only for one program), via Taskbar Inspector.
        Read about Taskbar Inspector in Help.

  34. Arthur says:

    …and…is a restart required upon installation – regular and portable?

  35. Omar says:

    Wow…!

    This app is awesome. Thanks to dev guy/team 😉

  36. Stamimail says:

    Use taskbar settings (default)
    Why can’t we configure via 7TT:
    * Always combine, hide labels
    * Never combine

    (The behaviour when 7TT run)

    If it because you don’t want to change the Menu… Can it be added to Advanced Options?

    • In general, 7+ Taskbar Tweaker doesn’t provide tweaks that can be achieved by using standard Windows configuration, or even registry tweaks.
      I assume that the use case for this is for using the portable version on different computers.
      I might add such options in the future.

  37. LeVvE says:

    Do you plan to release an updated version for the redstone release? Currently it doesn’t work with the Insider Preview which is a shame because I miss having this piece of software.

  38. Mark Lees says:

    On my windows 10 task-bar, I want my commonly used apps pinned on the left side of the task-bar. When I open them I want them organized in the order they were opened on the right side.

  39. Mark Lees says:

    Thanks that worked. AWESOME SOFTWARE!

  40. Claudio says:

    Hi,

    I want to install the program in the Program Files folder instead of the AppData\Roaming folder. Should I choose “Program Files” or “Program Files (x86)” ? I’m running Windows 7 Professional 64bit.

    Many thanks in advance!

  41. David Galbraith says:

    Would like to see the option added to disable transparency for the tastbar only. But everything works great. 🙂

  42. David Galbraith says:

    Sorry, not seeing any advanced option. http://i.imgur.com/jnmgdir.png No hurry though.

  43. David Galbraith says:

    Oh, thankyou. 🙂

  44. kuman says:

    Hi RaMMicHael,

    Just want to say thanks…
    I used 7+ Taskbar Tweaker with Windows 8/8.1.
    I recently moved on to Windows 10.
    I tried to fiddle around in the registry to change the task bar look and behavior to my liking.
    I finally installed 7+ Taskbar Tweaker again. It just does what I wanted
    in seconds – spot on. Thanks again.

  45. Me says:

    Totally awesome mods, thank you very much !!!

    So good, you can’t go back to stock after using this !

  46. Michael says:

    Does this work on latest Window 10 Build 1607 14293.3 yet?

    I mean the dragging of windows in the taskbar?

  47. Oriol Soriano says:

    I’ve been feeling CRIPPLED every single time win10 would not allow me to rearrange windows inside of a group.

    Taskbar tweaker allowed me to do that within seconds right after installing it.

    I now live in peace.

    Thanks a lot 🙂

  48. LeVvE says:

    Windows Defender removes the beta if you download it saying there is a trojan. [Trojan:Win32/Codinx.B!cl]

  49. Jennifer says:

    I have 7+ installed on a Win10 Home and have the standard windows menu enabled. If I switch it to jump list, it just does nothing when I right click on an icon.

    Without 7+, if I right click on the Word icon, for example, in addition to other options, I get a list of the most recent files I have opened and can open them directly from the taskbar. With 7+, I just get the standard menu and have to open the program, then open the file from the recent file list. It’s a small annoyance, but I’d really like to find a solution.

    I’ve been searching around and can’t find anything. Any ideas?

    • I’m not sure that I follow. Are you saying that running 7+ Taskbar Tweaker without any options (specifically, with “Right click” set to “Jump list (default)”) causes different behavior than not using the tweaker?

  50. Height says:

    RaMMicHaeL,
    I have been using this software since win 8.1, and this is such a great app. I thank you for developing this great app. I never combine groups and this works like a charm.
    However, I recently upgraded to win 10, and I have an issue. I have my taskbar on the left side of the screen. The thing is, the height of an item in the taskbar is greater in Win 10 than the ones in win 8.1, thus I can see fewer items without using scrollbar. I like to have a lot of windows open at a time (like more than 10), and I hope to be able to see more items without having to use the scrollbar. I already use “small taskbar buttons”.
    It would be great if it would be possible to adjust taskbar item heights. I wonder if it could be added.
    Thank you again for developing this great app!

Leave a Reply to Greg