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
7tt_setup.exe (1.78 MB, changelog)
Latest version: v5.15.2
Note: The installer can be used to extract a portable version. Refer to the FAQ below for details.
Beta version
7tt_setup_beta.exe (1.78 MB, changelog)
Latest beta version: v5.15.2.2
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 version 23H2 and older 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.
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.
7tt_translate.zip (758.63 kB)
If you are brave enough to translate the help file, contact me for the required software and files.
Tags: 7+ taskbar tweaker
Another quick question, is there a way to show more clearly that the item in the taskbar is a grouping? I sometimes have multiple different programs in one group and it just shows a chrome icon, and it looks exactly the same as another ungrouped chrome icon so it gets confusing. Thanks!
No, not with 7+ Taskbar Tweaker. Perhaps it’s possible by modifying the system theme.
Really sorry to be asking so many questions, I have one more. How do you open new programs (like ctrl+n for new window in Chrome) by default outside of the current group? If I wanted to, I could drag them in, but by default, they open outside of the group. Is this possible?
You can choose to disable grouping, and group only when you want to, either by using middle clicking and dragging, or by using Taskbar Inspector.
One last thing, I think this may be a bug, but when you group two different programs, like chrome and a text document, the icon is chrome. But when you un-group chrome from the group, the icon is still chrome, when it’s really just the text document now.
It depends on the group Application Id. You can open Taskbar Inspector and see the ids on your taskbar.
Hi,
nice programm.But I am searching for a special feature I can not find in the help file (and I did not find a blog search).
Is it possible to hide icons from the “hidden” notification menü?`
I even do not know how it is called that way by MS. It is the icon on the taskbar that look like the Caret on the keyboard (over the 6 on a US keyboard layout, under grad celsius on german layout)
Hi,
No, that’s not possible with 7+ Taskbar Tweaker. The tweaker only provides an option to hide its own notification icon.
Thanks a lot spending the time to answer!
Is it technical not possible or just 7+ Taskbar Tweaker won’t do it?
It is hard to find such a information on the internet because you will get thousands of irrelevant matches on “hide hidden notification”
Don’t know what to search to get more relevants….
7+ Taskbar Tweaker won’t do it. Eventually, everything is possible, unless your definition of “possible” is different than mine.
I’m not aware of a tool with such feature. It surely can be implemented by hacking explorer, but it requires time and dedication.
I am trying to get this to run sooner because the start button still shows for about 5 seconds if put in the startup folder. Setting it to kick off in the Registry just after services is fast enough but when I have a new user logon for the first time they get the error taskbar not found.
Suggestion for next update:
You know how in Windows 10, the “Show Desktop” option in the bottom right part of the screen, on the Taskbar, has a white line that separates the Taskbar from that button? Can you implement a feature to make that line invisible, yet still be able to Show The Desktop when you put the mouse in that section of the Taskbar?
Thanks for considering it
Please make this project open sores.
Hello. I can not understand why I have a problem. Help me please.
http://clip2net.com/clip/m343701/998d1-clip-5kb.png
http://clip2net.com/clip/m343701/04926-clip-8kb.png
http://clip2net.com/clip/m343701/fabeb-clip-12kb.jpg
Hi,
Insider builds of Windows 10 are not supported.
Ah, ok. Thank you.
Hi RaMMicHaeL,
I just wanted to make a feature request:
I have looked everywhere for a solution that would essentially have the same effect the advanced option W10_large_icons has, except it would work when “use small taskbar buttons” option is checked (remove the padding, so the icons are larger but when my taskbar is vertical the same number of icons are still visible but bigger). THANKS!
Hello, I found a bug on Windows 8.1 64 bit.
When using the advanced setting ‘disable topmost’, it works fine until the start screen gets opened, after which the setting will be ignored. This can only be undone be switching on/off autohide.
I’ll check it when I have an access to Windows 8.1, but for now, can you tell me whether you’re using extra customization tools? For example, a tool for a custom start menu such as Start8 or StartIsBack, perhaps.
I don’t use tools that change the start menu, but I do happen to use tools that change explorer (like OldNewexplorer and QTtabbar).
It’s great to see how you are trying to make this app better btw.
Could you verify that the issue exists when these tools are disabled? It’s possible that one of the tools return the taskbar to be always on top.
I verified it and sadly no, disabling all of them does not fix the behaviour.
The same happens to me with Win7x64 sp1. The taskbar is not always on top when 7+TT is running.
Well, that’s what S. Verbeeck wants, so if that’s an issue, it’s a different one. Did you enable the
disable_topmostadvanced option?Hi Michael, could you also add a feature to hide applications from taskbar. There are some applications that I need running in the background (stickynote, toggl etc.) but they take undue space in the taskbar. There are programs outtasight, hide-it, trayit etc. that do it but it would be great to have these functionalities in one place in taskbar tweaker!
Hi,
That’s not planned for 7+ Taskbar Tweaker, sorry.
Thx! with this cool app i killed previews in a taskbar and return old (XP-style) right-click menu on app!!!
Hi, could you include the option to hide the year in the date on the taskbar? Or just limit it to the two last digits?
Hi,
See the following ticket, and the comments:
http://tweaker.userecho.com/topics/32-custom-date-format/
very helpful, thanks
I installed taskbar tweaker on my work laptop to make my life easier (because I use it at home and love it, highly dislike the out of the box 7 taskbar).
Anyway, I’m losing admin rights and when I do the app stops working. It seems like others have used it as non admins so I’m not sure what might be different. Maybe if I install it again as a non admin? Let me know what I need to do. Thanks
What do you mean by “losing admin rights”? What do you mean by “stops working”? Do you see any error message?
Company is locking down who has admin rights, so they’ll be taking them away shortly. There is an error when it tries to load, unfortunately I can’t get to it right not because the access has been temporarily restored (for other reasons). Seems like others have been using it not as an admin, as long as it is installed to their profile (which mine is).
Appreciate the prompt response, and the awesome program.
Hi,
first of all, I really love Taskbar Tweaker.
I use it in combination with Classic Shell and have configured Taskbar Tweaker to open the Startmenu when double clicking a blank space on the task bar.
Is there any way to open the Classic Shell Startmenu instead of the default windows one?
Thank you.
If the Classic Shell start menu can be opened by launching a program, you can use the following method:
http://tweaker.userecho.com/topics/287-ability-to-run-application-or-even-better-trigger-a-media-button-on-clicking-on-empty-taskbar-space/
Awesome!
Thank you very much for the reply and the functionality.
Happen to know what program to launch?
I am the Classic Shell tester. To open the Classic Start Menu, use this switch:
C:\Program Files\Classic Shell\ClassicStartMenu.exe -open
I use two different chrome profiles (using the user-data-dirs launch parameter, not chrome’s built in profile system) and that makes it impossible to group both of my chrome profiles under one taskbar icon. Using 7+ Taskbar Tweaker, I can right-click drag them together once they’re opened, but I was wondering if there’s a way to always group them together. They are launched under different Application IDs, so there doesn’t seem to be a way to group them by default using the Taskbar Inspector.
You can try win7appid, which allows to create a shortcut with a custom App ID.
That sounds like exactly what I need. I downloaded the .exe, but it doesn’t seem to launch properly. Opening it from the command line returns, “Error: Failed to load shortcut file”. I am running Windows 10.
Any help would be appreciated.
You need to launch it from the command line, with two parameters: the shortcut file and the AppId. For example:
Win7AppId1.1.exe C:\shortcut.lnk new_app_idThanks!
Would you consider integrating this functionality into 7+ Taskbar Tweaker in the future? It seems to bridge some of the gaps in the program’s utility.
Maybe one day…
Hello,
First thank you for this awesome free toolkit!
I’ve got a small feature request. It would be nice to have an option to orginize the tasbar. For instance a small vertical line or just an small empty space which you can choose the amount off and move it between the icons, so you can orginize your programs in groups.
For now, you can use the following workaround:
http://rammichael.com/7-taskbar-tweaker-v5-2-with-support-for-windows-10-anniversary-update/comment-page-1#comment-7196
Hello,
I wanted to kindly request a feature for 7+ Taskbar Tweaker.
When you have the taskbar on either side (at least in W8 but I can imagine W7, W8.1 and W10 also don’t do this), you can not make it show multiple rows of taskbar icons/open programs.
It would be fabulous not to have to scroll all the time.
Greetings,
Edmund.
Hi,
It’s not a trivial feature to implement, and is not planned. There’s a thread about it in UserEcho, here:
http://tweaker.userecho.com/topics/108-windows-7-vertical-taskbar-with-mutiple-columns-like-in-xp/
The 7+ should have an option to group exactly the same as the Windows XP, completely separating the fixed items from the open items.
Hi, first of all thanks for this excellent application, I wanted to know if there is any possibility of making the icons of the taskbar can be centered or aligned to the right, like this: http://bit.ly/2fEyOmq, with this new addition the application would be more than great. Regards!.
Hi,
There’s a topic about it on UserEcho. I might look at it one day…
You’re a bloody lifesaver, mate! I just tried to download this (or maybe it was something similar with the same name) via Cnet and my uni computer blocked it. Found your website, successfully downloaded it and can now use the internet properly (spreading different internet windows out along the taskbar instead of them piling on top of each other). Nice one!
Thanks a lot, RaMMicHaeL. I’ve been using your tweaker for over a year now and it has worked for everything I needed when I decided to switch to a vertical taskbar.
Thanks for the tweaker! Does almost everything I would have hoped for. Two questions:
What does “reserve empty space on taskbar” do?
Is there a way to add an option for “Left Click on combined item” [X] Open all windows (of the combined group)
Right now I have it set to Cycle through windows, which is amazing because it goes right back to the last active window of the group, but I often find I want it to open all other windows. This would be especially useful when using multiple browser windows & file explorer windows.
Take a look at the help file.
You can use “Restore all group items” from the advanced options.
Ah, I just didn’t dig deep enough to find the information about the empty space and setting up advanced options. Thanks a lot – got it set up now. Cheers.
Also I want to give you some information. When the taskbar is full, It’s hard to show the desktop by double-clicking on the empty space(I know the help file :). That’s why I wanted this feature.
Thanks again RamMichael for this feature and everyting.
Hello
A big thank you for this great program. But unfortunately it only works on Windows 10 Build 14393. For all later Insider versions the extended functions are not visible.
When does a new version come?
InterPanorama
Hi,
Yes, insider builds of Windows 10 are not supported.
No latest beta version or stable version yet?
“Double click on empty space” is so surprise and WONDERFUL. But “double left click” and “middle click on empty space” is not enough. So Please update for “double right click on empty space”. Please! Please! Please!!!!
There are more customization options with the advanced options. See the help file for more details.
I see, thanks!
Is there any way to use this to keep the taskbar in the background. When I have a window at the bottom of the monitor the taskbar stays on top and I would like it to go behind the window.
There’s the
disable_topmostadvanced option. Refer to the help file for more details.Is it possible to enable scrolling of taskbar using the mouse wheel? I’m using a 14′ laptop with the taskbar set to the left of the screen. Due to lack of space, new icons are displayed on the next page (I hope you get it) of the taskbar. However, the only way to move between the pages is by dragging the slider, which is not very convenient. Can you make that possible please?
There’s an advanced option that allows that,
multipage_wheel_scroll. Refer to the help file for more details.Thx. It works now.
Is there a way to cycle through taskbar buttons via the keyboard?
Yes, you can do this with the advanced options. Refer to the help file for more details.
Relevant UserEcho topic here.
Wow a dream come true thanks. Amazing program
BTW, I’m using HotkeyP to use also the 4th and 5th mouse buttons to cycle through taskbar buttons.
Settings will be like this:
Mouse 4
Command: Macro
Parameters: [Keyboard shortcut in +7TT]
[See Help file of HotkeyP if you need help]
Hello!
I have spotted an inconvenience, maybe a bug. After changing the screen resolution, the taskbar context menus appear in wrong place.
Is it caused by 7+ Taskbar Tweaker? Or is it an issue of Windows?
Hey, thanks for your software, I have a question, I’m using “tray_icon_padding” in advanced option and it works, but sometimes the spacing between icon on tray is change, look on the image, how can I fix this? Hope you understand, thanks.
http://i.imgur.com/RtK3x40.jpg
the top is after I change the value on adcanced option, and the bottom is when spacing change sometimes. How to make the spacing not change again and keep like the top image.
Hi,
When does it happen? How can I reproduce the behavior?
when I attach external drive, I though it was because conflict with other apps to hide tray icon, but when I uninstalled the apps, the behavior still there, it also like that random time, not only when attach external drive.
Unfortunately, it’s difficult for me to fix the issue if I don’t know how to reproduce it. Please try to come up with exact steps which cause the issue, and let me know.
I send you email, maybe you can take a look.
I could reproduce the issue. Please try the latest beta version, which should fix it.
Thanks, it work now.
Is there a way to disable the jump list that shows when you try to ‘drag’ a taskbar button out of the taskbar? I often do by accident when I’m clicking around too fast..
Yes, see the
drag_towards_desktopadvanced option.Ah! I’ve been in the advanced options several times now and never noticed that one. You thought of everything, didn’t you?
Thanks for the reply.
Can this application make the taskbar to full transparent?
No.
Привет.
Вместо стандартного меню кнопки Пуск использую сторонний софт (StartMenuX). Если выбираю “показывать меню/экран Пуск” при двойном клике на панели задач (или средней мышью), то показывается именно стандартное меню винды. Можно с этим что-то сделать?
Версия 5.2.1
Привет. Возможно, см. мой ответ тут:
http://rammichael.com/7-taskbar-tweaker/comment-page-30#comment-7408
Способ работает, вот только startmenux не хочет открываться запуском своего экзешника. можно было бы попробовать при двойном клике на панели задач “эмулировать” нажатие кнопки LWin. такое возможно сделать?
По поводу приведенного способа хотел сказать, что раздел Strings в реестре мне пришлось создавать руками, т.к. его не было.
Это после запуска Notepad?
нет.
это было после добавления шортката. второй пункт инструкции я пропустил, т.к думал, что он служит только для проверки шортката. со своей стороны ожидал, что изменения внесутся сразу.
В общем получилось грязным хаком через запуск vbs скрипта, который в свою очередь эмулирует открытие старт меню.
Может все-таки можно сделать отдельное действие “нажатие клавиши” или что-то вроде?..
Извините, промазал мимо треда 🙂
Рад, что получилось. Действие “нажатие клавиши” добавлять не планирую.
Печально – было бы очень удобно.
Может тогда существующий в настройках пункт открытия меню перепрофилировать на открытие этого самого меню путем события, которое генерирует нажание кнопки Win?
Thanks for developing this tweaker. I put the taskbar to the side so I can have more space for reading & writing. Can the taskbar be flipped so the systray & clock are at the top & the Start button at the bottom?
No, that’s not possible at this time.
Classic task bar for Windows 10?
In Windows 10 it seems they have nailed the texture to the taskbar. It does not respect the current theme, and when Windows Classic theme enabled, the taskbar still has the texture (unlike Win8.1).
Is it possible to remove the built-in texture from the taskbar in Win10 so that it to use default widgets and theme-determined appearance?
Also, is it possible to make the taskbar buttons to use theme button widget so that it to look 3D-like (in most themes) instead of using underlining?
Can you please make a permanent solution for disabling taskbar grouping? Because when i turn off your program, taskbar begins to group same instances of a program again, and when i need to swap the buttons it does not let me move only one of them.
If you can not do that, then you could at least provide a super tiny .dll file (shell extension) which will begin to work after registration, either if the computer rewaken up. Your program is lot bigger than a tiny .dll of 1 kb. And having it open as a program on the desktop is annoying. Please help.
What you’re asking for is not likely to happen. See the FAQ above, first question.
i have set to double click empty space on taskbar to show desktop but now that i have multiple monitor, i want to show desktop on just 1 screen not both screen is there a way to do that?
No, not with 7+ Taskbar Tweaker.
anyway possible to add that feature in?
Note, that it appears that the “tool tip” option under “Hovering” does not function in Windows 10….or at least, not for me.
Works for me. Note that the tooltip is displayed only when the name doesn’t fit the button.
http://i.imgur.com/NOFsPuT.png
Ooohhh, okay, thanks. I didn’t know that. I tested it and, yes it does work for everything when the name is cut off…except for my browser, for some reason.
Are you using Firefox? Looks like this issue:
http://tweaker.userecho.com/topics/446-tooltip-doesnt-work-in-firefox-33/
Okay, thanks.
Your secend beta 7tt_setup.exe 7+_5.2.1.2 Taskbar Tweaker is 100% and heavy infected. Please to stop this virus. The first beta version 5.2.1.1 is without virus.
Sounds like a false positive. Please contact your antivirus company about it.
Meanwhile, you can use the non-beta version.
Hi, the program works great on win7!
Is there any chance you can add a “hide text labels” feature for ungrouped apps?
I usually have multiple instances of the same app running, but hate the win7 grouping system. I’d rather have 1 button with no text with each instance.
Win7 should automatically hide labels when there is not enough space, but I’d like to always hide them.
Is this techically possible to achieve?
Hi,
Set the option “Combine taskbar buttons” to “Always, hide labels” in the taskbar properties.
Thanks a lot, that’s exactly what I wanted!
This is really a window setting I don’t change so often, I always forget about it at all! 🙂
Hi, I heard this application could be used to keep the task bar from drawing on top of other windows. Unfortunately I have the opposite problem. I “auto-hide” the taskbar, and it has a frustrating tendency to get stuck “behind” open windows, including maximized windows (not full-screen as it obviously shouldn’t show over those), such that I can no longer access it unless I mash the Windows key or minimize the window(s) first. I have searched and found mentions of this issue with Win 7 dating all the way back to 2009 but no clear solution has ever popped up. Is there any chance there could be a fix to this problem somewhere in your application here?
Hi Philip,
I’m not familiar with this issue, the taskbar should be located above other windows by default. Perhaps you’re using some other third-party tools which override this behavior.
Hi,
I had a problem today with an application (an explorer window) that didn’t respond as it was stuck uploading some files on a remote server.
I know I can terminate processes from the task manager, and I also set it to launch when I double click on the empty space. Yet…
I was wondering if you could add a “Force Kill/Kill Process” feature by adding a button on the preview, or simply responding to a certain button (or key combination, such as Shift+middle click) when pressed on the stuck application’s button, so that it forcedly kills the process (or the process tree)
You can do this by using the advanced options. In fact, I’ve set my taskbar to kill a process by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Middle click, super handy sometimes 🙂
Oh my, I didn’t realized there was an extra options menu!
You really thought about everything!
Good job! 🙂
Hi, the latest Avast Premier version 12.3.2280 detects Latest 7TT beta (5.2.1.2) as Win32:Malware-gen and removes it, why ???
It’s a false positive. The detection was removed.
Before and after.
Hi, great program… Quick question, would it be possible to add a borderless tray or flat inactive tabs when using the native “classic theme” on Windows 7? Like you could with tclock back in the windows 2K/XP days, i don’t know if you remember this tool. Thanks!
I’m not sure what you mean, but as far as I know, there’s an updated TClock for modern Windows versions (this one perhaps, haven’t tried it myself).
RaMMICHAEL LOOK AT THIS http://image.prntscr.com/image/436032b1fded4aceb2dfd91db165b2dc.png
Looks like a false positive. Please contact the antivirus company about it.
thanks rammichael. i go to permenant use it.
New Beta version is Infected with… many!
Means the “7+ Taskbar Tweaker.exe” seems infected.
there are too many “false positive” results to ignore them…
7tt_setup_beta.exe – Virustotal Link 14/56:
https://www.virustotal.com/de/file/2a122f0db909699970fa3796a3553d03d48a2cb9ae01d831939f38366bdf25d0/analysis/
7+ Taskbar Tweaker.exe – Virustotal Link 12/56:
https://www.virustotal.com/de/file/bed06f4d6a354e8a34763e191551e4d1180bd12c35ff0f8c725204360f5a6054/analysis
It has started with 19 detections:
https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/2a122f0db909699970fa3796a3553d03d48a2cb9ae01d831939f38366bdf25d0/analysis/1483205403/
I have emailed some companies, and they have removed the detection. I don’t have the time to contact them all, and not all companies have a way to contact them, or reply in a timely manner. You’re more than welcome to contact some of the companies for a clarification to make sure that it’s a false positive.
I’ve reported to Kaspersky Labs becasue it’s my AV Software.
Vou can Scan and then Report false positive here for Kaspersky:
https://scan.kaspersky.com
I also rated your whole website as “Clean” here:
https://newvirus.kaspersky.com
Thanks. I did that too, actually, and also sent them an email, but haven’t got a reply yet.