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
Hi, Great Developer, this app is wonderful powerful, Now i want ask if this function “Hide the start button” can upgrade, please look at the picture below, https://pan.baidu.com/s/1gf0BSXH, I use 7+ taskbar tweaker effect is the left side, the tray icon is incomplete, but I use “UltraMon” this software is normal, as right side show, please help me, thank you very much!
Hi,
I’m not familiar with this issue. I see that you have some customization programs: UltraMon and weather near the clock is what I see on the screenshot. I assume that 7+ Taskbar Tweaker conflicts with one of the other customization programs.
Very thanks for reply, you are right, i have got the confliction between 7+ Taskbar Tweaker and my weather application, so my Wishes, is , if 7+ Taskbar Tweaker can update for “Hide the start button” function, because the same type application just as UltraMon can hide the start button and the effection is normal, the tray icons can see. If you care, the weather application is here, http://sj.ruanmei.com, it’s green and small.
I’ll look at it once I have some spare time. You can also contact the weather application author, it might be possible to fix the conflict on their end.
I’m a Chinese, i love my country, but in true, the software company in China is not patience enough, they are not care the user, so i have no way.
Fantastic software!
Does it have a way to disable the “always on top” functionality (ala XP)?
Thanks.
—Paul
Hi Paul,
There’s the “disable_topmost” advanced option. Refer to the help file for more information.
Fantastic! Thanks.
When I choose“emptyspace|lclick 7” ，I want to click the left mouse button to implement Win+Tab / Ctrl+Win+Tab .But I have to press two times each time.
Please make sure that your taskbar is locked. A single click doesn’t get captured for an unlocked taskbar.
Also, if you have more than one monitor, a single click might not work for a secondary taskbar. That’s a known limitation.
Thank you very much！！！I solved this problem.
我选择空白区域单击鼠标左键，以实现win+tab功能，但是每次都要点击两次才可以，而不是一次。我已经在主程序中设定，双击两次空白区域什么都不做了。
Love you. Even sent you some money. Quick question, when Microsoft breaks Taskbar Tweaker, why can’t you just upload a patch to the new library?
Hi Muriel,
Thank you for the donation, I appreciate it!
As for your question: updating the tweaker for a new Windows version is not simple, even when visually the taskbar looks just the same. See this post for more details.
Hi, RaMMicHaeL,
thank you for this wonderful tool. Is it possible to add an option that prevents to minimize the active window when you click with left mouse button on it’s taskbar button? I want to be sure to have an active window when I click on taskbar item whatever it is already active or not. And I suppose I’m not one in that wish (did some googling on this).
Hi,
That’s already possible, please see my answer here:
http://tweaker.userecho.com/forums/1-general/topics/469-add-option-to-disable-minimize-window-when-clicking-already-active-window/
hi.
would it be possible to implement the features of https://sourceforge.net/projects/dualmonitortb/
it’s really useful but there are some problems if i use 7tt and that program at the same time
thanks
Hi Mark,
Apps such as the one you linked, and other similar apps, aren’t supported. The reason is that these apps create another, custom taskbar, but 7+ Taskbar Tweaker is designed to work only with the original taskbar of Windows.
Hi, error in w7…
5.3 works ok
5.4 have error
https://ibb.co/hZY7ub
Hi,
Please see my reply here:
http://rammichael.com/7-taskbar-tweaker/comment-page-17#comment-3660
Thanks! Working…
Hi, I was able to install this at my last uni (even despite the restrictions on the university computers) but my current uni blocks it (it seems it doesn’t block the actual install as it shows when I type it in ‘Start’, but when I try to open it it says ‘This app has been blocked by your system administrator’). Ever since Windows 10 was forced on people, it’s been really frustrating to try to use Windows, so do you know if there’s any way to get around this? It made using Windows so much easier.
Hi,
See this answer, it might be helpful:
http://rammichael.com/7-taskbar-tweaker/comment-page-23#comment-5316
Also, if the computer is limited, using the portable version of the tweaker might work. See the FAQ above for more details.
Hello,
how can I hide the labels after I have ungrouped the tasks?
Okay, I found it. How can I remove this settings, I found both options on regedit, need I do delete the whole folder of 7-tweaker on the registry?
There are options only can be edited by Taskbar Properties (Right Click on taskbar > Properties > Taskbar tab).
it is possible to add the option to show full date and hour on a “small icons” taskbar? to show more than just the time in 1 line
It’s not possible with 7+ Taskbar Tweaker. Also see the comments here:
http://tweaker.userecho.com/forums/1-general/topics/32-custom-date-format/
hey bro,
I wonter many years, why don’t you add taskbar preview size tweak?
Here it is:
Open registry – Win + R and type regedit
Go to path HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Taskband
Add new DWORD 32 Bit Value
Key: MinThumbSizePx
Value: Number of pixels anywhere less than 500
Restart Explorer with any of the following methods:
Longest – Restart Computer
Medium – Log off and then log back on
Shortest –
Ctrl + Shift + Right click on Taskbar
Select ‘Exit Explorer’
Pull up Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc)
File > ‘Run New Task’ > Type explorer
Voila! You’ve restarted explorer
Hi,
In past RaMMicHaeL said that he doesn’t want to waste time on things you can get by simple modifying of the registry.
It appears over the years that this make problem for the Portable version users, who want to get the same user experience when using the app as guests in other PCs.
THANK YOU for this 7 task bar tweaker software , it helps me a lot
Getting a new PC soon and figured I’d at least TRY to fix up W10 before going back to W7.
One of my first thoughts, “Does W10 have anything like 7TT?” Turns out yeah, you in specific are still out there being awesome for W10.
Thanks for the handy tool, been using it for years now.
Thanks for this truly amazing software.
I got a simple feature request.
When ‘Minimize/restore when mouse is over: Taskbar buttons’ is activated,
this only works when single window is open, but not when multiple windows are open.
I think it would be great if wheel could minimize/restore all windows of that Application ID.
Thanks!
Loved 7TT for years, but the cycle between taskbar buttons thing dont’ seem to work now. =[
Already downloaded the version supposedly for W10FC.
Do other options work? Have you tried restarting your computer?
No other users have reported this kind of issue, and it works on my computer, so I’m not sure what’s wrong.
Yes, restarted. As far as I can tell that’s the only feature that dont work. It seems to work only for certain windows in the taskbar (window explorer, MS excel) but not in the others (chrome portable, sublime text). As soon as it gets to those windows, turning the wheel will be useless.
Are the problematic programs running as administrator?
It might be this limitation:
https://tweaker.userecho.com/forums/1-general/topics/184-cycle-between-taskbar-buttons-stops-half-way-in-windows-8x/
I’m not sure about those specific programs. I’m an admin on the machine but have not specifically set those to run as admin. I think the taskbar scrolling was working fine before the W10FC so it probably isn’t the same bug?
I just found another issue with the rightmouse button to drag-within-groups feature. It’s not even working with “windows explorer” windows!
Start by checking which processes on your system are elevated.
https://winaero.com/blog/how-to-check-if-a-process-is-running-as-administrator-elevated-in-windows/
Ok, they’re elevated. Any work around for it?
You need to find out why. Looks like your system is configured so that explorer runs as administrator, which doesn’t make much sense and can lead to issues.
I meant that chrome portable, sublime text are elevated, explorer isnt.
Anyway to workaround the limitation and allow elevated programs to be used with the feature?
Also, what about the rightmouse button to drag-within-groups feature I mentioned previously?
No, there’s no workaround. The best thing to do here is not to run Chrome and Sublime Text as elevated. Is there a reason for them to run elevated?
Hi, I really love this software and have been using it for some time now. I’m using it in Windows 7 (and have the classic theme on). Would it be possible to add an option which lets the user choose the pixel separation between minimised windows on the taskbar, and between the start button and the first minimised window? This is something that’s bothered me for years and given the level of control that 7+TT has, I wondered if this might be doable.
Many thanks again for making this awesome piece of software.
Thank you so much for this !
Hi! I just got a Windows 10 update 3 days ago (don’t know what kind) and now I get an error message for my taskbar. It’s on the latest update v5.4. Is there an update for the new W10 in the works?
Version 5.4 should work with the latest (non-insider) Windows 10 version, Fall Creators Update.
What is the exact message that you’re getting?
Hi. There’s an old bug in Windows 10 with taskbar icons scaling: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-start-winpc/taskbar-scales-down-icons-using-larger-sizes-and/67e43f31-764f-42f2-88fd-fbe125879e12
I’m wondering, is it possible to fix that by the tweaker?
Hi Stas,
See the following question and answer:
https://superuser.com/questions/948647
The problem is that I prefer 24×24 icons. I just don’t like that they’re blurred due to wrong scaling.
Your app is doing awesome jailbreak things and I thought if there was some workaround to this.
I might look at it one day, but currently there’s no solution for this.
Oh, thank you. It’s not something significant, but it would be great to get rid of that annoyance.
When I have disable_topmost set at 2 and open the start menu, it overlaps the taskbar (cannot see the taskbar). Also, the hidden tray icon window overlaps the context menus (cannot see the context menus). Is this a bug or is there a setting that will correct this? I have screen shots of this that better shows what I’m trying to describe. Thank you for all your work on this.
This is a side effect of the option. Currently there’s no way to change this.
can you tell me what registry keys 7+ taskbar tweaker edits with grouping and combinging, well as decombine and left click on combined item? for grouping group by applicatin id default and dont group, when no grouping place new items next to the existing ones, dont group pined items, drag within/between groups usng right mouse button, and the other options under combining and “decombine,” left click on combined item, i just want to know, i am a computer person but i want to know thats all, thanks sir
There are no registry options for what you’re asking. Please see the first question in the FAQ above.
I think something changed recently where the never combine/hide labels option doesn’t work properly.
In Windows 10 (build 16299.192) I am using “Combine taskbar buttons: Always, hide labels” and within 7TT (v5.4) I use “Don’t combine grouped buttons”.
I use a vertical taskbar and just noticed that it is only a problem when on the left/right side of the screen, and not when horizontally on the top/bottom. Also fyi I am using the 7TT “Group by Application ID (default)” option when I see the problem; also if I change to “Don’t group” then the labels seem to work as expected (albeit changing other functionality as a byproduct).
As always, thanks for your hard work on this product – I appreciate it.
Please try the newly released beta version, 5.4.0.1, of the tweaker.
Let me know if it fixes the issue.
That fixed it! Thanks again.
Thank you for this app; I just discovered it. I got a little bit of my sanity back today, such as it it, lol.
Windows 10, Office 2016
I have selected “Don’t Group” and “Do not combine grouped Buttons” but still all of my office buttons are stuck together and unable to be separated. How can I fix this?
Never mind! I fixed it by installing the current version, not the one off Download.com!
Taskbar Tweaker breaks the start menu in the latest update (Start menu won’t open). When I disable the tweaker, it works again. FYI, thanks.
I could not reproduce the issue on my computer. Does it happen because of a particular option? When all of the tweaker’s options are off, does the issue happen?
I can’t seem to replicate it either anymore, so perhaps Windows just had a burp. All seems find now, thanks for the reply.
Hi,
Lovely app actually. I prefer my taskbar items to be set with “don’t group”.
I would however very much like to be able to swap the taskbar items, e.g. if I have two instances of the same app, it might be preferable to me which one is leftmost and which one is rightmost. Can this be made possible please?
Thanks and Kind Regards,
Ryan
Hi Ryan,
If you’re using the “don’t group” option, you should be able to reorder taskbar items freely. So I’m not sure what you mean.
Hi RaMMicHaeL,
You’re right. I’ve just tested it and it works. Must be a new feature.
Kind Regards,
Ryan
Man i love you. Now i can finally enjoy working with multi desktops thanks to “virtual_desktop_order_fix”. Donated too, pls keep the great work.
Thank you for the donation 🙂
Are there any options software to swap positions’s icon group from right to left side?
Some icon (right side) as network, charging … I need to left side
Hi Rammichael,
I am doing a testing for this software.My requirement is to hide a particular html page from task bar.After installing this software I changed the application id of that particular page to 7+taskbar tweaker and selected show label to never.That works fine.But when I close and relaunch the html page it is still in showing in the task bar and the application id no longer there in 7+taskbar tweaker.Please advise if there is any way to save the configuration.
Thanks&Regards
Sreejith
Hi Sreejith,
Please see my reply here:
http://rammichael.com/7-taskbar-tweaker/comment-page-31#comment-7750
Hi there,
I absolutely love what +7 Taskbar Tweaker can do. I’m really curious about how you got the ‘Hide the “Show Desktop” button’ feature to work. Are there any resources or code examples you can refer me to?
I’d love to donate for helping me out!
Also, nice and clean website. Glad to see software still being distributed this way!
7+, my apologies.
Hi Conner,
Thank you for the feedback, I’m glad that you like 7+ Taskbar Tweaker.
The feature mostly (mis)uses the technique of window subclassing. The tweaker makes explorer think that the button’s size is zero, effectively hiding it.
If you’re interested in these kinds of tricks, you might find the article of Classic Shell interesting:
https://www.codeproject.com/articles/45430/classic-shell
I haven’t read it all, but skimming through it, it looks quite relevant.
How do I run programs as “not elevated” to avoid conflict with 7tt? They’re elevated by default.
Non-elevated should be the default. If that’s not the case, you need to find out why that’s so on your computer.
my question was i meant what registry key does taskbar tweaker modify , when the options i told in my other comment were these: disabling taskbar grouping, decombining the icons, and not grouping the pinned icons on the taskbar. my question is that what registry key in the registry, besides 7 taskbar tweaker, is modified? or is it a secret and you cant tell me? I just want to know, please. thanks
I already answered here:
http://rammichael.com/7-taskbar-tweaker/comment-page-34#comment-8735
Again, there are no such registry options. The tweaker uses other techniques.
У вас опечатка: должно быть “Контролировать громкость звука”, а не “Контроллировать”
Спасибо, будет исправлено.
Just a little tip: I was getting Cannot Load Library (1004). Thought there was some issue with latest Windows build compatibility. But I simply reinstalled and the problem went away. It’s a small thing, but will hopefully help somebody.
Thanks for the great utility. I feel sad without my nice big taskbar icons!
Unfortunately doesn’t work with Windows Insider. Getting error 107!
Thank you for 7+ and Textify.
Hi RamMichael,
Thank you very much for the software, it is great and works perfectly except at time, taskbar width remain as defined. At time during startup, if I dont keep the cursor near the taskbar position it will not adjust to the size i have defined, instead it shows the default size.
Any suggestions to overcome this.
Hi Hisham,
It shouldn’t matter where your cursor is located. Because the tweaker runs some time after explorer, you might see the original width before the tweaker restores it to the narrow one.
Is there any way that you’d be able to have an option to show the clock on all monitors? I currently have 3 monitors, and it would be really nice to have the clock visible on all of them.
That’s supported in the latest Windows 10 update. See here: https://superuser.com/questions/495201
Hello!
Just got new laptop with windows 10. Want to make icons bigger in task tray. Installed your 7TT and was able to make taskbar bigger although the icons are still tiny, just two columns, upper and lower.
I’m trying to get to a fat task bar with fat icons, not two levels of tiny icons. How retarded of Microsoft, everything else can be adjusted for size!
Please help Paulie
Hi Paulie,
If you mean the icons of the taskbar items, you can make them larger as described here:
https://superuser.com/a/954669
If you mean the icons of the notification area (near the clock), unfortunately there’s no way to change their size without changing the DPI of the system globally.
Thank you SO MUCH, this is SO HELPFUL!!
Hello,
Thank you for the awesome software. I have a problem though, ever since I got the most recent cumulative update for windows 10 the taskbar width inst adjusting when the program starts on booting up. I have a dual-monitor setup and it changes the width on my primary monitor but not my secondary. Is there a fix for this?
Hi,
I’ve added to my to-do list to try and reproduce the issue.
I tried, but could not reproduce the issue on my computer. Perhaps some of your configuration causes this, or another customization software conflicts with the tweaker’s functionality.
If you can find what causes the issue, please let me know and I’ll try to reproduce again.
Ok, this is what I’ve been searching for since I transitioned from Linux. A question though, is it possible to modify the “Show Desktop” button to close or maximize/restore (with a different button) the currently focused app?
That would be tricky, since when you click on the button, the currently focused app is no longer focused – the taskbar is focused instead. There’s no way to do this with the tweaker, and I don’t plan to implement such a functionality, sorry.
Got it, worth a try to ask though.
Thanks anyway, it’s does the things I missed the most.
@boriseto – I’m curious, and hopefully you see this and respond. I’m actually currently trying to transition from Windows to Linux, and the features provided by 7+TT are one of the things I’m really missing. Since you were looking for something with these features after coming from Linux, I can only assume it was to regain some of the same functionality you had there, so what were you using in Linux to provide it? I especially want to be able to have specific programs only show as an icon to take less space, to be able to double-click the taskbar (panel) to perform an action (in Windows I have it run the Task Manager, in Linux I want it to run the System Monitor, which is the same thing), to be able to hover over the far right edge of the panel to show the desktop (Cinnamon can do this with hot corners, but you have to move away and back to the corner again to reshow the windows), and to be able to scroll on the time/date to adjust volume (can do this over the volume icon, but then it has to be visible, taking up more space and adding more clutter, and it’s a smaller target). I also want to make it so programs launch in place of their “quick launch” icons, like they do in Windows, instead of launching in addition to them next to the quick launch area. The way Linux does it, they take up more space on the panel and their order gets scrambled, instead of programs always being in the same place like they are in Windows (except, of course, when Windows on a fairly regular basis allows, or even causes, one or more of them to be moved around, which is something RaMMicHaeL may want to look at).
Well this is a late reply (sorry didn’t see it).
The problems that you have are connected to cinnamon. I’m using KDE which is way more customizable and can do everything that you want from that matter.
The part with the volume is true, but because of my setup, I always have the tray icons shown (but you can have only the volume indicator always shown for example).
You have the option to show title and stuff per app basis, have a volume indicator as well (which app is using the sound) and disable the title bar for the windows when maximized so you could use the taskbar with a close button that is for that app. I can send you pics of my desktop as it is at the moment so you can see what I’m talking about.
Thank you for the reply! I’ve actually given up on Linux for the time being, just had too many issues with it, but I do want to still play with it in a VM at least, so I’ll have to retry KDE. I messed with it before and found it clunky and not very configurable, but maybe I was just missing something. And sure, a screenshot would be great.
Try the KDE Neon distro (based on latest Ubuntu LTS). I liked kde in the 3.5 era and disliked it a lot in the 4 era because of being clunky. This time though it’s quite lightweight, snappy and full with features and customization, you just need to get used to it.
https://imgur.com/a/NGpMO
Is it possible for it to disable the progress bar that some programs put into their taskbar entry when it is doing something? If so, please add an option to do that. Thanks in advance. That or fix the issues with the ReactOS Explorer that I mentioned at http://winclassic.boards.net/thread/177/reactos-taskbar-win10-desktop-classic?page=4.
No, the tweaker doesn’t have such an option. There’s a topic for it on UserEcho:
https://tweaker.userecho.com/communities/1/topics/174-remove-progress-bar
@Vertigo
The Linux dock called ‘plank’ can, when combined with Cinnamon, do much (but not all) of what you mention. To elaborate on the Cinnamon part: Cinnamon has, I think, a ‘show desktop’ applet (and, if it doesn’t, it would be easy enough to create one as ‘launcher’) which you can attach to a drop-down autohiding panel.
@JN
Thanks for the suggestions. Plank, unfortunately, doesn’t work like I want, or at least I couldn’t figure out how to get it to. I couldn’t find any options or anything, and I don’t like docks at all–I much prefer an actual taskbar. Anyway, I did get an applet for the show desktop, takes up more space than I’d like but I can probably tweak that, but it also does a lot more. As for the other stuff, Icing Task Manager does a lot of it, but has its own issues at the moment. Hopefully they’ll get sorted out so it can become everything I need in a panel manager and a true 7+TT Linux alternative.
@vertigo
Plank does have options, most of which are accessible either by (1) clicking a settings icon that is on the left of the dock or – if that icon is not present – by putting the point between icons on the dock and right-clicking whilst holding CTRL (or is it ALT? I’m on Windows at the moment).
@JN
Thanks. It was ctrl. I tried right-clicking, and finding an empty space to right-click. IMO requiring a modifier key to access the context menu, but not giving the user any indication of that, is poor UX practice. But I digress. Even with getting into the options, the fact is it’s still a dock, not a panel/taskbar, and so not what I want. But I appreciate the effort. Unfortunately, it looks like I may just be out of luck on this one.
17101 error 1004~
8)
7+TT v5.4.0.1 (beta)
Though I just ran into a boot loop and had to restore to 17025, so I guess it doesn’t matter.
Insider builds are not supported by 7+ Taskbar Tweaker.
Ah yeah, I recall you saying that in the past.
17025 works.
cheers m8!
I’m so glad this program still exists for newer editions of Windows. I was afraid it would remain a Windows 7 thing. Kinda wish Windows would take notice and up their taskbar customizability.
Is there a number showing how popular this software is? Like, unique downloads per year or so?
There’s the total number of downloads when you hover over the download link:
https://i.imgur.com/MbgYShe.png
Apart from that, I can say that the tweaker has about 900 daily downloads.