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. David says:

    To RAMMICHAEL

    I would like to share a very interesting program with you.
    It’s called MiniBin; it’s a very usable program, that sets the recycle bin in the traybar, so you can access it from there…
    I’ve designed the icons for this program, you can view it here:
    http://ludomatico.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d31r8vh

    And you can download this program from the developer’s website here:
    http://www.e-sushi.net

    Hope you like it.

    • Steven Cagle says:

      Hello, i’m trying to find a way to center the start menu button on the taskbar, cause it will look cool and i’m bored…lol. any help from you would be greatly appreciated.

      Thank You,
      Steve

  2. Not One Of Us says:

    Good program, does several thing that I want.

    However, I have an issue that’s keeping me from leaving it installed, and thus using it. With it installed, it seems to make the tabs in my taskbar and the tray icons disappear, as shown in this pic: http://i55.tinypic.com/9u1y74.jpg

    Only things that show up are those in the quicklaunch (yes, I put that back in) and the Show Desktop, the clock and 7TT in the tray. Every other launched program disappears, though I can access them through alt-tabbing. The ones in the tray I can’t at all.

    Not sure if it’s just conflicting with something, but I also have Classic Shell installed.

  3. Willie says:

    Great program, but I have a question.
    Using Windows 7 64-bit.

    Using your Combining and De-combining over hover:
    When I hover over an expanded icon, it does not switch the preview focus to the corresponding window I am hovering over. Do you know why this might be happening?

  4. Wil says:

    Doesn’t seem to work well with autohide, sometimes the taskbar gets “stuck” and won’t reappear.

  5. Leo says:

    This is a great program and my Windows 7 experience would be less productive if this program did not exist…

    I do have one request – I’m surprised there is not already the option to change the function of the regular single left-click, there are options for almost every other type of click! Specifically, if I have a program open and it is the active program on the taskbar, I do not want it to minimize when I left-click it in the taskbar. So in other words, with this new option a left-click should only open programs or restore their window, it should never minimize them. I need this because I often have many programs open and I often find myself minimizing by mistake, then it takes time to restore it again, wasting time and clicks. If you could add this option I would really appreciate it 🙂

    Also like other people have already commented, you need to get a Donate button, I often donate to free programs and I would definitely donate immediately when you get a button 🙂

  6. c33s says:

    thank you for this great program. really helps me to make me feel comfortable with windows7.
    i have a feature request for your program, maybe you can implement it easily.
    i would need a program for hiding programs from the taskbar but keep their windows open.
    i am using virtualbox in seamless mode. the virtual boxes i run are cluttering my taskbar. i only found applications to minimize to tray but no program to hide the application from taskbar but keep its window open.
    kind of task2tray but keeping the window open.

    • What I can suggest you is to group them all, and hide the label of the icon.
      Using the “Drag within groups using right mouse button” option, right-click+drag them all together, and then right-click+scroll the mouse wheel to hide the label (if you have labels on).
      That way they will take one iconized space and won’t clutter your taskbar.

  7. appyface says:

    I’m not sure if this is a 7TT question or a Win7 question…

    How do I drag a taskbar button into a previous or subsequent row of taskbar buttons?

    I have set 7TT to “don’t group” so all my taskbar buttons are separate (all else in 7TT is default). I usually have many dozens of taskbar buttons. Win7 creates a scroll bar so I can scroll back and forth to each row of taskbar buttons.

    I can drag a taskbar button to a different position within the same row, but I can’t seem to get the button into a previous or subsequent row. Is there a way I can do this?

    Thank you for help.

    • It’s a Win7 question.
      I never have so many windows that they don’t fit a single row, and if you usually do, I suggest to try out a virtual desktops software, or you could also try grouping some of the taskbar items using the tweaker’s “Drag within groups” option.

      • mVovik says:

        I’m agree with appyface the new Win7 “taskbar scrolling” feature is very uncomfortable.
        I used to have vertical taskbar with lots of open windows buttons on it. In prevision Windows versions if there were too much open windows, the taskbar buttons were automatically squeezed and displayed in two (or three if taskbar was wide enough) columns without scrolling. In Win7 taskbar buttons are not squeezed, but there is a scrolling, so I can not see all the open window buttons at the same time.
        Is it possible to add to 7TT some extra feature to display open window buttons on a vertical taskbar in columns without scrolling?

        Thank you anyway, great software!

        • appyface says:

          @RaMMicHaeL Thank you for your reply. I’ve tried several (free and paid) Virtual Desktop softwares and related (spheres, x-windows-like, etc.) but didn’t like them, the concept doesn’t fit my preferred workflow habits. I really do like having 3-4 rows of completely separate buttons – thank you for 7TT! — I’d just like to drag them to position in any row. Not the end of the world 🙂 But it would be really helpful if I could.

          @mVovik Nice idea — perhaps then 7TT would allow buttons to be dragged to any position within the 7TT button grid?

  8. Funkster says:

    Hello!

    Thanks for the useful app. Using it with win7-64 with classic theme just to get rid of taskbar button grouping.

    I was wondering if, in a future version, you might be able to make the width of taskbar buttons the same when using a multi-row taskbar? Currently win7 squashes the top row up a bit so they’re not on the same pitch as the bottom row, unlike XP etc. where they’re always all the same size.

    Thanks!

  9. Marc says:

    Amazing piece of software. I was just looking for close on middleclick but after seeing what I could do, i tweaked my taskbar quite a bit.

    The only thing I can think of that is missing is “Show title on hover. ” I have it so that titles show when it uncombines groups, but it would be great if titles also showed on hover for single items.

  10. Andy says:

    Hi, thanks for the great app. Really makes Win7 much more palatable. Just have one request though… is it possible to add an option to use left click instead of right click when dragging within groups? Thanks again…

  11. chasnz says:

    Fantastic app, well done! Before trying your software I’d added the usual registry setting and Group Policy Editor setting in an attempt to remove those annoying thumbnails from the task bar but nothing worked. Your application made them go away with a single click of a checkbox. Hooray!

  12. Wendy says:

    Hi, I can’t seem to find the 64bit version. Can you tell me where it is? Thanks.

  13. Sam says:

    Hi, I don’t know what’s stopping me from downloading 7tt.exe ?

    I’ve even shut down Norton who said it wasn’t a ‘safe’ file, but I still can’t get it to download, so I can use it.

    My problem, which I had hoped this would solve is my IE icons are sticking together in the bottom taskbar.

    If I have two or three or more, they move as one, not individually. This is only a fairly recent problem, as before, each moved independantly.

    Any help would be appreciated.

    Thanks again for your time,

    Sam

  14. Stamimail says:

    Hello,

    I’ve a problem with the active window color.

    Look pictures at:
    http://answers.microsoft.com/he-il/windows/forum/windows_7-desktop/tweaking-%D7%A6%D7%91%D7%A2/4e0ecf12-4b5f-4aeb-9177-eef9f7543350

    [Hebrew site… try to translate and understand if needed…]

    Please, aware me if you find any solution for that

    Thank You

  15. w64bit says:

    Hello,
    On Win 7 with Classic View + small taskbar icons + never combine taskbar items.
    Do left mouse click on a taskbar item and keeping the mouse pressed move it up from the taskbar => Task list appear.
    Please add a setting to 7TT to turn this off.
    Thank you.

  16. Venom says:

    I like this tweaker: there are a lot of options I looked for 🙂

    Is there a way to add custom tasks to the Task list, like “Paste as image” for my image editor?

  17. greyhat62 says:

    Hi Rammichael

    It seems that new version 2.1 of 7 Taskbar Tweaker conflict with Classic Shell because since I use v2.1, the toolbar of Classic Shell sometimes suddenly disappear. It doesn’t happen when I used 7 Taskbar Tweaker v1.8

  18. Moccr says:

    I remember the main reason I used to grab this program was to keep windows 7 from expanding icons in the lower left into application windows – basically force it to act like old quicklaunch. For some reason I can’t find the setting for that anymore, and now when I click the firefox icon (as an example) it expands into an entire tab and I can’t use the icon anymore to open a new instance, because the icon is gone! Am I just daft or is that option really gone from this version of taskbar tweaker?

    • Moccr says:

      …of course, as soon as I post that, I find it (after 10 minutes of head scratching, of course)

      For anyone who wants to know, it’s the checkbox that says “don’t group pinned items”

  19. sh4dow says:

    great update! for some reason, the last version stopped launching properly automatically (it would run but had no effect) but this one works fine again! yay! 🙂 (plus the whole load of new features. which i personally don’t need but it’s always great when a nice little freeware tool still gets tweaked, able to appeal to more people, etc. – as long as it doesn’t turn into bloatware 😉 )

  20. nascent says:

    Program looks great. Is there any hope of portabilising it? I don’t want to have to install a program just to run it once, each time I get to a computer.

  21. Hi, i love 7tt, i use it every day, mostly to cycle through windows with left click on grouped windows, but since version 2.0 this don’t work on my machine, especially with Firefox. 2.0 works perfectly and I’m still using it, i don’t want to loose this feature that is most important for me, but at the same time the new features introduced with newest versions are really cool. Please help. (Windows 7 x64) i’v3 tried every version after the 2.0 but this is the only one that works for me. Andrea

  22. Raine says:

    Are there any plans to add Windows 8 compatibility? Really missing this on the Win 8 dev preview.

  23. Kira says:

    Thanks for this great app! I’m able to have more flexibility when multitasking on my Windows 7 now. 🙂

  24. flex says:

    Hi RaMMicHaeL,

    Thank you for such great software – I just found it last week and I’m testing it since then.

    Frequently it happens that the taskbar icons turn invisible when I hover over them:
    http://i42.tinypic.com/21nnvcp.png

    I’m using your latest version of 7TT (v.3.0).
    Please let me know if you find out how to fix that. I already closed other programs like SnagIt or DesktopOK which could have influence for such behavior, but without success.

    Thank you anyway,
    -flex.

  25. flex says:

    Sorry, I forgot to show you my settings:
    http://i44.tinypic.com/20gjz2o.png

    And usually my taskbar looks like this:
    http://i40.tinypic.com/35kvbif.png

    Thanks again,
    -flex.

    • I’ve never encountered such an issue.
      I see most of your windows are java stuff. Does this bug happen only to java windows?

      • flex says:

        Hi RaMMicHaeL,

        thank you for your fast reply!

        I checked out your guess regarding the Java IDE (eclipse) windows but it also happens with every other program. But what I found out, is that the issue only encounters if I have many windows opened. To reproduce the issue, open as many windows to fill the whole taskbar with buttons and just before another taskbar row is created (because they won’t fit a single row anymore), the taskbar icons turn invisible when I hover over them.

        I hope, that works for you too and helps find out more!

        Nice weekend to everyone and I look forward to hear from you!
        -flex.

        • I couldn’t reproduce it.
          I’ve used your settings, filled my taskbar with explorer windows, moved the mouse around, and the icons do not disappear.

          Do I have to do something else to reproduce it?
          Does it happen right away when the taskbar gets filled, or after some time of usage?
          Also, your taskbar is set to “Never combine”, right?

          • flex says:

            Thanks for your response.

            To answer your questions:
            – Yes, it happens right away when the taskbar gets filled.
            – And yes, my taskbar is set to “Never combine” as well.

            I guess, I just found out what causes this effect: it had to do with the following regedit change I did in order to remove the text on taskbar icons:
            http://windows7themes.net/change-taskbar-icon-size-in-windows-7.html

            I used “MinWidth=48” for normal icons as I found it described in another blog and with that setting, my reported issue encountered because the minimum width was too small and the buttons didn’t work properly. You should be able to reproduce the issue with that setting.
            After the correction “MinWidth=56” for normal sized taskbar icons (“MinWidth=32” for small icons) your application works just fine!

            Thanks again for your great software and your provided support which helped us to find the solution. Hopefully this helps other users as well.

            Have a good time!
            -flex.

          • v3.1 was released, where you can achieve the same effect.
            See here:
            http://rammichael.com/7-taskbar-tweaker-v3-1

  26. Is it possible to not only disable thumbnail previews, but to also disable the stupid text-only tooltips that come up in lieu of thumbnails? They are driving me CRAZY.

    thanks!

  27. V10R37 says:

    I just downloaded this and I love it (almost). There are 2 options that I don’t see: switch between grouped windows on left click and fixed size for the running programs, to always see the text.

  28. nonhocapito says:

    This program used to work perfectly for me, but now almost every time at start up gives this message:

    “7 Taskbar Tweaker: could not load library”

    Then the program sits normally in the tray, but does nothing.
    The settings are accessible: however, if I try to change the “Run at Startup” option, I get this other strange message:

    “Error occurred while saving the startup settings to the registry”.

    ???

    It is possible that these errors appear since when I upgraded to the last version, but I am not sure…

  29. Erwin says:

    I was wondering if your excellent program could sort files that are opened. I like Windows’ grouping however I have an Excel system that may open 30 or more files. these are NOT sorted alphabetically which makes switching to a specific file tedious.

    I therefore would like an option that sorts opened files within a group: is that possible?

    Thank you.

  30. oggo go says:

    Very good program! I’ll use it during all my life.

  31. Hello, I just want to say that 7 Taskbar Tweaker is an amazing utility. It make the windows 7 taskbar behave exactly the way I want.
    Now my windows 7 experience, thanks to 7 Taskbar Tweaker, is much better 🙂

  32. v3.1.1: Languages updated, Portuguese was added (thanks Carlos)

  33. Pablo Carrau says:

    Excellent job on this utility! It’s something that should’ve been built-in to Win7 to begin with.

    I have a request for the next build:

    Would it be possible to have an option to change the size of the thumbnail preview on-hover?

    thanks!

  34. Gyan7even says:

    A very good application! I have a feature request, don’t know if it’s possible but if it is could you add it?

    I would like to lock the position of pinned icons on the taskbar so they can’t be moved by dragging or by dragging another running window to it

  35. Jpsy says:

    Hello,
    just exploring your program. Great stuff, many thanks for all your work.
    One question: I struggled with the “Drag within groups” function for a moment. I first thought this is to reorder elements in a group. But reordering seems to be possible in Taskbar Inspector only. The function of “Drag within groups” seems the be more of a “Drag _between_ groups”. Are these observations correct or am I missing something here? Especially the question whether there is a simpler way to rearrange the elements in a group is interesting for me. I glad I can do it with the Inspector, but would love to do it right in the list view or thumbnail view of the task bar.
    Cheers, Jörg.

  36. Pete says:

    It doesn’t seem to do what I wanted it for. I would like to drop html files into textpad’s icon on the taskbar, when textpad does not have focus, and I would like textpad to open those files and then get focus. I’m amazed this isn’t the default behaviour in win7 anyway.

    With your tool, it does the old XP/Vista thing of focussing textpad and then allowing me to drop the files in BUT ONLY when textpad is the right-most item on the taskbar (for some strange reason). If textpad is elsewhere on the taskbar it gives the icon saying “open with textpad” but nothing happens. Nothing.

    • Actually, it’s a feature of Windows, but you have to hold Shift while dropping to make it work. The tweaker only does the Shift thing.

      I also noticed it sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t. Try to set textpad as a default editor for html files (if it isn’t already), I think this might fix that.

      • Pete says:

        Sorry for messing up the threading down there …

        OK, it seems to be fine for single files, which is a great improvement.

        Multiple files are a no-no.

        I’ll send you a donation when I’m back at my own machine. Thanks a lot.

  37. Pete says:

    Sorry. That’s not true. Sometimes it works when textpad is to the left of other programs. It still doesn’t allow the behaviour I desire most in the whole world i.e. drag->drop->open->focus

    I’m sure other operating systems have done this for years, haven’t they?

  38. Pete says:

    Bl00dy hell! That’s not true either. It suddenly seems to do exactly what I want. I’m going to do a reboot and if all is well, I’ll be back here to thank you.

    🙂

  39. Leszek says:

    When I switch language to polish (version 3.1.1), then
    options start to work strange. There is excluded choise between grouping and combining. Like it was one tab. So there is no possible to pick grouping by ID and combine them. Only one option possible. When I switch to english, all options work OK. It is possible to fix it?

  40. João henrique says:

    come on Michael … there is “Decobine” add the option “Left click” .. one line more =D

    ty ..

  41. MainTrane says:

    The middle click options don’t take effect when using the decombine active group setting without the mouse hover option. (7TT v3.1)

  42. You Bro says:

    Norton Internet Security 2012 is showing this application(V 3.2) as a potential threat.

  43. usafed says:

    Please please make it compatible with Windows 8 Developer Preview! I think you only need to disable the OS version check to make it work! I will test it for you if you don’t use the Developer Preview.
    many thanks

    • I think you only need to disable the OS version check to make it work!

      It’s more than that. The tweaker is hardcoded to work with Windows 7’s explorer, and making it work with a different version is not as easy as just removing the version check.
      I do consider to eventually update it for Windows 8, when a more stable version is available, e.g. an RC.

      • usafed says:

        oh, thank you very much for the reply. I thought wrong 🙁
        I will wait for it impatiently 🙂
        Thanks for your work!

      • usafed says:

        I really don’t want to annoy you, but is there really no way that parts of Explorer needed by your sw are unchanged?

        If you are 100% sure that it can’t work, ok 🙂
        If not, please reconsider a version with minimal changes and minimal effort for you that can make it works.
        Many thanks anyway.

  44. Pac-Man says:

    Double-click on empty space = Win+Tab for Flip3D. Would be awesome!

  45. Anon says:

    This kicks ass. The grouping has been driving me crazy for years. Thank goodness I finally found this. A must-have.

  46. Eugene says:

    Hey!
    First of all, let me express my respect for that utility software. A must have for every Win7 user from my standpoint.
    Now to my request.
    Let’s say, I don’t want to use decombine feature in order to change the group items order. Moreover, with decombine enabled I can change the order only for app “buttons” that were decombined (thumbnails keep the initial order anyway).
    My request is that if I have several instances of, for instance, Internet Explorer which is represented by one IE button on the taskbar, I would like to change the order of its thumbnails by dragging them (left or right mouse button – nevermind).
    Could you review this request and implement it once there will be a chance? I very appreciate your work!

  47. Nam Gi VU says:

    Hi there,

    I’m looking for a feature to close the window by middle-clicking the window’s title. It would be nice if I can do that with your app.

    Nam

  48. blabbr says:

    Holy crap, what a nice program!
    Thanks very much!!!

  49. Fantom says:

    Please, add function ”remove start button from taskbar”

  50. Updated to v3.2.1

    New in this version:
    * When volume is muted, the volume control does not show up with mouse scroll.
    * If mouse scroll volume control is on, middle clicking the volume control tray icon toggles volume mute.
    * Fixed the autorun setting of the portable version.

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