Windhawk mod: Taskbar Labels for Windows 11

In the Windhawk mods for the Windows 11 taskbar blog post, I asked you to vote for taskbar features that you’d like to see as Windhawk mods. One of the features, which was also mentioned several times in the comments, is the ability to show labels in taskbar buttons, just like it was possible to do in Windows 10.

Here’s the mod that implements it, enjoy:
Taskbar Labels for Windows 11



Note that this is the first mod that customizes the Windows 11 taskbar visual interface in a significant way. As I wrote in the 7+ Taskbar Tweaker and a first look at Windows 11 blog post, the Windows 11 taskbar uses a new technology for reimplementing most of the taskbar user interface. While working on this mod, I learned a bit about this new technology and found ways to customize it. I’ll be able to use this knowledge to implement other mods for customizing the Windows 11 taskbar visual interface in the future. Perhaps it will help other people create more mods, too.

I also wrote about this mod and about my experience developing it in the Windows 11 subreddit on Reddit, check it out:
Taskbar Labels for Windows 11 – Reddit

Posted in Software, Updates by Michael (Ramen Software) on August 22nd, 2022.
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24 Responses to “Windhawk mod: Taskbar Labels for Windows 11”

  1. zakius says:

    unfortunately it looks like it doesn’t work with th e”disable grouping” mod
    or actually probably the Grouping mod just doesn’t work at all, now that I tried figuring it out

  2. Timothy says:

    Outstanding work. This was my top mod request!

  3. Ben says:

    Fantastic! The labels work perfectly. One question I have is though, are you planning to ever open source windhawk itself? I would love to study the source code of not only the injection but everything else as well. Also, I think this could help attract other developers too. Regardless, this tool is genuinely a fantastic feat in programming; thanks so much for providing it, alongside all these other excellent free QOL tools you’ve created over the years!

    • Hi Ben, thanks for the feedback!

      I’m not planning to open source Windhawk for now. I believe that the injection is the most innovative and interesting part of Windhawk, which is, as you noticed, open source. The other code is mainly about handling configuration, loading mods (fairly standard library loading), symbol loading, and other minor stuff. If there’s anything specific that you’d like to see, let me know and I’ll consider sharing the code, or at least sharing how it’s implemented.

  4. opoolo says:

    supeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer.

  5. Jeff Karasik says:

    Michael

    Are the individual settings for the mods stored in a file that can be backed up and then restored, if necessary?

    • Hi Jeff, The settings for each mod are stored in the registry under the following key:

      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Windhawk\Engine\Mods\<mod_name>\Settings

      Currently, there’s no better way to back up the mods’ settings.

  6. Jeff Karasik says:

    Excellent. Just export the reg file.

    Thank you for your work.

  7. Simon Fischer says:

    Thanks for this mod, really great. Do you think it would be possible to configure this behavior per app like with the 7+ Tweaker?
    So for example I have one app that opens a lot of windows. If I could enable labels and non-grouping only for this app, this would really improve overview.
    The other apps like browser, email app etc could then stay grouped and without label.

  8. hajofoa says:

    I really love this mod, it helps with organizing the desktop, especially if I have many different tasks open. However, eversince I got a new update, the labels aren’t displayed anymore. The boxes around the icons are there and have the same size they would have, if the labels were there.
    (running beta with system build number 22631.2265)

  9. Viking says:

    Any updates on labels missing from latest windows update? Same case as @hajofoa.

  10. tuto says:

    Hi, on 1.2.2 version, the mod isn’t combining multiple instances (for example, multiple File Explorer windows). Is possible to fix this?

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