Windhawk mods for the Windows 11 taskbar
A few weeks ago, Windhawk, the customization marketplace for Windows programs, was released. You can read the announcement blog post for more details and for the motivation behind creating it. One of the sections of the blog post was dedicated to 7+ Taskbar Tweaker.
Regarding the future of 7+ Taskbar Tweaker: It will keep existing as a separate program which supports Windows 7 to Windows 10. As mentioned in a recent blog post, most parts of the taskbar were reimplemented in Windows 11, and 7+ Taskbar Tweaker can’t be made to work with the new taskbar without a huge amount of work. My plan, at least in the short term, is to implement the most demanded customizations for Windows 11 as Windhawk mods.
Below is a table with features that are available in Windows 10 but are missing in Windows 11. Some of the features are part of Windows 10 (marked with the 
icon) and some are part of 7+ Taskbar Tweaker (marked with the 
icon). Please vote for the features that you’d like to have back in Windows 11. I’ll prioritize implementing the most requested features as Windhawk mods. For each implemented feature, the page will be updated to reflect the current status.
Voting can be done in two ways, simple voting and a donation. I added the donation option to be able to give extra priority to votes of users who wish to support the project with a donation. To vote with a donation, add the feature hashtag to the donation comment like this. Donations are a great motivating factor (thanks!), and I think that letting supporters decide where to focus first is a nice perk.
| Feature | Votes | Donations | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Right click: Standard window menu |
✅ Done | ||
| Middle click: Switch to / Minimize / Close |
✔️ Partial | ||
| Dropping: Open with |
|||
| Hovering: List / Tooltip / Nothing |
✅ Done | ||
| Thumbnails: Drag to reorder |
✅ Done | ||
| Thumbnails: Left click on the active thumbnail minimizes the window |
|||
| Pinned items: Remove extra gap between items |
✔️ Partial | ||
| Pinned items: Open with double click |
✅ Done | ||
| Grouping: Don’t group |
✅ Done | ||
| Grouping: When not grouping, place new items next to the existing ones |
✅ Done | ||
| Grouping: Don’t group pinned items |
✅ Done | ||
| Grouping: Drag within/between groups using right mouse button |
|||
| Left click on combined item: Cycle through windows |
✅ Done | ||
| Mouse wheel: Cycle between taskbar buttons |
✅ Done | ||
| Minimize/restore when mouse is over: Taskbar buttons / Thumbnails |
✅ Done | ||
| Control volume when mouse is over: The taskbar / The notification area |
✅ Done | ||
| Customize double/middle click on empty space |
✅ Done | ||
| Hide the Start button |
✔️ Partial | ||
| Hide the “Show desktop” button |
✅ Done | ||
| Display seconds on the tray clock |
✅ Done | ||
| Reserve empty space on taskbar |
|||
| Change the size of taskbar icons |
✅ Done | ||
| Taskbar Inspector |
|||
| Change padding between tray icons |
✅ Done | ||
| Decombine taskbar buttons |
✅ Done | ||
| Show labels in taskbar buttons |
✅ Done | ||
| Taskbar on the top of the screen |
✅ Done | ||
| Taskbar on the side of the screen |
✅ Done | ||
| Open Taskbar Manager via right click |
⭐ | ||
| Taskbar with multiple rows |
✅ Done | ||
| Taskbar toolbars |
If a feature that you’d like to see in Windows 11 is not in the table, please let me know in the comments below.
Tags: 7+ taskbar tweaker, windhawk
please make a mod for remove the gap between items, when i reduce the icon size, it looks hideous. thank you.
Right now, there are the following solutions you can try:
Install the Taskbar Labels for Windows 11 mod, and set a narrow width in settings. It’s not 100% supported and tested, there might be issues, for example, when there are too many items on the taskbar. But generally I believe that it should work. Let me know if you encounter any issues with it.
Try this updated version of the mod. Let me know if you need help installing it.
Thank you man, you are a saviour.
Change the size of taskbar icons – does not work after updating the version of Windows
Please run the mod with debug logs and post the output.
I still use to classic context menu in the Taskbar because “x Close” is directly where I need it.
Could you add a mod to move the modern context menu closer to the mouse like the classic context menu?
Not sure about moving the modern context menu, but a mod to restore the classic context menu (basically making Shift+right click the default) is on my list.
i just did this with AHK like so:
#if WinActive("ahk_exe ShellExperienceHost.exe") and WinActive("Jump List for") and WinActive("ahk_class Windows.UI.Core.CoreWindow") c:: SendInput {Up}{Space} return #ifor rather i should say: the thing i need from the old context menu 99.9999% of the time, was to close the window by pressing ‘c’
and that what’s what it does now
Why not middle click? 🙂
never gotten used to using MB to close stuff for some reason and ‘right click , c’ has been working since win XP and maybe even before. Hard to kill that muscle memory.
… and in win 10 u saved my heinie with 7TT <– thx man!
You can try the new Taskbar classic context menu Windhawk mod which brings back the classic taskbar context menu.
Appreciate this might be a bit out of scope for Windhawk, but it would be ace if you had a mod that does something similar to Mouse Jiggler
https://github.com/arkane-systems/mousejiggler
That seems to be less of a fit for a Windhawk mod, as it doesn’t customize another program, it’s a standalone program which does something on its own.
You can find many small AutoIt3 scripts that do something like this. I’ll copy my 20-ish lines of code below, you can just run the script or compile it for use on a computer without AI3 installed.
The code itself is fairly self-explanatory, if you wanted to port it over to any other program you prefer.
$timeStep = 4.9 ; minutes HotKeySet("!{CAPSLOCK}", "NoSleep") HotKeySet("!+{CAPSLOCK}", "AllowSleep") HotKeySet("!+^{CAPSLOCK}", "EndSleepFunc") AllowSleep() Func NoSleep() ToolTip('No Sleep Activated', 0, 0) Sleep(1000) ToolTip("") While 1 Sleep($timeStep<em>60</em>1000) ; miliseconds Send("{CAPSLOCK}") Sleep(20) Send("{CAPSLOCK}") WEnd EndFunc Func AllowSleep() ToolTip('Sleep Allowed', 0, 0) Sleep(1000) ToolTip("") While 1 Sleep(1000) WEnd EndFunc Func EndSleepFunc() ToolTip('Exiting...', 0, 0) Sleep(1000) ToolTip("") Exit EndFuncI need the option “Drag To Reorder” for the Thumbnails. Actually is not working con windows 11. Is it possible that you can fix it to work on win 11?
Ty in advanced
Sebas
Have you tried the Taskbar Thumbnail Reorder Windhawk mod?
Well, I have to say WOW !! I did not try the windhawk mod until now. I’ve just installed it and it works !! Thank you very much Michael !!!
You’re welcome, enjoy and spread the word 🙂
Can you confirm that “Hovering: List / Tooltip / Nothing” would show a text list of opened windows of the app icon hovered over, like 7+TT in Windows 10?
Especially important for Firefox (show windows list, not tabs list). I’d gladly donate for that!
Yes, the item is about showing a list instead of the thumbnails, or show nothing.
Previously when Shift-Rightclicking on a group (e.g. File Explorers) and choosing minimize, it would minimize all windows of the group.
Currently only one window (I think the last active one) will be minimized.
Feature Request:
Grouping: Minimize in group context menu minimizes all its windows.
You might want to try this new mod:
Taskbar minimize/restore on scroll.
That does exactly what I need, just way more convenient via scroll-wheel and a few more functions!
Thanks! 😁🍻
Would be also great to have some small mod, which minimizes/restores all windows in group on left click on it’s taskbar icon. It feels kinda useless when left click on it acts the same as the hover action (reveals the previews)…
You can try the Taskbar minimize/restore on scroll mod which provides that functionality for wheel scrolling.
Yes, I just tried it and it works great! But wheel scrolling doesn’t feel right to me for this action — I got used to clicking an app in order to minimize/restore. And since Windows 11 doesn’t use left clicks on group icons at all, would be great to see a mod for this.
OK, thanks for the feedback, I added it to my mod wish list.
By the way, you can also use Ctrl+Click to cycle through the windows in the group. Another mod in the wish list is it allow that without having to hold Ctrl.
Thanks a lot! Probably my request could be combined with existing entry you mentioned, just as an option in settings for action on left click (“cycle through windows in group”, “minimize/restore all windows in group”, etc)
You can try the new Taskbar classic context menu Windhawk mod which brings back the classic taskbar context menu, and allows to minimize multiple windows as it was possible before.
Sorry, saw this message very late.
Thanks for the suggestion, another neat feature that’s good to know!
🙂👌
Could you add a feature to support a multi-line taskbar like in prior versions of Windows, so that when there are many programs open their buttons can spread across multiple lines? I’d like to make a donation and vote for that one while I’m at it.
Regardless, thank you for the work you’ve done on both 7TT and Windhawk. I’ve been using 7TT for a long time.
I tested using 7TT with Start11, but the 7TT options didn’t work until I also installed ExplorerPatcher. Is that what you’d expect? I was confused as Start11 and ExplorerPatcher seem very similar so I thought either one would suffice for 7TT to work.
Thanks for the suggestion, added it to the list so it’s now possible to vote for it. It’s not a simple feature to implement, but I’ll consider looking at it if there’s enough interest.
I’m not familiar enough with Start11. I only know that by default ExplorerPatcher restores the old Windows 10 taskbar and 7+ Taskbar Tweaker can work with it.
Yet if “multi-line taskbar” means that of two (or more) rows than that is already easy to obtain by just dragging the top border up.
https://i.postimg.cc/3xHsJM56/Tbar-2.jpg
But Thank God + bless you for 7+TaskbarTweaker!
ExplorerPatcher is a blessing itself, if you want the Taskbar to look like W/10, and combined with 7TT it enables customization that MS should provide by default, in my opinion.
Would it be possible to add tray_icons_padding to the wishlist? I used that advanced setting on Win10 to reduce the space between tray icons. The taskbar label mod lets you set padding around the taskbar items, but not tray items.
Added to the list under “Change padding between tray icons”.
Until a more convenient mod is made, this can be implemented using Michael’s “Windows 11 Taskbar Styler Mod” which is in the explore list in Windhawk.
Copy/merge/overwrite the following xaml rules into the Advanced tab, Mod Settings text box and hit save. (Include the curly brackets. You should not have to restart windows explorer if using the latest version of the mod) You can adjust the values as you see fit. I have my taskbar height at 36px and icon size at 20px so the values i used here may not apply for your use case. I included “comment” fields so you know what the selectors modify. These are ignored when ran.
(Windows version: 22H2 – 22621.2134)
{ "promptForExplorerRestart": 0, "controlStyles[0].target": "systemtray:TextIconContent", "controlStyles[0].styles[0]": "Width=20", "controlStyles[0].styles[1]": "Comment - network, volume, battery: requires systemtray:TextIconContent > Grid", "controlStyles[1].target": "systemtray:TextIconContent > Grid", "controlStyles[1].styles[0]": "Padding=0,0,0,0", "controlStyles[1].styles[1]": "Comment - network, volume, battery: requires systemtray:TextIconContent", "controlStyles[2].target": "systemtray:NotifyIconView#NotifyItemIcon", "controlStyles[2].styles[0]": "Width=24", "controlStyles[2].styles[1]": "MinWidth=0", "controlStyles[2].styles[2]": "Comment - regular app icons, doesn't seem to have issue with overflow or arrow icon", "controlStyles[3].target": "systemtray:Stack#NonActivatableStack", "controlStyles[3].styles[0]": "Margin=-7,0,-7,0", "controlStyles[3].styles[1]": "Comment - onscreen keyboard, untested if other icons show up in group?" }Huge thanks to Michael for creating UWPSpy! – some selectors don’t seem to play nice, but I managed to find ones that work. There may be others that work, but it took long enough to get these ones…
Im not the sharpest tool in the shed, but would these targets allow for changing the color of the systray icons? I use the light mode in Windows 11 so the text appears black in the systray and I want to change it to a different color.
Styles will not be applied to icons loaded after windhawk.
Can you add the ability to bring back the Windows 10 “People” icon in the taskbar? You forgot to add this to the table.
I never used this icon, and haven’t got this request from other users. I’ll keep it in mind and will consider adding it if I see there’s demand from more users.
plz add option to add taskbar on the side and to be NOT on top of other windows
that means that a window can be dragged OVER ON TOP of taskbar
also when a window lets say a game is double clicked and switch to full screen window it will take the whole screen and not just the screen minus taskbaer
i believe these options exist in the right click advanced settings of 7tt with a bunch of optioons as numbers
default is 0 and u can try 1 for on top and 2 for on top and allow full screen
thanks
You are right, the ‘always on top’ behavior of win11 taskbar is very annoyng.
It will be a great thing if could be disabled with WindHawk, without installling any other programs or be forced to change the bar appearence. I wish you good work with that, Micheal.
And great thanks for your old 7tt tool 😉
Please make taskbar like in macOS. No taskabr on left and right from Start menu and pinned programs. Just wallpaper.
I reinstall Windows 11 today and downloaded 7+ Taskbar Tweaker, but to my surprise, it is not working now, all the settings are greyed, I can not select them. Although until yesterday, it was working fine on Windows 11 for me.
Do I need to install some earlier version of 7+ taskbar tweaker? If yes, please share the link.
I read the above articles and according to my understanding, I need to install Windhawk now, and for each setting I need to install extra mods.
In some replies it was mentioned to use Explorer patcher also.
Please clarify what to use now and share the proper download links of them. I still don’t understand why suddenly 7+ (great work) is not working today inspite you are doing regular updates for it.
The only option to use 7+ Taskbar Tweaker on Windows 11 is by downgrading to the old taskbar. You’ll have to use another tool for the job, for example Explorer Patcher, as I wrote here: 7+ Taskbar Tweaker on Windows 11 with Windows 10’s taskbar.
An alternative solution is to use Windhawk and install the mods you need.
Hello,
after last update of “Disable Grouping”-Mod, not only the bug is solved, it finally behaves in most important details same as with 7taskbartweaker on indows 10 and I simply want to say THANKS!
I’ve been using 7 T T for a very long time, but I’m tired of the old win 10 interface. I started using Windhawk on , but I ran into the problem of thumbnails (sketches). When using the “do not group” mod, the thumbnails on the taskbar remain very much in the way. Is it possible to remove them through Windhawk ? how was it on 7TT or did I not find it in Windhawk ?
I wrote through a translator, if it is not clear, here is a screenshot of the 7tt settings that I do not know how to turn.
https://i.imgur.com/9LT6TZs.png
thanks
Right now, there’s no mod that implements that. You can vote for, “Hovering: List / Tooltip / Nothing” in the table on this post.
It’s been a while, but this option is finally available as a Windhawk mod:
https://ramensoftware.com/windhawk-mod-disable-taskbar-thumbnails
Would be great to see some mod, or an option in one of existing mods, to reduce taskbar padding around running apps. Right now each running program’s button has some spacing on top and bottom, which reduces the visual size of it — I would like them to take 100% of taskbar height.
Maybe it makes sense to be added to the existing module “Taskbar Labels for Windows 11”, which already provides option for horizontal (left/right) padding between buttons?
“Taskbar Labels for Windows 11” does something simple, it allows to control the padding, but it doesn’t affect the rest of the UI. Look at the image below. “Taskbar Labels for Windows 11” allows to control the green spacing, and I assume you want to control the red spacing. Part of it can be controlled in a similar way, but the orange part is more challenging as the button UI has to be changed.
https://i.imgur.com/uMQVdyp.png
If you’re OK with only controlling the non-orange part, you can use Taskbar height and icon size and increase the icon size or decrease the taskbar height.
Oh, and orange part is the one I was talking about… At first I thought that the new “Windows 11 Taskbar Styler” would allow to easily reduce this vertical padding around tiles, but I couldn’t really find the variable for that
Windows 11 Taskbar Styler can help. You can reduce the padding as following:
Target:
taskbar:TaskListButtonPanel#IconPanelStyle:
Padding=2,0,2,0The original value is
2,4,2,4for left,top,right,bottom padding.Wow, this is exactly what I wanted! Huge thanks!!!
The only problem is, it’s not applied to Start menu button, perhaps it needs a separate style selector?
Yes.
Target:
taskbar:TaskListButtonPanel#ExperienceToggleButtonRootPanelDefault padding:
Padding=12,4,2,4Note that it will also affect other buttons, if you have any, such as Task View, and they might have different left and right padding, which means that you’ll have to pick a single value for all buttons while using this method.
Super, that’s just perfect! I love my taskbar appearance 100% more now. I wish there was a place where people could share awesome style snippets like this, I could not really comprehed how to get all these selectors…
Could you please help me with one last selector — corner radius for the Start menu button? Just to make it fit with the “square task buttons” style included in the mod.
I’m working on a tool to help with that. Keep an eye on the blog announcements!
Try this. It might also affect other elements since the name “BackgroundElement” is quite generic, but that’s the best that can be done with the current version of Taskbar Styler. I plan on improving it in the future to allow more specific targets.
Target:
Border#BackgroundElementStyle:
CornerRadius=0That does the trick, huge thanks again! I owe you few coffees
Thank you, Max, I appreciate it!
I’ve been using 7+ taskbar for years solely to make the show/hide/peek desktop button larger, would love to be able to do this in win 11.
Hi, I was going through some unanswered questions. There’s no one-click solution, but it can be achieved with Windows 11 Taskbar Styler. You should be able to target these three elements with a MinWidth value:
https://i.imgur.com/u9Al3fe.png
For details, check out the mod’s description.
It’s certainly not the most urgent thing to do, but would you consider setting the time and date in ONE row?
You can hide the top line in the settings, and customize the bottom line to contain both the date and the time.
Sorry if this has already been asked…how about the option to change to classic style task switcher? I like the icon style instead of thumbnail, and I don’t like how it changes what is shown on the screen when cycling through the options. Does any solution exist for this already?
Right now, there’s no such mod, and it’s not in the list since it’s not related to the taskbar. But I’ll keep your suggestion in mind, thanks for the feedback.
https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/releases has it AFAIR
If I understand correctly, the only way I can currently have the taskbar on the right side in Win 11 is to use 7+Taskbar tweaker combing Explorer Patcher (use the win10 style) right? Since the Windhawk has not implemented this function yet.
Also, thanks a lot for your effort in developing such amazing tools!
Right. And you’re welcome 🙂
“Grouping: Don’t group pinned items” should be listed as “Partial” not “Done”, because the “Disable grouping on the taskbar” mod doesn’t let you disable grouping pinned items without disabling grouping entirely.
The mod has an exclusion list, and I wanted to add a mode that will allow to use an inclusion list instead, so that no ungrouping will take place except for a custom (possibly empty) list of processes. You’re technically right that it makes the implementation “Partial”, but that also applies to other options, such as the labels mod which doesn’t allow to control it per process. Since most mods re-implement the functionality, there are often small gaps, and I feel that marking most of them as “Partial” is not very productive if they provide the desired functionality for the vast majority of the users.
Even if it was an inclusion list instead of an exclusion list, I still wouldn’t be able to only exclude the pinned icon from being grouped, it would still disable the grouping of running instances of that program. I said it should be listed as “Partial” because 7+ Taskbar Tweaker allowed grouping icons for a program but excluding the pinned icon, so that pinned items could work like they were just the quick launch toolbar. I would just use the quick launch toolbar as a solution but microsoft didn’t include toolbars in the new taskbar.
I added a new option to the Disable grouping on the taskbar mod, “Pinned items remain in place, group running instances”, which keeps pinned items separated from running instances, while keeping the running instances grouped together.
I am a staunch user of the taskbar tweaker functionality to switch to the window located to the left/right on the taskbar (value 101 and 102 in the advanced settings). I absolutely despise how the default cycling works in windows, so one of the first things I always do after installing windows is to install the taskbar tweaker and setting ALT+tab to cycle right and ALT+caps to cycle left.
I don’t suppose this can be implemented with Windhawk?
Actually, it is implemented as part of the Cycle taskbar buttons with mouse wheel mod. Despite the name, keyboard shortcuts can also be configured. Note that the mod only works for Windows 11. For Windows 10, it’s best to keep using 7+ Taskbar Tweaker.
How did you do this? I tried the name-data pair (0x09|alt, 102), but it did not work.
Hi Victor, from what I can tell you seem to have done the correct steps.
Just to be sure, I’ll write what I’ve done: In the 7+ taskbar tweaker go under advanced settings (right click systray icon) – keyboard shortcuts and add:
Name: 0x09|alt-norepeat
Data: 102
What I believe might be your problem is that it seems to depend on which type of task switcher you have enabled. I remember using ExplorerPatcher and switching window/task switcher to classic for it properly work. A simple search for “enable classic alt+tab dialog in windows 11” seems to yield results as to how to achieve this with a simple regedit as well.
Best of luck!
The feature “Hide the “Show desktop” button” is already included in Windows 11 now, so probably no need to redo this here.
The Windows option turns the button into a useless empty space. By hiding the button, the idea is to get rid of that space altogether.
Longtime user here (and I think one time donator? I know I’ve at least contributed half decent threads on the user voice):
what exactly is WindHawk and how do I get started with it? I just heard about it now when trying to find an alternative to ExplorerPatcher for my Windows 11 laptop (it came with Windows 11 unfortunately, and more unfortunately an automatic update broke the taskview button. I commented about this here: https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/discussions/2013#discussioncomment-6956264), and if that works better for you, I’m all for it, ESPECIALLY if it’s less likely to make Windows start imitating a laptop-shaped mass of silicon dioxide building material (otherwise known as a brick) in the event of another nonconsensual update :rolling_eyes:
The best way to find out would be to read the publication blog post.
Just download it from the website, install it, and browse for mods. You can install mods that you like similarly to installing Chrome extensions.
Possibly replace the infuriating taskbar internet icon & options in win 11 with those from Win10?
Thanks
I believe it should be possible with the latest version of Windows 11 Taskbar Styler. You’ll need to provide the images, and to experiment with it to find the right style definitions. Here’s an example of replacing the start button image:
https://github.com/ramensoftware/windows-11-taskbar-styling-guide?tab=readme-ov-file#start-button-image
If you have any success, please share the styles and images so I’ll add it as an example to the styling guide.
Can you add the mod add Disable taskbar thumbnail preview.?
Thank you.
Such mod is planned. You can vote for, “Hovering: List / Tooltip / Nothing” in the table on this post.
Thank you very much.
Executed.
It’s been a while, but this option is finally available as a Windhawk mod:
https://ramensoftware.com/windhawk-mod-disable-taskbar-thumbnails
Hello everyone,
I don’t know if it has already been requested, but would it be possible to change the virtual desktop icon to show the number of the desktop I’m currently in? Or any other indication in the taskbar with the name of the desktop? I can change the desktop background so that it is different between desktops, but if a window is maximised it would cover it and I often get confused.
Hi, interesting idea, that should be possible but will require some work. It’s best to post your idea here, perhaps someone will implement it (maybe it will be me one day):
https://github.com/ramensoftware/windhawk-mods/issues
Hello Michael,
thank you so much for your work. I don’t know whether it was already discussed, but would it be possible to implement “Show all tray icons” feature? The feature that was removed in Windows 11. I absolutely hate having to go to taskbar settings every time the system sees a new tray icon to make it visible. Thanks
Hi, it was suggested here:
https://github.com/ramensoftware/windhawk-mods/issues/146
Hi, it’s been a while, but it’s finally done, check out Always show all taskbar tray icons.
Hi Michael,
It seems to work great. Thank you very much. You’re the best.
I just want to comment here and say thank you for all the hard work on this. Taskbar Tweaker is one of my top required softwares for using my computer the way I want to use my computer. After reading all of these comments, it seems like when/if I move on to W11, I’ll have to fight windows even more than in W10.
“Minimize/restore when mouse is over” doesn’t work anymore in Windows 11 22H2 22621.2361… Why?
only “CTaskListWnd_OnContextMenu_Hook” works.
“TaskListButton_OnPointerWheelChanged_Hook” doesn’t work anymore
I’ve just updated the mod and it should be compatible again. Let me know whether it works.
Yes! It works!! Thanks a lot!!
I’m very sad to see that 7+TT isn’t compatible with Win 11 without using the old taskbar. One function that I used daily in 7+TT was the double-click taskbar to mute and unmute sounds. That’s been extremely useful and I don’t see it on the update list. Is there any chance it might be implemented in Windhawk?
Thank you for all you do to make things easier 🙂
It’s planned, but there are just too many things yet to be done.
It’s “Customize double/middle click on empty space”.
Also, the Taskbar Volume Control mod has an option to mute with the middle mouse click on the volume tray icon. Not quite the same, but better than nothing.
Thanks for the prompt reply, Michael. I’m not able to get the “option to mute with the middle mouse click on the volume tray icon”. I am able to use the Taskbar Volume Control, however, to scroll all the way down to zero volume/mute, though. I guess that’ll have to do for now.
What’s your Windows version? This option is only supported on Windows 11 version 22H2.
Hi again, it’s now possible with the Click on empty taskbar space mod.
Thanks so much for your work on this—my workflow relies heavily on the ability to reorder thumbnails.
Two requests, if possible:
(1) I know this is a heavier lift, but it would be amazing if the taskbar could be moved to the side. On Windows 10 I used this all the time on landscape monitors to maximize vertical space, and I really miss it now that I’ve moved to Windows 11.
(2) This is less important to me, but is there any chance of restoring the ability to pin files to taskbar jump lists by drag-and-drop (rather than having to open each one and then pin)?
Thanks again for doing all the work that Microsoft should have done…
You’re welcome 🙂
(1) I have plans to look at it at some point, but as you mentioned, it’s not a simple task so it’s difficult to say how easy it’s going to be.
(2) I might look at it one day, but it’s not a priority, there are many things that I’d like to look at before this one, including the vertical taskbar.
Vote for (1).
Hi Michael,
I understand that this is a big task but also highly voted and donated. I hope this helps. Currently, I only know StartAllBack can do it, but I don’t want to pay for it as dev is in Russia.
Anyway, thanks for any effort and your support.
Daniel
Hi Daniel, thanks for the feedback. As far as I know, StartAllBack uses the old Win10 taskbar code. You can as well use ExplorerPatcher if you’re OK with that method.
I don’t know how StartAllBack does it technically but it moves the new taskbar (at least visually)
Daniel,
I’m not the expert that Michael is, but I’ll explain a little of what I understand of what he is telling you.
I haven’t used StartAllBack. I have briefly used Explorer Patcher under Win10, and I’ve used 7TT since Win7 and recently used Windhawk under Win10.
My understanding is Windows never removes the old taskbar code. They modify it sometimes (often), but the old code is still there.
If you run Explorer Patcher, you can choose from the Win10 taskbar, the Win8 taskbar, the Win7 taskbar, etc. If you choose the Win10 Taskbar, you get the ability to move the taskbar to the side of the screen and you get the ability to run 7TT. You lose the benefits (if any other than centering the icons) of the Win11 Taskbar.
Pros and minuses between 7TT/Windhawk and Explorer Patcher.
+ Generally 7TT/Windhawk uses the current windows taskbar.
+ 7TT/Windhawk work solely in memory (with a few exceptions that the modifications will mention before/when you install them.) – More below.
+ 7TT/Windhawk often offer more additional features that were never part of basic Windows.
– If there is some feature that you absolutely couldn’t do without from 7TT or a previous Windows version and it hasn’t made it into WindHawk yet, you pretty much have to use Explorer Patcher or StartAllBack, etc.
Things I am leery of:
Both programs affect core items of Windows. I don’t start 7TT automatically with Windows. I start it from a shortcut after Windows Opens. There have been times that I haven’t updated 7TT and Windows ran an update and Explorer would restart every few minutes (all the taskbar items vanished and then came back). Once I figured out what was happening, I just restarted, did NOT run my shortcut file, updated 7TT and continued.
Explorer Patcher (as far as I know), uses a .dll file and changes the system registry. If you install it, it will startup with Windows. You can’t start Windows without it unless you uninstall it. There have been reports of it getting into a loop b/c Windows updated before EP could be updated. See this thread https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows11/comments/13wxr6v/dont_install_explorerpatcher/ and the recommended solution:
When you got a EP Explorer crash loop just disable ExplorerPatcher using Task Manager to rename the hook file.
(CTRL + SHIFT + ESC), Run new task > Browse > goto C:\Windows, change to All files and rename dxgi.dll to any other name e.g. dxgi.disable.dll.
I’m by no means trying to discourage Explorer Patcher or create FUD, but I think you should be aware of the potential issues. That said, I’ve seen EP highly mentioned on places like ElevenForum and PC World, so I think many of the risks are over-rated.
Hi, in case you missed, a vertical taskbar mod was published recently:
https://ramensoftware.com/windhawk-mod-vertical-taskbar-for-windows-11
Thanks so much Michael! That’s awesome. Appreciate your letting us know!
Hi Michael
Firstly I need to add mine to the plethora of voices singing your praise and thanking you so much for the fantastic work you have and continue to put in to improving the experience that so many regularly have upon their PCs. I have used 7+tt for many years and you have turned the teethgrinding qualities of several aspects of interaction for me into a much appreciated pleasure. Thank you for all you do.
I have just switched to Win11. On the 21H2 version I found the loss of the Start Menu tiles grouping feature had me disliking Win11 immediately. But I became aware of the OS version update which supplied a return in a different form of that useful ability by the self creation of folders.
But I still have big Win10 loss issues and resultantly found out about your Windhawk project. Brilliant! Have now installed several of the mods. And I am loving their existence. If ever accomplished the reduction of space between the pinned icons it would once again be welcomed with arms wide open.
But i would like another feature that has been lost in the transition from Win10 to please be included in your aspiritional mods list:
the Taskbar Toolbars facility.
I have used the Desktop toolbar frequently and on a daily basis appreciated an external prog that was integrated into the Taskbar thanks to that Toolbars enablement/inclusion facility.
That toolbar most missed by me is Networx, a data monitor prog with a customizable real-time in&out data flow graph that I permanently embedded in the Taskbar. It was so helpful/informative. If you are unfamiliar with this prog, it is here: https://www.softperfect.com/products/networx/
Please add the Taskbar Toolbars facility to your list of potential mod implementations if it is possible for that feature to be returned for users.
And thanks once again for your amazing valued work.
Hi Baron,
Thank you for the feedback, I’m glad that you like Windhawk!
Unfortunately, reimplementing toolbar support for the Windows 11 taskbar will require a significant effort, and since it’s not a highly requested feature and there are so many other things I’d like to accomplish first, it’s unlikely that I’m going to look at it anytime soon, sorry.
Hi Michael,
I’ve been a fan of 7+TT forever – basically since Taskbar Shuffle stopped working after WinXP. Excellent work on the project and glad you are still supporting it and also transitioning it to Windhawk.
I also was going to request toolbar support. I still use the Quick Launch Toolbar in Windows 10.
@Baron – I haven’t tried it, but from what I have read, toolbar support IS available in Win11 with Explorer Patcher, if that is an option for you.
Michael – Would you be willing to add toolbar support to the list of potential windhawk mods and donations above, so it can be requested. It would save others like me from searching the comments for it, and I’m not sure that many people know it is missing. (I previously basically scanned the list of things I use 7TT for and which of them were going to WindHawk and wouldn’t have thought of toolbar support b/c I wouldn’t have known it was being removed).
Possibly new request – with some work and hunting, I found a registry change that would allow the active item to be a navy blue and the taskbar to be black when not grouping items. I’m hoping this works with Explorer Patcher and would like it to work with Windhawk, as well as removing the line under the items. More info/links:
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-change-color-only-taskbar-windows-10
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/active-window-taskbar-icon-color-stand-out-windows/5521f184-c332-4ca3-ba41-1d3d9f2991f9 (See Elle Q’s reply).
https://www.tenforums.com/general-support/9816-how-get-rid-line-under-taskbar-icons-9.html (See replies 44, 50, and 67)
https://www.tenforums.com/customization/96986-how-remove-line-taskbar-under-running-applications.html
Never tried this one. Basically needs an edit to aero.msstyles and probably frequent updates with Windows updates. Not sure if this could be done through WindHawk.
Thank you as always!
Hi Marshall, thanks for the feedback!
Added.
That, and many more can be achieved with the Windows 11 Taskbar Styler mod. It’s not as simple to use as just selecting a color, but it allows to do a wide range of visual customizations.
Amazing!!!
Okay – let me ask a few more questions!
Essentially, I’m fairly happy with Win10 – didn’t like the line under each icon. Like the apps and tiles on the start menu, like the quick launch toolbar, love 7TT and am using WhiteTiger’s version of T-Clock.
I was thinking of using ExplorerPatcher for that, but this is a work-PC and I’m leary of breaking the OS. (I’ve had 7TT not be compatible after an upgrade, but I don’t start it with the OS (I use a batch file, so I can just start without it if I don’t want it active or need to troubleshoot.)
I saw that there is now Taskbar Clock Customization for WindHawk, which can probably replace T-Clock, or there is 11-Clock.
I see there is Start Menu Styler and I think I can do what I need with that. I’ll have to get used to small icons instead of tiles, but I can live with that.
For the Quick-Access Toolbar, I’m assuming if I pin the apps to the taskbar and don’t group the icons, I essentially end up with the same functionality, so that will work also.
Is there a way to set the background color of the active application (Not all of the running applications, but the one the mouse cursor is inside)? The Link I posted explained how to do it with an accent color. I’m thinking there is, but I’m not sure which properties would control it.
Thank you again!!!
Follow-Up question. In the Quick Launch Toolbar, I have applications like Outlook, Calculator, Notepad, Etc. I can pin these to the taskbar and they should work about the same way as under Win10.
I also have shortcuts, i.e. open a specific Access Database, open Chrome with certain command-line options. I don’t see a way to pin these in windows 10. Is there a way in Windows 11? (Short of possibly creating a batch file to open them and pinning that to the taskbar?)
Thanks again!
You can create a shortcut with the relevant command line flags and just drag it to the taskbar to pin it. Should work on both Win10 and Win11.
Doesn’t quite work.
To explain – I don’t always have command line flags. In some cases, I have shortcuts to a file. For Example: CommandLineOptions.txt. Text files open with Notepad, so that works, but if I pin that to the taskbar after I open it, I have Notepad.exe pinned to the taskbar, not “CommandLineOptions.txt”. What I think I can do, but haven’t tested it is create a shortcut to “Win\Path\Notepad.exe CommandLineOptions.txt” and pin that shortcut to the taskbar and that should work.
One thing that works differently (under Win10), unless WindHawk works around it: If I have Notepad in my QuickLaunch Toolbar and click on it, I get Notepad.exe open in the main taskbar, outside of the quick Launch bar. If I pin Notepad to the Taskbar and click on it, the Notepad icon gets wider and says Notepad next to the icon, but doesn’t create a second icon – but middle-clicking still closes it.
More info:
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/anyone-know-how-to-add-quick-launch-to-the-taskbar-in-windows-11.1137/ – This lists registry keys that it says will allow you to create Toolbars and pin to the taskbar in Win11, but I have no idea if they still work or ever did work. It mentions a program called FreeLaunchBar, that didn’t seem to work for me, and WinAero Tweaker that doesn’t seem to be available anymore.
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/quick-launch-and-many-context-menu-options-gone-after-update-help.16817/#post-324583 – Reply #6 should work, but not quite as convenient as the QuickLaunch bar. For one thing, I can’t click the 8th icon directly, I have to click the icon, then it opens explorer, then I can click the 8th icon. I also couldn’t figure out how to pin it to the taskbar, and after opening it a few times, it opens to the C:\Drive instead of the Quick Launch folder and I don’t know why.
I have it ALMOST working (pseudo Quick Launch Taskbar). I found a lot of the items in the Quick Launch Taskbar I could Right-Click on and select Pin To Taskbar. For the ones that were file shortcuts, I had to modify this procedure: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/96525-pin-file-taskbar-windows-10-a.html – Basically, I changed the shortcut to .exe, dragged it to the taskbar, right-clicked on the line above the file and selected Properties, and pasted in the Properties from the shortcut.
Issues remaining:
– Some items open with a new icon, many just make the existing icon wider. I can live with that, and Windhawk might have an option that prevents this.
– I can’t seem to open multiple instances with this method. For example, I have a shortcut to Google Chrome. If I open it twice from the QLT, I get two instances of Google Chrome. If I open it twice from the pinned taskbar icon, it either minimizes or sets focus to the existing instance. I can live with that.
– I no longer have a “hard” border” – i.e. with the QLT, I can drag icons over without them going into the QLT. With pinned icons, I can’t do this. I may try moving the pinned icons to the right instead of the left side of the taskbar.
Found a plus also. With Pinned icons, I can right-click and use the Jump List. With QLT, I had to open the program and then use the jump list.
You can use the Disable grouping on the taskbar Windhawk mod. If you like grouping, you can use the “Pinned items remain in place, group running instances” mode.
Not your issue, but I thought I would mention it here. I ran into a major snag:
I didn’t realize WindHawk could be run in Win10. Recommend adding that somewhere. (Some mods you say Win11 only, but the intro blog and this page don’t mention running it in previous versions.)
I decided to test it before installing Win11, and it is blocked by our IT anti-virus. It works fine in safe mode, but of course that isn’t very useful. I thought it was odd the WH (portable) is blocked, but 7TT portable is permitted with no issues.
I’m trying to get it approved since the source code is available, and if that succeeds, I should be able to get IT to add an exception for it.
Windhawk injects code into all running processes, which is not something an average program does, and is a technique that’s often misused, that’s probably why it’s being blocked. 7+ Taskbar Tweaker only injects code into explorer.exe, and it’s a well known tool that’s available for many years, more than Windhawk.
What you can try is excluding all processes but explorer.exe in Windhawk’s advanced settings.
How would I do that? I see how to add Explorer.exe to the Process Inclusion list and I see how to add to the Process Exclusion list. How do I add “Not explorer.exe” to the Exclusion list.
You set “*” as the exclusion list, and “explorer.exe” as the inclusion list.
Issue now may be that it’s been flagged, so it might be on IT’s radar even if it would have otherwise worked. I’m hoping they will approve it.
It’s working!!! Thank you so much!!!
Sorry for all the comments. Maybe WindHawk already does it, but if not, could there be an option to “Keep pinned Icons from Moving.”
This would help mimic the Quick Launch Toolbar.
As it is: I like to have my E-mail app, followed by Windows Explorer, followed by my Web Browser.
I kill Windows Explorer to reset the systray icons, so I have to manually re-order these.
If I put the pinned icons on the left of the taskbar, I can drag the open apps through and past them, even with the taskbar locked. If I put the pinned icons on the right of the taskbar, any new application I open opens to the right of them and shifts them to the left.
No, there’s no such mod in Windhawk. I’ll consider looking into it, but it’s not trivial to implement, and not a popular request, so it’s not likely to happen in the near future.
I think WH may do something similar with Disable Grouping On the Taskbar mod setting “Pinned Items Remain In Place.”
I found a setting in Explorer Patcher for “Advanced – Pinned Items act as quick launch (don’t group with active apps) and that works VERY well for a QLT workaround. I still can drag active apps past the pinned apps, so it isn’t EXACTLY the same, but it is workable.
Yes, I mentioned the “Pinned Items Remain In Place.” mode in one of my replies to you.
I believe that it’s possible, yes, check out this comment:
https://github.com/ramensoftware/windows-11-taskbar-styling-guide/issues/3#issuecomment-1873448568
Thank you – that looks perfect for what I am trying to do.
Hopefully I’m running out of questions.
In the github link above, I downloaded his setting file, but it’s a .reg file. How would I change it to work with the portable installation of WindHawk?
Thanks in advance!!!
I added a JSON format for the settings, check out the bottom of the linked comment. The JSON settings can be imported in the mod’s advanced tab.
Thank you!!! – You really have gone over and above.
Perhaps not the proper place to ask, but I do have two additional questions:
Right now, I’m trying to get used to pinned icons since toolbars aren’t supported in Win11 without using Explorer Patcher. I’m using large icons b/c the Outlook icon changes when I have new E-mail. It works fine on an external monitor, but not on the laptop with 125% scaling. With the QLT, the icons are smaller and closer together. I think I can fix it under Win11 with either Taskbar Height and Icon Size, Taskbar Labels for Win11, or Windows 11 Taskbar Styler, but none of these work in Windows 10. Is there any similar setting for 7TT? I didn’t see it in the advanced options. I do have Remove Extra Gap Between Pinned Icons set and it does help some. (I know the obvious answer is to go back to using the QLT in Win10 and then use WindHawk in Win 11, but that means unpinning and then re-pinning all of my items.)
Second question: In Windows10 (and previous) the systray is not updated – i.e. if you use a batch file to kill a program, it will still be shown in the systray until you hover over it. Is this still an issue with Win11? I’ve tried a few free apps over the years, and nothing worked consistently. What has worked is restarting explorer, but that shuffles my icons and now they get mixed amongst the pinned ones. If it is still a Win11 issue, would it be possible to either:
– Add a tray icon refresh option for WindHawk, probably with a selectable interval, so that every 1 minute, or 5 minutes, or 15 minutes, it removed inactive icons from the systray?
– Add an option for Windhawk that would remember and retain the taskbar order when explorer was refreshed – probably somewhat similar to Virtual Desktop Preserve Taskbar Order? (The issue I see here is that Explorer can be reset many ways, and/or can just crash AND the taskbar icons change often, so either the mod would have to somehow log the current icons and order somehow, or there would need to be some type of manual process that would snapshot the icon locations, restart explorer (and clear the systray), and restore the icon positions. I’m thinking this could be done with a command-line option for WindHawk (or a standalone app). (It still wouldn’t protect unplanned explorer crashes, but …
Answering some of my previous reply. Systray MIGHT be updating automatically correctly as of Win 10 22H2.
Minor suggestion for Pinned items. This is based on 7TT and Win10, but I’m thinking WindHawk works the same way:
If I have selected:
– Group by Application ID.
– When not Grouping place new items next to existing ones.
– Don’t group pinned items.
Now – I have Word pinned. I open a Word Document and it opens next to the pinned Word Icon – I’d prefer it to be on the far right, so I drag it there. Any new Word doc will open next to the moved Word doc.
Could you either have “Don’t group pinned items” always open on the right, or have a sub-option for Don’t group pinned items for “Open first new item to the far right instead of by pinned item”.
I assume there is no way to drag between groups in Win11? I saw the right-mouse button was not done and voted for it, but didn’t know if there was another way to do it.
You can disable the “When not grouping, place new items next to the existing ones” option, then each new item will be created on the far right.
You can use the Taskbar Thumbnail Reorder mod.
I wanted to post some possible Quick Launch Toolbar replacement options:
First off – In Win10, I have 13 apps in the QLT and 28 in the start menu tiles. I use large icons in the task bar and small icons in the toolbar.
Perhaps the best option would be to use Explorer Patcher or similar and stay with the Win10 Taskbar until WindHawk or MS enable toolbars on the taskbar in Win11.
The first thing I tried was pinning my start menu shortcuts to the taskbar. That somewhat works, but has two issues: Running apps often open next to the pinned apps, so it doesn’t really work like a toolbar. The pinned apps take up a LOT of space. I can probably reduce it with some of the WH mods, but I don’t think I’ll get it to the size it is in Win10. It’s not an issue with a large monitor, but it will be with the laptop screen.
Another solution was to add a shortcut to the folder for the QLT items that opens in File Explorer. This works and only adds one pinned icon to the taskbar, but it is somewhat cumbersome. Instead of clicking the icon to open my desired app, I have to click the folder icon, find the app, double-click it, and close File Explorer. Four mouse clicks instead of one.
What I am probably going to end up doing is pinning my quick launch apps to the Win11 Start Menu. I’m not sure how many Start Menu apps Win11 allows or how many ways you can arrange them, but it is probably more than 41. I can likely figure something out with a 6×7 grid. It’s still two clicks instead of one previously, but it’s the same amount of effort it takes for my apps that I don’t use almost daily.
I appreciate all the suggestions and hope this helps others as well.
No, “Remove extra gap between items” is the only option on Win10.
As it seems to be fixed in Win11, I’m not too motivated to work on a mod that will fix that for Win10. Especially since that’s not an easy task.
It was suggested before. You can see one of my replies here:
https://ramensoftware.com/7-taskbar-tweaker/comment-page-54#comment-15014
Michael,
Sorry if I missed it, but can you please explain the color format for the background colors.
For example, in the link, #a000F000 seems to be bright green, but how is this determined? Is it Hex, RGB, etc?
It’s hex ARGB (alpha, red, green, blue). There are other ways to set the colors, you can see details here:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/uwp/api/windows.ui.color?view=winrt-22621#notes-on-xaml-syntax
Hey Michael,
Thank you so much for your work!
A feature I would like to see on Windhawk, is the equivalent of 7+ Taskbar Tweaker’s “when not grouping, place new items next to the existing ones”. (Forgive me if you’ve listed this already with a different name.) I hope you are able to implement this in the near future.
Kind regards,
Ryan
Ah, it’s already done. My bad. Setting “Place ungrouped items together”.
Thanks once again. Your software’s been a staple with me for many years.
Thank you for the progress you’ve done since I last checked the mods.I’ve been using 7+tt with classic taskbar to keep the functionality, and I just checked the mods and almost everything I used is already here.
If I could make a request here regarding one of the mods, the one which allows middle/double click on empty taskbar space is great, but It’s missing the ability to also use other mouse buttons, like mouse4/5, and to run custom command, which we do with the help of registry in 7+tt.
There’s an open issue about this here:
https://github.com/m1lhaus/windhawk-mods/issues/1
Thank you.
I already commented once, but figured I should make a new comment for another request.
I use eartrumpet, which replaces the functionality of the native volume slider, so it would be great if it was possible to decouple or selectively hide the wifi/volume icons. Actually now that I think about it, beign able to actually move the wifi/volume, language bar and so on, would be a great feature also.
Thank you for your work.
There’s no simple way to achieve that, but you can hide the icons with the Windows 11 Taskbar Styler mod. See:
https://github.com/ramensoftware/windows-11-taskbar-styling-guide?tab=readme-ov-file#hide-the-volume-icon
Thanks. Hiding the volume button should do the trick for now.
Hello!
I miss being able to hide labels in a per program basis. Would be great to know that’s on some roadmap, or this list, or something….
That’s something to expect on Taskbar Inspector, sure. But could we have it earlier? Do we at least know it’s feasible?
Best regards, thanks!
Hi, there’s a relevant issue on GitHub, it can be tracked here:
https://github.com/ramensoftware/windhawk-mods/issues/203
It is on the roadmap. It should be feasible, but it requires a different solution than Windows 10, so it will require some investigation.
Hi again,
It’s been a while, but it’s finally possible to configure labels per application in version 1.3 of the mod.
Hey Michael,
Thank you so much for your work!
A feature I would like to see on Windhawk, is the “sort group items”
Thanks again,
Yaniv
I really only used 7+tt for one feature: remove space between QuickLaunch icons.
Please ad this to your list!
Some of it can be achieved with the Taskbar height and icon size mod. For more fine-tuning, you can use Windows 11 Taskbar Styler.
Thanks, but neither of these mods can do it. Nor can the Taskbar Labels for Windows 11, which you suggest elsewhere in the comments. So, noo dice.
It seems like it should be a simple thing to achieve. PLEASE!
Also, where is the reset button in the mod settings page? I had to remove + reinstall mods to get back my original settings.
I believe it can be achieved with Windows 11 Taskbar Styler, although it’s not as simple as a clicking a checkbox. Currently there’s no simpler way to achieve that, I may look at implementing something like this in the future.
There’s no such button. You can either change the settings manually or, if you have too many changes, remove and reinstall as you did.
Meh, the only reason i use Windhawk is the option to close apps with middle click but that no longer working :/
It works for me. Somebody (maybe you) opened an issue about it. I’m waiting for more information:
https://github.com/ramensoftware/windhawk-mods/issues/540
Your software (Windhawk) is great, specifically the Taskbar Height and Icon Size mod; I just wanted to say thank you for building something that used to be quite available strictly within Windows. Without curious, clever, and tenacious people like you, my 23+ professional years in IT would be a much more frustrating place. 🙂
You’re welcome 🙂 thanks for the great feedback!
I’ve been using 7tt for many years (and also StartAllBack after upgrading to Win11) and it all works perfectly but I thought I would try Windhawk to have it as a possible fallback in case the combo of 7tt/StartAllBack stop working.
I managed to find some Windhawk solutions for what I have set up with those 2, but some things are missing/different so I thought I’ll bring them up here in case other people would also want to see them available in Windhawk 🙂
-Classic context menu for the taskbar/taskbar items/systray (I think it’s the “Right click: Standard window menu” suggestion but I’m not sure)
-Text alignment to the left in taskbar items/buttons (not sure if it’s only in my case but I couldn’t get the text to be aligned to the left, it starts from around the center of the button)
-Remove empty space to the right and left of the taskbar
-Hide volume and network systray icons
-And though not specifically related to the taskbar – a classic start menu
Hi Guy, thanks for the feedback!
Yes, that’s it for taskbar items (not systray, which would be a different task).
What do you mean? Can you post a screenshot?
You can actually do that with the Windows 11 Taskbar Styler Windhawk mod, see here. It might help with the empty space, too, but it will require some experimentation (UWPSpy can help).
Thank you for the response!
> Can you post a screenshot?
I’ve since uninstalled Windhawk so I don’t have a true screenshot but a recreation of that would look something like this – https://i.imgur.com/uAR2EpO.png
> You can actually do that with the Windows 11 Taskbar Styler Windhawk mod
Nice, thank you!
This may happen with some uncommon option combinations. The gap between the icon and the label can be adjusted via the options of the Taskbar Labels for Windows 11 mod.
For some reason the relevant Taskbar Labels options didn’t work for me, but I may try it again in the future
Updating that I tried using negative values and that did it 👍 (-30 specifically in my case)
Adding solutions for reference, using the “Windows 11 Taskbar Styler” mod
> Remove empty space to the right and left of the taskbar
– by reducing padding of start menu icon-
Target:
taskbar:TaskListButtonPanel#ExperienceToggleButtonRootPanel
Style:
Padding=0
Width=30
– by hiding Show Desktop area
Target:
SystemTray.Stack#ShowDesktopStack
Style:
Visibility=Collapsed
> Hide volume and network systray icons
Target:
SystemTray.OmniButton#ControlCenterButton
Style:
Visibility=Collapsed
Very minor priority, but I think a fairly easy suggestion which has bothered me since Win10:
Could you add another drop-down item to Taskbar Labels for Windows 11 for Running Indicator Style “Collapsed.”
I know it can be done with Windows 11 Taskbar Styler and I’ll most likely use that, but it would be useful for more casual users.
Thank you as always!
Running on Windows 11, I am using the portable version of Windhawk, and I installed the mod “Thumbnails: Drag to reorder.” Windhawk indicates that the mod is “installed,” and the blue slider is set to “on.” But mod is not working, and the Windhawk toolkit indicates that the mod’s status is “unloaded.” I cannot figure out how to “load” the mod if it is already installed. Do you have any suggestions? (I have also installed the mod “Slick Window Arrangement,” and it works great.) Thank you.
Hi Mark, I suspect that you might have the same issue as reported here:
https://github.com/ramensoftware/windhawk-mods/issues/640#issuecomment-2091810033
The Slick Window Arrangement mod doesn’t require debug symbols, so it’s not affected by their unavailability.
Thank you, Michael. It sounds like this will eventually be worked out with a future update to windows, so I’ll be patient. I appreciate your help.
I just posted a workaround here:
https://github.com/ramensoftware/windhawk-mods/issues/641#issuecomment-2092499571
Hi Michael,
I’m having more issues that I just can’t figure out. I have Windows 11 Start Menu Styler somewhat working.
If I select one of the default themes, it turns the start menu transparent and I can’t see anything (well, I see the icons, but I can’t read what they say).
If I go to https://github.com/ramensoftware/windows-11-start-menu-styling-guide/blob/main/Themes/NoRecommendedSection/README.md and import the settings under advanced, it works fine.
And if I go to https://github.com/ramensoftware/windows-11-start-menu-styling-guide/blob/main/Themes/SideBySideMinimal/README.md and import the settings under advanced, that works fine as well.
What I want is a combination of these – i.e. I want no recommended section, the pinned apps at 504 px, and the All Apps shown on the left.
If I try to paste both sets of settings in, I get invalid JSON error, even if I try to re-number the controlstyles so that they are sequential.
Thank you again!!!
Hi Marshall,
It makes sense that pasting both configurations won’t work, both configure the same elements in different ways. Combining both in a way that makes sense will require some effort, and is not something that can just be done with a couple of clicks.
Mistyped – Side-by-Side Minimal works if I manually import it and is close to what I want. Originally, I was trying to combine Side-by-Side2 and NoRecommendedSection (ideally with 6 columns of Pinned items).
Can that be done?
And I’d like to keep the search box and the user name label. …
Unless I had the correct JSON for it, that is.
I’ll play around with it some more. Let me ask a couple of follow-up questions, since I am new to Windhawk:
The advanced tab just combines (by default) the settings on the settings tab, correct? So if it remove something from the default tab, it will be removed from the advanced tab code as well?
Essentially, Side-by-Side Minimal is VERY close to what I want, but it only includes 3 columns of icons. Side-by-Side2 has 5 columns of icons, but includes the recommended section that I don’t want. Originally, I was thinking I wanted to modify Side-bySide2 to remove the recommended section, but it might work better to modify side-by-side minimal to change the margins for each setting.
Question: Off-the-shelf, Windows11 have six columns for pinned icons, and I would prefer 7. Q1 – would it (in theory) be possible to modify SbS2 to reduce the width of All Apps and increase the width of pinned apps and come up with six columns of icons? Q2 – is 7 colums even possible.
Finally, if I come up with something like I want, should I post the JSON here so you can add it later if you think others might want to use it?
Yes.
I think it’s fairly easy to achieve, you can set SidebySide2 and then apply the relevant styles from the readme.
Sure.
Sure, why not.
Yeah, go ahead.
Not sure 7 columns is possible. I saw how to expand the window and the list width, but it seemed like i had plenty of space for another column of icons and it wouldn’t go beyond 6. Six is the Win11 default, so I have the default width plus the all apps menu.
As you said, instead of using SBS Minimal and trying to add columns, I ended up using SBS2 and hiding the recommended items and playing with the margins and offsets.
Also – I couldn’t figure out what is moving the user menu button to the right instead of next to the power button. I prefer it to the left, but it’s not a big deal.
Here’s the modified code:
{
“controlStyles[0].target”: “Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Grid#UndockedRoot”,
“controlStyles[0].styles[0]”: “Visibility=Visible”,
“controlStyles[0].styles[1]”: “MaxWidth=750”,
“controlStyles[0].styles[2]”: “Margin=175,0,0,0”,
“controlStyles[1].target”: “Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Grid#AllAppsRoot”,
“controlStyles[1].styles[0]”: “Visibility=Visible”,
“controlStyles[1].styles[1]”: “Width=300”,
“controlStyles[1].styles[2]”: “Transform3D:=”,
“controlStyles[2].target”: “Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Button#CloseAllAppsButton”,
“controlStyles[2].styles[0]”: “Visibility=Collapsed”,
“controlStyles[3].target”: “StartDocked.StartSizingFrame”,
“controlStyles[3].styles[0]”: “MinWidth=850”,
“controlStyles[3].styles[1]”: “MaxWidth=850”,
“controlStyles[4].target”: “Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Grid#ShowMoreSuggestions”,
“controlStyles[4].styles[0]”: “Visibility=Collapsed”,
“controlStyles[5].target”: “Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Button#ShowAllAppsButton”,
“controlStyles[5].styles[0]”: “Visibility=Collapsed”,
“controlStyles[6].target”: “Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.GridView#RecommendedList > Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Border > Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.ScrollViewer#ScrollViewer > Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Border#Root > Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Grid > Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.ScrollContentPresenter#ScrollContentPresenter > Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.ItemsPresenter > Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.ItemsWrapGrid > Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.GridViewItem”,
“controlStyles[6].styles[0]”: “MaxWidth=220”,
“controlStyles[6].styles[1]”: “MinWidth=220”,
“controlStyles[7].target”: “StartDocked.AllAppsGridListView#AppsList”,
“controlStyles[7].styles[0]”: “Padding=48,3,-36,32”,
“controlStyles[8].target”: “Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Grid#AllAppsPaneHeader”,
“controlStyles[8].styles[0]”: “Margin=97,0,0,0”,
“controlStyles[9].target”: “Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Grid#SuggestionsParentContainer”,
“controlStyles[9].styles[0]”: “Height=168”,
“controlStyles[10].target”: “StartDocked.NavigationPaneView#NavigationPane”,
“controlStyles[10].styles[0]”: “FlowDirection=1”,
“controlStyles[10].styles[1]”: “Margin=30,0,30,0”,
“controlStyles[11].target”: “StartDocked.PowerOptionsView#PowerButton”,
“controlStyles[11].styles[0]”: “FlowDirection=0”,
“controlStyles[12].target”: “Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.ItemsStackPanel”,
“controlStyles[12].styles[0]”: “FlowDirection=1”,
“controlStyles[13].target”: “Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.ListViewItem”,
“controlStyles[13].styles[0]”: “FlowDirection=0”,
“controlStyles[14].target”: “Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.ItemsStackPanel > Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.ListViewItem”,
“controlStyles[14].styles[0]”: “FlowDirection=0”,
“controlStyles[15].target”: “StartDocked.SearchBoxToggleButton#StartMenuSearchBox”,
“controlStyles[15].styles[0]”: “Margin=23,1,23,14”,
“controlStyles[16].target”: “Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.TextBlock#NoSuggestionsWithoutSettingsLink”,
“controlStyles[16].styles[0]”: “Margin=11,0,48,0”,
“resourceVariables[0].variableKey”: “Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Grid#ShowMoreSuggestions”,
“resourceVariables[0].value”: “Visibility=Collapsed”,
“controlStyles[17].target”: “Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Grid#ShowMoreSuggestions”,
“controlStyles[17].styles[0]”: “Visibility=Collapsed”,
“controlStyles[18].target”: “Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Grid#SuggestionsParentContainer”,
“controlStyles[18].styles[0]”: “Visibility=Collapsed”,
“controlStyles[19].target”: “Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Grid#TopLevelSuggestionsListHeader”,
“controlStyles[19].styles[0]”: “Visibility=Collapsed”,
“controlStyles[20].target”: “StartMenu.PinnedList”,
“controlStyles[20].styles[0]”: “Height=504”
}
Michael,
Another Start Menu Styler question. I like the layout I came up with above, but I notice that sometimes the “All Apps” menu won’t fully load – i.e. I’ll see the A and B apps and than just the background, although the scroll bar continues down the full list. Sometimes it works fine and sometimes it doesn’t, and I can predict which it will do.
It happened also with the default Side-by-Side and Sbs minimal themes as well.
Is this normal, have you seen it before, could it be caused by using portable WH and not loading it at startup?
Thanks again!
Surely it’s not normal. I encountered it in the past, but like you, I couldn’t determine what caused it. It’s unlikely to be related to the portable version.
I only noticed it while playing with the styles, so hopefully after adjusting the customizations and restarting the computer, it will no longer happen. If you find a way to reproduce it, let me know and I’ll try to investigate more.
Confirmed – seems to be working fine after a re-boot. I’ve been doing lots of tweaking in WH and haven’t re-booted in between and I jumped the gun on “The sky is falling…” with this one.
Not sure it’s reproducible, but I have a theory. Earlier today Explorer crashed and restarted. I somewhat now what happened there – I was playing with Taskbar Styler and adjusting the width of the Show Desktop button and I set it to 30 to see that it worked and it moved the systray wider than the taskbar items and I don’t think Win11 liked that.
Anyway, it’s not working again, so I think possibly after an Explorer restart the custom start menu is broken – but I’m not sure why they would be related.
It’s not related to an Explorer crash – i.e. I re-booted and it was fine and I restarted Explorer and it was still fine.
It’s also not ONLY related to changing the Start Menu styles, b/c I didn’t change those at all today and it still was broken.
It MIGHT have been related to that I was changing settings in Taskbar styler when Explorer crashed, so that affected Start Menu styler – somehow …
The start menu isn’t part of Explorer, so even if something goes wrong with the Start Menu styler, it may cause instability with StartMenuExperienceHost.exe, but won’t affect explorer.exe.
Another question. I’m using the portable version of Windhawk and not loading it at startup, and when I first load it, it does a restart of Windows Explorer. However, once started, I can enable/disable Mods without it restarting Explorer.
Is this normal? I can live with it, if it is …
That’s not normal. Perhaps Explorer crashes for some reason. Does it happen again if you exit and then run Windhawk again? Can you disable some of the mods to try and find the mod that causes it, if any?
Just tested. I’m launching from a batch file with command line so I don’t see the splash screen, but just exiting and double-clicking it, it does an Explorer Restart. I turned all the mods on and off individually and it doesn’t happen. I suspect some of the mods aren’t playing well together – i.e. some mod is trying to change things while another mod is also changing things.
I’m using the following mods:
Fix Basic Caption Text
Middle Click to Close on the Taskbar
TaskBar Clock Customization
TaskBar Notification Icon Spacing
TaskBar Thumbnail Reorder
Win11 TaskBar Styler
Win11 StartMenu Styler
It is something to do with Win11 Taskbar Styler … I disabled ALL mods and didn’t have the issue, then enabled them one at a time and didn’t have the issue until I enabled TaskBar Styler, then ONLY enabled Taskbar Styler and had the issue with only Taskbar Styler enabled. Odd thing is that I can enable and disable it when WH is running with no problems.
Here is my JSON, if that might show anything odd:
{“controlStyles[0].target”:”systemtray:Stack#ShowDesktopStack”,”controlStyles[0].styles[0]”:”\”MinWidth=16\””,”controlStyles[1].target”:”systemtray:ImageIconContent > Grid#ContainerGrid”,”controlStyles[1].styles[0]”:”Padding=3,0″,”controlStyles[2].target”:”taskbar:TaskListLabeledButtonPanel@CommonStates > Border#BackgroundElement”,”controlStyles[2].styles[0]”:”Background=#FF000000″,”controlStyles[2].styles[1]”:”Background@InactiveNormal=#df002020″,”controlStyles[2].styles[10]”:”BorderThickness=1,1,1,1″,”controlStyles[2].styles[11]”:”BorderBrush=#1fffffff”,”controlStyles[2].styles[2]”:”Background@InactivePointerOver=#ff004040″,”controlStyles[2].styles[3]”:”Background@InactivePressed=#ff004040″,”controlStyles[2].styles[4]”:”Background@ActiveNormal=#0078D7″,”controlStyles[2].styles[5]”:”Background@ActivePointerOver=#ff006cc1″,”controlStyles[2].styles[6]”:”Background@ActivePressed=#ff007020″,”controlStyles[2].styles[7]”:”Background@RequestingAttention=#ff900000″,”controlStyles[2].styles[8]”:”Background@RequestingAttentionPointerOver=#ffb00000″,”controlStyles[2].styles[9]”:”Background@RequestingAttentionPressed=#ffb00000″,”controlStyles[3].target”:”taskbar:TaskListLabeledButtonPanel@RunningIndicatorStates > Rectangle#RunningIndicator”,”controlStyles[3].styles[0]”:”Visibility=Collapsed”,”controlStyles[4].target”:”SystemTray.NotifyIconView > Grid@ > Border#BackgroundBorder”,”controlStyles[4].styles[0]”:”Background@PointerOver=#ff006060″,”controlStyles[4].styles[1]”:”Background=#00000000″,”resourceVariables[0].variableKey”:””}
I just did a copy and paste from the mod, not sure if there’s a way to get a more readable format.
Thank you again!!!
Tested Windhawk Taskbar Styler a bit more. The issue is something with the JSON code.
I removed ALL the code on the advanced tab, so the mod was not changing anything. Exited and restarted WindHawk with no issues.
Then I manually imported the WinXP Theme from https://github.com/ramensoftware/windows-11-taskbar-styling-guide/blob/main/Themes/WinXP/README.md – VERY cool theme, but not what I am after. It installed fine. Exited Windhawk and restarted with no problems.
Then, I manually input your JSON code from here: https://github.com/ramensoftware/windows-11-taskbar-styling-guide/issues/3#issuecomment-1873448568 That has issues. It did an Explorer restart. Interesting theme, but not what I’m looking for – transparent background, clock customizations are gone clock is white on transparent so unreadable.
Now the odd things: I applied my custom theme settings and the transparent background remained. Exited WH and the transparent background remained. Had to do an Explorer restart myself to get back to the normal background.
Here is my code in a more readable format:
{
“controlStyles[0].target”: “systemtray:Stack#ShowDesktopStack”,
“controlStyles[0].styles[0]”: “\”MinWidth=16\””,
“controlStyles[1].target”: “systemtray:ImageIconContent > Grid#ContainerGrid”,
“controlStyles[1].styles[0]”: “Padding=3,0”,
“controlStyles[2].target”: “taskbar:TaskListLabeledButtonPanel@CommonStates > Border#BackgroundElement”,
“controlStyles[2].styles[0]”: “Background=#FF000000”,
“controlStyles[2].styles[1]”: “Background@InactiveNormal=#df002020”,
“controlStyles[2].styles[10]”: “BorderThickness=1,1,1,1”,
“controlStyles[2].styles[11]”: “BorderBrush=#1fffffff”,
“controlStyles[2].styles[2]”: “Background@InactivePointerOver=#ff004040”,
“controlStyles[2].styles[3]”: “Background@InactivePressed=#ff004040”,
“controlStyles[2].styles[4]”: “Background@ActiveNormal=#0078D7”,
“controlStyles[2].styles[5]”: “Background@ActivePointerOver=#ff006cc1”,
“controlStyles[2].styles[6]”: “Background@ActivePressed=#ff007020”,
“controlStyles[2].styles[7]”: “Background@RequestingAttention=#ff900000”,
“controlStyles[2].styles[8]”: “Background@RequestingAttentionPointerOver=#ffb00000”,
“controlStyles[2].styles[9]”: “Background@RequestingAttentionPressed=#ffb00000”,
“controlStyles[3].target”: “taskbar:TaskListLabeledButtonPanel@RunningIndicatorStates > Rectangle#RunningIndicator”,
“controlStyles[3].styles[0]”: “Visibility=Collapsed”,
“controlStyles[4].target”: “SystemTray.NotifyIconView > Grid@ > Border#BackgroundBorder”,
“controlStyles[4].styles[0]”: “Background@PointerOver=#ff006060”,
“controlStyles[4].styles[1]”: “Background=#00000000”,
“resourceVariables[0].variableKey”: “”
}
Basically, all I did was remove things from the linked code that I knew I didn’t want to change, collapsed the running app indicator that I didn’t want, and changed the active application indicator to blue instead of green.
So there must be something wrong in the JSON with my other settings that is being carried over to the modified code.
I have another really odd issue also.
I have nothing pinned to the taskbar (except True Launch Bar’s shortcut).
I have the taskbar set to not combine icons – ever.
I really like Taskbar Clock Customization, which I am using as a replacement for TClock.
If I have Taskbar Clock Customization enabled, when my icons get to about the middle of the taskbar, new apps go into the “overflow” area. If I disable Taskbar Clock Customization, I can open 4 or 5 additional programs before I hit the overflow …
Falsely accused WindHawk. This isn’t a taskbar Clock Customization issue. Seems to be something squirrely with Windows 11. I disabled Taskbar Clock Customization and it still does it SOMETIMES. I re-enabled it and sometimes it works properly.
Fixed!!!
Basically, I got rid of the System Tray items:
“controlStyles[0].target”: “systemtray:Stack#ShowDesktopStack”,
“controlStyles[0].styles[0]”: “\”MinWidth=16\””,
“controlStyles[1].target”: “systemtray:ImageIconContent > Grid#ContainerGrid”,
“controlStyles[1].styles[0]”: “Padding=3,0”,
“controlStyles[4].target”: “SystemTray.NotifyIconView > Grid@ > Border#BackgroundBorder”,
“controlStyles[4].styles[0]”: “Background@PointerOver=#ff006060”,
“controlStyles[4].styles[1]”: “Background=#00000000”,
I think those were likely conflicting with the Taskbar Notification Icon Spacing mod.
Anyway – seems to be working fine now!!!
Thank you! I believe I found the problem that causes this, and I’ll get it fixed in the next update of the mod. For now, if you’re interested, I can post a test version for you to verify the fix.
Hi Michael,
Yes, I’d definitely be interested in a test version.
Also, I’m not convinced my changes resolved the issue. It doesn’t restart explorer as often (it originally was every time I started WH, but I’ve still seen it do it occasionally – maybe 1 time out of 5 and I’ve probably only exited and started WH 5 times since I modified the code.
Thank you again!!!
Here it is:
https://gist.github.com/m417z/6f5e66c404f54ab59147656b2b7570b5
To install it, disable the existing mod, then click the bottom right button to create a new mod, replace the code with the content from the link above, click “Compile Mod”, then “Exit Editing Mode”.
Let me know if explorer restarts with this version. Hopefully, it’ll fix the issue completely.
Michael,
Thank you so much. I learned how to create WH mods, if I ever get so inspired.
Some info on the new mod.
First off – Explorer restarts seem to take much longer in Win11 than in Win10. I’ve done them a lot. I know how they work.
Second – With the old mod, I didn’t get an explorer restart this morning – it didn’t happen all the time. So you can’t prove a negative. Not getting an Explorer restart (and I didn’t) doesn’t necessarily prove the issue is fixed.
Third – last night, I was playing around with taskbar overflow and I installed Taskbar Height and Icon Size and Taskbar Labels for Win 11. So todays configuration is different from yesterdays. Last night I was getting a LOT of explorer restarts – seems like basically when the taskbar would overflow and not overflow.
Finally – Test results. No Explorer restarts. I closed and re-opened WH a couple of times. I also opened enough programs to overflow the taskbar.
I did see one thing odd – maybe it’s by design, but I wanted to mention it, in case it was not. With the previous version, if I didn’t get an explorer restart, it worked basically seamlessly – i.e. the taskbar just changed from the default to the new setup. With the new test version, if I restart WH, the taskbar changes from black to transparent. Disregard – Test mod seems to be working fine. I figured out what the issue is and have a possible fix for it:
I think the default Win11 Taskbar is 48 pixels. I changed mine to 32 pixels. I also have True Launch Bar above the taskbar. When I disable or enable Taskbar height and size, it pulls the taskbar UP and then repositions it, which I think makes the briefly visible gap. i.e. instead to the taskbar staying at the bottom and the height changing from 48 to 32 pixels, the taskbar is pulled UP by cutting 16 pixels off the bottom and then moved down to the bottom of the screen. Probably can’t be changed and not worth worrying about.
Also – somewhat odd but I don’t think you can control it either. In Win7, I used 16x icons in the taskbar (small icons). In Win10, they added badges so I got an envelope over the Outlook icon when I got a new E-mail, but it only worked with large icons.
With WH – it works, but with 16px icons, the overlay goes to the right of the icon. I see it mainly with Skype for Business and mainly because SfB uses a different 16px icon in the systray for status, but a badge in the taskbar.
Disregard the icon badge issue also. Seems to not work in Win11 – Well, it works but. Somehow, in WH, if I enable Taskbar Labels for Windows 11, the “badge” for the icon gets shifted a few pixels to the right of the actual Icon. I can live with this and I don’t see a setting that changes it.
Thank you again for all your support of the mods!
That’s true, but I can check the origin of the crash to make sure it’s the one I fixed. You can enable dump capturing as following and enable the non-fixed mod again, then post the crash dump for me to check.
You should be able to get it with the following steps:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error ReportingLocalDumpsDumpTypewith value2%LocalAppData%\CrashDumpsfolder, you should see a dump file in thereThat might also be a different crash, a similar issue was reported a while ago:
https://github.com/ramensoftware/windhawk-mods/issues/478
See my latest reply in the issue. Unfortunately, that one is more difficult to fix as it isn’t caused directly by the mod.
In any case, a crash dump can shed more light on the origin of the crash.
Sounds like this issue:
https://github.com/ramensoftware/windhawk-mods/issues/610
It’s on my list to fix, but, as I also commented in the issue, meanwhile you should be able to adjust it with a Taskbar Styler rule.
If the dump file is 800MB, I’m not sure how I can get it to you?
Dumb question – I added the DWORD, the key was already there. Normally, I would restart Explorer to load the registry change, which would create a dump file, which I would delete before intentionally triggering one. Is this correct?
Overflow crash does seem like issue 478. My goal is to reduce the button size so that I don’t hit overflow (or rarely). Agree with your comments, I wouldn’t focus too much on it and would make the fix optional.
Badge issue is exactly like issue 610. Three questions:
– How would I adjust it with Taskbar Styler? What do I target? “Taskbar Badge Offset” “Space Between Badge and Icon” ???
– What do I target for start button padding?
– Chrisf-pilot was talking about the SIZE of the start button, not the padding. I noticed that as well, but the padding bothers me more. I assume the size can be targeted with Taskbar Styler, but I don’t know what the target would be called.
Guess it’s past time for me to learn about UWPSpy, correct?
Okay – I found a good many of the customizations here: https://github.com/ramensoftware/windows-11-taskbar-styling-guide/blob/main/README.md but not the three issues related to the above and one other one:
I don’t know or see the way to set the icon badge spacing, padding or offset – not sure what it is called.
I found how to hide the start button by setting Taskbar.ExperienceToggleButton#LaunchListButton[AutomationProperties.AutomationId=StartButton] and Visiblity=Collapsed. I don’t see how to resize it or change the padding around it. Height=X Width=X or Size = X or Padding=x,y didn’t seem to have any effect.
I ended up turning off Taskbar Notification Icon Spacing and setting those values in the Taskbar Styler – didn’t want them to conflict.
I set my tray icons to 20 with SystemTray.NotifyIconView#NotifyItemIcon minwidth = 20
The volume and battery indicator icons now seem smaller than them, but the guide says they are 32 and they can be changed (if I read correctly) with SystemTray.TextIconContent > Grid#ContainerGrid > SystemTray.AdaptiveTextBlock#Base > TextBlock#InnerTextBlock Fontsize=, but that didn’t seem to have any effect.
The padding for the tray icons only seems to work for the active icons – not the ones when I click the up chevron – it didn’t seem to change with the tray icon spacing mod either.
Thanks in advance!!!
Sent the dump file to you via E-mail.
I didn’t receive it, can you try again, or try a different method?
You can zip it and upload it to Google Drive or a similar service, then post a link.
Just restarting explorer doesn’t cause a dump file to be created, only a crash. Either way, you can just grab the most recently created crash file from the folder after the crash.
Yes, play with various properties, and look at examples in the styling guide.
Dump file sent via E-mail.
Also – there seems to be a minor issue with Taskbar Labels for Windows 11. For some of my buttons, the background of the label seems to “clip” the right side of the icon. It doesn’t do it for all the icons. Chrome is very noticeable, as is Access and Windhawk. Adobe doesn’t seem to be affected. Space between icon and label doesn’t seem to affect it. That moves the text of the label to the right, but the background of the label still blocks the icon. Thanks for looking into this!
Also – you posted earlier how to set the padding for the Start Button, and I figured out how to set the width and height for it:
Target:
taskbar:TaskListButtonPanel#ExperienceToggleButtonRootPanel
Styles:
Padding=0,0,0,0
Height=18
Width=18
I never noticed it with the mod, can you post a screenshot, and try to figure out whether it happens with the default options, and if not, which options cause it?
Closing the issue… I sent Michael a screenshot and he replied that the icons were too far to the right (I was aligning them with the overlay which at the time I didn’t know how to move left). I think either reducing the left padding or increasing the space between icon and label would have fixed it.
Okay, I somewhat have UWPSpy working.
I’m trying to reduce the padding on the overlay to line up with the icon.
I tried:
Target
Taskbar.TaskListButton>Windows.UI.XAML.Controls.image – OverlayIcon
Styles:
Padding=0,0
But it didn’t work.
Perhaps you figured it out already, but the
>symbol should be surrounded with spaces.So this doesn’t work:
FirstElement>SecondElementThis does:
FirstElement > SecondElementGetting there …
For the overlay icon, I want to target:
Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Image#OverlayIcon
I found that from UWPSpy – and I had to replace ” – ” with “#”.
I know that is the correct icon b/c I can change the Height= and Width= and the overlay size changes.
Using Taskbar labels, I changed the padding from 20 to 2, so I need to move the overlay 18 pixels to the left.
I’m not sure how to achieve this. The settings shown in UWPSpy (besides Height and Width) are:
AutomationProperties.AccessibiltyView=0
IsHitTestVisible=0
Opacity=1
Horizontal Alignment=1
Vertical Aligment=1
Source
Stretch=2
CenterPoint=0.000000, 0.0000000, 0.00000
Rotation=0
RotationAxis=0,0,1
Scale=1,1,1
TransformMatrix {1,0,0,0},(0,1,0,0},{0,0,1,0},{0,0,0,1}
Translation= 0,0,0
Handout Visual = (data; Windows.UI.Composition.Visual
Does anyone have suggestions?
Solved – I was close.
For what I wanted, it was
Target:
Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Image#OverlayIcon
Style:
Margin=-16,0,0,0
Then I set the padding in Taskbar Labels for Windows 11 to 2.