How to Show or Hide Pen Menu Icon on Taskbar in Windows 11
The Pen menu icon in Windows 11 opens a quick-launch menu for up to four stylus apps, right from your taskbar. The button appears automatically when you connect a digital pen to your PC. It gives you fast shortcuts to apps like Microsoft Whiteboard and Snip & Sketch.
If you don’t use a stylus, you can turn the icon off in the Windows 11 Settings app to keep your taskbar clean. Open Settings and go to Personalization Taskbar to show or hide it in a few clicks. If you prefer, you can also change it in the registry. Both methods are covered below, and either one is easy to undo.
Open Settings , go to Personalization Taskbar, find Taskbar corner icons or System tray icons, then toggle Pen menu On or Off. The icon appears or disappears from the taskbar immediately without restarting.
Option 1Using Settings
- Open Settings by pressing Win+I on your keyboard. The Settings window opens with the system categories listed on the left.
- Click Personalization on the left side. The right pane now shows options for Background, Colors, Themes and so on.
- Scroll down the right pane if needed and click Taskbar. The taskbar settings page opens, with expandable sections for the items on your taskbar.
- Look for Taskbar corner icons or System tray icons. The section name depends on your Windows 11 version. Click the section heading to expand it if its toggles aren’t visible yet.
- Find Pen menu and turn it On or Off based on what you want. The icon appears or disappears from the taskbar straight away, with no restart needed. If you don’t see a Pen menu toggle, your PC may not have pen hardware, or no pen has been connected yet. Pair or connect a pen and check again.
- Close Settings when you’re done. To undo the change later, come back to the same page and flip the toggle the other way.
Option 2Using Registry Editor
⚠️ Admin privileges required
The registry method needs an administrator account. Windows may show a User Account Control prompt when you open Registry Editor, so click Yes to continue. Editing the registry incorrectly can cause problems, so change only the value described here. If you want a safety net, click File Export in Registry Editor first and save a backup.
To Show the Pen Menu Icon:
- Press Win+R to open the Run dialog. A small box with an Open field appears in the lower-left corner of the screen.
- Type regedit and press Enter. Approve the User Account Control prompt if it appears. Registry Editor then opens.
- Navigate to: 🗝️HKEY_CURRENT_USER\
Software\ . You can expand each folder in the left pane, or paste the path into the address bar at the top of the window and press Enter. The values for this key are listed in the right pane.Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ PenWorkspace - Find PenWorkspaceButtonDesiredVisibility in the right pane and double-click it. The Edit DWORD (32-bit) Value box opens. If the value isn’t listed, you can create it by right-clicking an empty area of the right pane and choosing New DWORD (32-bit) Value, then naming it exactly as shown.
- Set the value to 1 to show the icon, then click OK. The icon should appear on the taskbar . If it doesn’t, sign out and back in, or restart your PC.
To Hide the Pen Menu Icon:
- Follow steps 1-3 above: open Run with Win+R, launch regedit, and go to the PenWorkspace key.
- Find PenWorkspaceButtonDesiredVisibility in the right pane and double-click it.
- Set the value to 0 to hide the icon (this is the default setting), then click OK. The icon should disappear from the taskbar . If it’s still there, sign out and back in, or restart your PC.
Summary
You now know two ways to control the Pen menu icon on your Windows 11 taskbar. Using Settings is usually the quickest and safest. If you prefer the registry editor, remember that this method requires admin access to your computer. Pick the method that works best for you. Whichever you use, you can switch the icon back at any time by repeating the steps with the opposite setting.
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About the Author
Richard
Tech Writer, IT Professional
Richard is a writer at Geek Rewind who turns complex IT tasks into clear, step-by-step guides. He draws on years of hands-on experience in system administration and enterprise IT operations, focusing on Windows, Linux and WordPress: the problems people actually run into, and the fixes that work. His server and WordPress guides come from systems he runs himself. Richard builds and maintains the platform behind Geek Rewind, from its Ubuntu servers and Nginx configuration to its custom WordPress plugins. Many new tutorials start with readers' questions, and he's always glad to answer them in the comments.
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