How to Customize Windows 11 Taskbar Button Settings

This guide explains how to change how your Taskbar buttons look in Windows 11. You can choose to group them together or keep them separate with labels.

The Taskbar in Windows shows the Start menu, Widgets, Windows Search box, Microsoft Teams Chat, File Explorer, and Windows Store icons. It sits in the middle of your screen. If you use more than one monitor, you can show the Taskbar on all your monitors. You can also automatically hide the Taskbar or remove the clock.

Why do this? Some users prefer to see the name of every open window on their Taskbar so they can click them faster. This is called “never combined mode.” What happens when done? Your Taskbar buttons will expand to show text labels, making it easier to see exactly what apps you have open.

Change settings in the Windows App

Starting with Windows 11 build 23466 and Windows 11 build 23466, you can change these settings easily.

1. Open the Windows Settings app by clicking Start and choosing Settings, or press the Windows key + I on your keyboard to open Settings app.
2. Click Personalization on the left menu.

3. Select the Taskbar tile on the right.

4. Find Taskbar behaviors and click it to see more options.
5. Change the settings for Combine taskbar buttons and hide labels and Combine Taskbar buttons and hide labels on other taskbars to your preference:
   • Always: Groups icons together and hides text.
   • When taskbar is full: Groups icons only when there is no more room.
   • Never: Keeps each window separate with a text label.

Change settings via Registry Editor (Advanced)

Note: This step requires admin privileges. Be careful, as changing registry files can affect your system.

You can also change these settings using the Windows Registry Editor. Open the Windows Registry and go to this path:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

If you do not see the Advanced folder, right-click the Explorer folder and create it. Right-click in the empty space on the right, select New, then DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name it TaskbarGlomLevel.

Double-click TaskbarGlomLevel, set the Base to Decimal, and enter a value:

• 0: Always combine.
• 1: Combine when full.
• 2: Never combine.

To change this for other monitors, create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value named MMTaskbarGlomLevel in the same folder and use the same values listed above.

Restart your computer to apply the changes.

Summary

You can manage your Taskbar buttons by grouping them or keeping them separate with labels. This can be done through the standard Windows Settings app or by editing the Registry. These changes help you organize your workspace and make finding open windows much faster.

Reference: Microsoft.com