By ignoring user feedback, Microsoft are preventing users from previewing Windows 11 taskbar features
Since the launch of Windows 11, I have been continually frustrated with the need for the seemingly basic core functionality of the rewritten taskbar.
As a member of the Windows Insider Program since 2015, I was given early access to Windows 11. I, amongst many others, headed to the Feedback Hub to tell Microsoft what a huge mistake they had made. In all honesty, I expected many of these issues to be resolved by now. After all, I was an Insider getting a sneak peek at an unpolished version of the new OS.
I truly expected Microsoft to have listened to its users by now, but I suppose the 10s of thousands of users that have fed this back are just a drop in the ocean.
For me, there are two critical missing features from the taskbar. If it weren't for the capabilities of some third-party applications, I would have had no choice but to jump ship from Windows altogether. Believe me, that is very much still an option.
Fortunately for Microsoft, there are many users, like me, that despise Apple and all that they stand for, meaning I'd never move to macOS. This leaves Linux, which, considering most applications I write run primarily on UNIX servers, comes with some great advantages. The two problems there are:
- I do not have time to migrate my whole way of working to a new OS
- I do not know much about any of the Linux variants GUIs, meaning some of the features I miss dearly could also not exist there
If things do not change, I will have no choice but to make this change.
So, let's revert to the title of this article. The one thing that I feel Microsoft may be missing is that, by ignoring those who want these old features back, these users will not even be seeing any changes Microsoft are making. I think Microsoft aims to continue updating the taskbar in the hope of winning over the minority that has complained about the lack of these features. The problem here is that all over the internet, you will find articles highlighting various third-party applications to bring these features back. What this means to Microsoft, though, is that these users do not get to see the new taskbar at all. They can keep developing it, adding new features and improvements, but these users will not ever see it. The various pieces of software being used hide the Windows 11 taskbar entirely, instead providing a Windows 10-style one.
My only hope is that Microsoft has some analytics in place that feeds back the number of users doing exactly this.
What are these missing Windows 11 taskbar features?
-
Taskbar Grouping:
This is the most critical missing feature for me. As a programmer, I always have many instances of VS Code open at any one time. On the Windows 11 taskbar, a single icon is displayed, meaning an infuriating mouse hover and search for the correct instance at any point I wish to switch applications. This is a painstakingly bad experience and one that affects productivity immensely. -
Taskbar Shortcuts:
For many years, Windows allowed you to pin custom toolbars to the taskbar. For many, simply pinning applications to the taskbar was enough. For users like myself, however, the irritation of how Windows then merged open applications with pinned applications again severely affected productivity. Going back to the requirement to have several instances of one application open -
Ability To Move The Taskbar:
This one doesn't bother me personally, as I have never felt the need to move the taskbar. However, there are also 10s of thousands of users also reporting this issue.
How can I ungroup taskbar items on Windows 11?
As mentioned above, several pieces of third-party software can help. See below for a list of these applications:
-
DisplayFusion:
This is my personal favourite, although, at present, it's actually not possible to replace the primary monitor's taskbar. The developers have confirmed that this is under development, though. On both my laptop and desktop, I actually currently have two taskbars on my primary monitor. The DisplayFusion taskbar and the Windows 11 taskbar. This allows me to utilise the DF taskbar for functionality whilst keeping an eye on any changes to the taskbar as they happen. This allows me to keep feeding back problems and frustrations to Microsoft.
This program possesses many more features than just the taskbar; in fact, the reason I already had this application installed was for a feature that allowed me to run a keyboard shortcut to position all applications into positions that I defined. I strongly recommend you check this one out! -
StartAllBack and ExplorerPatcher:
These applications are very similar. Both "restore" an old Windows 10-style taskbar, which both behave identically to the familiar one you will be used to. You can configure this in the same way you used to, as well as having the option of adding a toolbar of shortcuts from a folder on your PC.
I ran into some occasional issues with both of these on my desktop computer. Perhaps there was a conflict with some other software, as I did not experience any problems on my laptop. StartAllBack also has a great feature for anyone utilising Windows' dark mode. It changes the colour of some of the older and very bright white interfaces to a dark colour. For example, the moving and copying interface.
Are you also frustrated with Microsoft's refusal to change the Windows 11 taskbar? I'd love to hear the thoughts of others on this. Feel free to get in touch and share your opinions.
