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How do I Ungroup Task Bar Buttons in Windows 11

Anonymous
2022-08-26T12:28:10+00:00

Hi,

This is driving me mad. Windows 11 Groups Taskbar items and it is killing me, rather than being able to click on the, e.g. browser tab that I want, I now have to hover over Edge and scan all open browsers - it wastes soooo much time.

How can I ungroup Icons like I did with "Never Combine" in Windows 10.

Also - how do I complain officially to Microsoft about this.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Accessibility

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Answer accepted by question author

Sumit D - IA 171.1K Reputation points Independent Advisor
2022-08-26T13:05:17+00:00

Hi,

I am Sumit here to assist you with this question.

They are tracking Feedback on this, but no updates yet. It is also not clear if this feature would come.

List of Changed or removed features/functionalities in Windows 11 - Microsoft Community

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/for...

A 3rd party alternative called ExplorerPatcher may help you in the meantime.

Improve Windows 11 Taskbar functionality using these tools - Your Windows Guide

https://www.yourwindowsguide.com/2021/09/restor...

ExplorerPatcher, a 3rd party tool that aims to bring the older Windows 10 styled functionality in the Windows 11 Taskbar by just adding DLL files in 3 specific directories of WIndows. Because the older code is still present in Windows 11, by putting the DLL file, the Windows 10 styled taskbar is enabled. Some of the functionalities the developer claims the is restored:

Restores Windows 10 styled taskbar menu.

Restore Windows+X context menu.

Show app list by default in Start menu.

Ability for start menu and search to align left and many more

How to use ExplorerPatcher

Download the Software from this GitHub Repository:

Releases · valinet/ExplorerPatcher (github.com)

https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/rele...

Hope that helps.

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-02-07T14:59:59+00:00

    Not being able to ungroup Task Bar Buttons is probably my biggest frustration atm. It was so tremendously useful to see at glance which files I had open across my apps. Now it's just showing a repetition of taskbar icons. I stopped counting how many times I clicked the wrong taskbar icon to find out my files were open under the other one. Once you figure that out and you want to see which files are opened you have to hoover over the taskbar icon, but when you have a lot of files open and you move your mouse too wide/high/low you will lose that view and have to hoover again. Madness. This "feature" requires a roll back, big time.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-02-06T19:47:01+00:00

    My productivity has gone down considerably since I was issued a new company laptop on Windows 11. I often have 10-20 Excel windows open at once. Having them all combined on the taskbar is maddening at best. Give me back the option to uncombine them!!!

    PS: I cannot install any 3rd party software on this company laptop.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-01-17T17:51:58+00:00

    Amen! My work trialed me and a few other random people with it on my work laptop to get feedback - no one could stand the taskbar. IT received multiple tickets asking how to "show the windows," "I can't see my excel file names in the bar now, how to I fix?" and other similar issues. It's over a year old with the same "We will look into your feedback" BS. I had Windows 11 installed for about a week when it became available for my home laptop - I figured after 6+ months of getting that feedback they would have at least let you select NEVER COMBINE...but nope. The best solution for "Advisors" are to install 3rd party software (which you can't do on company laptops) or to hack the OS (again, something you can't and shouldn't do on any laptop).

    Here we are in 2023, and Microsoft is wanting to be like Apple OS and eliminate the best features of windows - multitasking.

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-12-16T05:41:27+00:00

    I completely agree with Midnight_lightning. Absolutely maddening that it isn't possible to toggle to ungroup easily. I typically have lots of sessions open and need to switch between them constantly. The extra clicks and having to check with tab to switch to each time is soooooo frustrating.

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