Last month, Microsoft confirmed that the ability to move Windows 11’s taskbar is coming soon, and this might be our early look at the feature.
The ability to change where Windows 11’s taskbar appears on the screen is among the most requested features in the Feedback Hub. While it is not a ground-breaking thing, it appears that quite a lot of users want Microsoft to bring back this old feature. Last month, Microsoft acknowledged the request and promised to deliver the feature. While we wait for it to show up in a new preview build, Microsoft itself posted an early look on X.
In a now-deleted post, a video showed a Windows 11 desktop with a dedicated debut menu for changing the taskbar position with just two clicks. It works just as it sounds: right-click the taskbar and select the preferred position, after which Windows 11 moves its taskbar accordingly with some neat icon animations.
It is worth noting that the deleted video is not the final version that Microsoft plans to ship. Microsoft engineers have already confirmed that the right-click menu is just a debug tool. The final version will work similarly to Windows 10, where the taskbar position is configured via the Settings app. Interestingly, before, Windows allowed you to move the taskbar by simply dragging it across the screen (if the taskbar was not locked). At this point, it is unknown if Microsoft plans to bring it back. Finally, janky animations should also be fixed in the final version.
Microsoft has confirmed that the taskbar and its elements would adapt to each position. However, there will be no search bars for side-mounted taskbars. Instead, the search bar will collapse to a simple icon to match the taskbar width.
Another highly-requested taskbar feature is the ability to make it smaller. Right now, Windows 11’s taskbar supports small icons, but its physical size stays the same regardless of the icons’ size. Microsoft says a future Windows 11 update will fix that as well. Microsoft said that the first promised Windows 11 improvements would arrive in the next few weeks, so look out for new preview builds and their changelogs.
