Did you know that you can now show taskbar labels in Windows 11? It is pretty easy. Follow the below steps to enable taskbar labels.
On older Windows versions, you have the ability to show taskbar labels. When you do that, Windows will show the active window name along with its icon. For a lot of Windows users, the ability to see window names on the taskbar. a.k.a., taskbar labels is such a useful and productive feature. One of the main reasons is that it can help you quickly identify and switch between open applications on your computer.
However, Microsoft made a lot of changes to the Windows 11 taskbar and axed a lot of useful features. One of those features is the taskbar labels. However, thanks to user feedback, Microsoft added back the ability to show labels on the taskbar and never combine taskbar buttons. Once you enable this feature, you will see the names of all open windows, whether minimized or maximized, on the taskbar.
So, lets me teach you the steps to turn on the taskbar labels feature on Windows 11.
Show taskbar labels on Windows 11
Follow the steps below to enable taskbar labels on your Windows 11 computer:
- Right-click on the taskbar.
- Select the “Taskbar settings” option.
- Expand the “Taskbar behaviors” section.
- Set “Combine taskbar buttons and hide labels” to “Never“
- Check the “Show labels on Taskbar pins” checkbox.
- Close the Settings app.
Let’s see the steps in more detail:
Firstly, open the Taskbar settings. There are two ways to do it. You can either right-click on the empty space on the taskbar and select the “Taskbar settings” option or open the Settings app with the Windows key + I keyboard shortcut and navigate to the “Personalize > Taskbar” page.
Once you are on the Taskbar settings page, scroll down and click on the “Taskbar behaviors” option to expand the section. This is where you can customize how the taskbar behaves on Windows 11.
To show app labels on the taskbar, set the “Combine taskbar buttons and hide labels” dropdown to “Never.” Next, check the “Show labels on Taskbar pins” option.
As soon as you do that, Windows 11 will show the taskbar labels.
Fix the missing show taskbar labels option in Windows 11
If you don’t see the “Show labels on Taskbar pins” option, you might be using an older Windows 11 build. To have access to the taskbar labels option, you should be running Windows 11 build 23466 or higher. Check your Windows 11 build number and upgrade to the recent version.
If you are on Windows 11 build 23466 or higher and still don’t see the taskbar labels option, it might be that the option is hidden or disabled.
Follow the below steps to fix the missing show taskbar labels option on Windows 11:
- Get Vivetool from GitHub.
- Extract the zip file to a folder.
- Open the extracted folder.
- Click on the address bar and copy the folder path.
- Press the Start key on your keyboard.
- Search for Command Prompt.
- Click/tap on the Run as Administrator option.
- Type “cd C:\path\to\vivetool\folder” and press Enter. Change the dummy path with the real path you copied.
- Type “vivetool /enable /id:29785186” and press Enter.
- Close the CMD window and reboot the computer.
GitHub download link: https://github.com/thebookisclosed/ViVe/releases
After rebooting, follow the steps in the first section to enable the taskbar labels feature on Windows 11.
Related taskbar how-to guides:
- How to show all taskbar icons on Windows 11
- How to hide the taskbar clock on Windows 11
- How to change the taskbar color to blank on Windows 11
- How to pin a drive to the taskbar
- How to pin File Explorer to the taskbar
- How to remove search from the taskbar on Windows 11
- How to pin and unpin jump list items on Windows 11
- How to hide the taskbar on Windows 11
- How to remove the weather widget on the taskbar on Windows 11
- How to show multiple clocks on the taskbar on Windows 11
- How to show the weather widget on the taskbar on Windows 11
- How to move the taskbar to the top on Windows 11
I hope this simple and easy Windows how-to guide helped you.
If you are stuck or need help, send an email, and I will try to help as much as possible.
