- To turn Windows 10 System Tray icons on and off, open Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Turn system icons on or off, and then decide the icons that should appear in the Taskbar.
- On Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Select which icons appear on the Taskbar, you can decide whether icons from apps and specific features appear in the System Tray will remain hidden in the overflow menu.
On Windows 10, the System Tray is that area in the bottom-left corner of the Taskbar, and it includes a number of system icons to access different features and options, and you can always decide which ones to show or hide.
The System Tray can show three types of icons, including system icons (such as Action Center, Clock, Volume, Network, Power, and Microphone), features icons (such as Windows Update, Location Notification, OneDrive, etc.), and icons for apps that support this feature and can run in the background.
However, if the System Tray gets too crowded, Windows 10 includes a few settings to specify which icons should appear in the Taskbar.
In this guide, I’ll teach you the steps to decide which icons appear in the Taskbar on Windows 10.
- Turn Windows 10 system icons on and off from Taskbar
- Turn Windows 10 apps icons on and off from Taskbar
Turn Windows 10 system icons on and off from Taskbar
To show or hide icons from the Taskbar’s System Tray on Windows 10, use these steps:
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Open Settings on Windows 10.
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Click on Personalization.
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Click on Taskbar.
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Under the “Notification area” section, click the “Turn system icons on or off” option.
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Turn on or off the system icons (such as Clock, Volume, Network, etc.) to show or hide them from the System Tray.
After you complete the steps, the settings will apply, and the System Tray will only show the icons you left enabled.
Turn Windows 10 apps icons on and off from Taskbar
To add or remove system icons from the Taskbar notification area, use these steps:
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Open Settings (Windows key + I).
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Click on Personalization.
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Click on Taskbar.
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Under the “Notification area” section, click the “Select which icons appear on the Taskbar” option.
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Turn off the toggle switch for the icons you don’t want to see in the notification area.
Once you complete the steps, the icons for features and apps you turned off in the Settings app will no longer appear in the Taskbar. If you want to show all icons always, turn on the “Always shows all icons in the notification area” toggle switch.
However, using this method, you’re not removing the icons. Instead, you will be moving them to the overflow menu (up arrowhead). If you want to remove an app icon from the System Tray, you can look into the app settings to turn off the icon from the Taskbar. Usually, you right-click the icon on the notification area and select the corresponding option.
Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 15 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 21 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me. Email him at [email protected].