- To make icons smaller in the Taskbar for Windows 11, open Settings > Personalization > Taskbar, click on “Taskbar behaviors,” and choose the “Always” option for the “Show smaller taskbar buttons” setting.
On Windows 11, you can now change the size of the app icons that appear in the Taskbar to make them smaller. Although Microsoft still doesn’t want you to move the Taskbar to the top of the screen, it’s adding a new customization option to make icons smaller.
The new option is still in the testing phase but doesn’t allow you to choose from different sizes or make the Taskbar shorter or taller. Instead, it’s an option meant to optimize the Taskbar space further, as shrinking the icons makes it possible to fit even more icons for apps.
If you want to try this feature, you will need to install the latest preview of Windows 11 through the Beta Channel, which is a development part of version 23H2.
In this guide, I will outline the steps to change the size of app icons in the Taskbar on Windows 11.
Change icon size for Taskbar on Windows 11
To change the size of the app icons in the Taskbar, use these steps:
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Open Settings on Windows 11.
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Click on Personalization.
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Click the Taskbar tab.
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Click the Taskbar behaviors setting.
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(Option 1) Choose the “Always” option in the “Show smaller taskbar buttons” setting to show smaller icons.
Show smaller taskbar buttons setting / Image: Mauro Huculak -
(Option 2) Choose the “When taskbar is full” option in the “Show smaller taskbar buttons” settings to maintain the original size, but then make the icons smaller when the Taskbar is full to create more space.
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(Option 3) Choose the Never option in the “Show smaller taskbar buttons” setting to disable the feature and show regular-size icons.
Once you complete the steps, the Taskbar will reflect the icon size you specified.
Although it’s not possible to change the Taskbar location, Microsoft has been proactively adding new settings, including the ability to ungroup and show labels. You can also decide whether to show a jump list when hovering inactive apps, and you can hide the clock in the System Tray or show a shorter time and date and show seconds in the clock.
Enable Taskbar icon size setting
If you’re still unable to find the option through the Windows Insider Program, you may have to enable the setting manually using the ViveTool, and here’s how:
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Download the ViveTool-vx.x.x.zip file on your computer.
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Double-click the zip folder to open it with File Explorer.
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Click the Extract all button.
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Click the Extract button.
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Copy the path to the folder.
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Open Start.
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Search for Command Prompt, right-click the top result, and select the Run as administrator option.
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Type the following command to navigate to the ViveTool folder and press Enter:
cd c:\folder\path\ViveTool-v0.x.x
In the command, remember to change the path to the folder with your path.
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Type the following command to enable a hidden feature on Windows 11 and press Enter:
vivetool /enable /id:29785184
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Restart the computer.
After you complete the steps, you can turn on the feature using the instructions outlined at the beginning of this guide.
If you want to undo the changes, you can run the vivetool /disable /id:29785184 command on step 10.
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].