On Windows 11 build 23466, you can enable an early preview of the new option to show labels in the Taskbar, and in this guide, you will learn how. Microsoft is working on bringing back the “Combine taskbar buttons and hide labels” settings to allow users to show labels in two ways, including “never combine” or “combine only when the Taskbar is full.”
Although the ability to show labels without grouping them has been available as part of the Taskbar experience in a previous version of the operating system, the Windows 11 development introduced a new Taskbar that didn’t include many of the legacy features, including the ability never to combine buttons or show labels. However, the software giant has been working to bring back some of the legacy features, such as seconds for the clock in the System Tray, an interface optimized for touch, and quick access to Task Manager from the Taskbar context menu. And now, the company is making progress to allow users to show labels for apps again.
The feature is already part of the latest preview on Windows 11, but if it’s not available, you will have to enable it manually (via @PhantomOcean3) with a third-party called “ViveTool” created by Rafael Rivera and Lucas on GitHub, to enable the option on your computer.
This guide will teach you the steps to turn on this new feature on Windows 11.
Show Taskbar labels and ungroup apps on Windows 11 (preview)
To show Taskbar labels for apps on Windows 11, 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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Choose the “Never” option to show labels and ungroup apps in the “Combine Taskbar buttons and hide labels” setting.
Quick note: The “Always” option will keep the original behavior grouping apps and now showing labels, and the “When Taskbar is full” option will show labels and ungroup apps, but when the Taskbar is full, the system will group apps and show labels. -
(Optional) Check the “Show labels on Taskbar pins” option to show labels even if the app isn’t running.
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Choose the “Never” option to show labels and ungroup apps in multi-monitor setups in the “Combine Taskbar buttons and hide labels on other taskbars” setting.
Once you complete the steps, the Taskbar will now show labels for apps on Windows 11, according to your setting selection. The new feature also includes the settings to control labels in the Taskbar for multiple monitor setups.
Enable Taskbar combine buttons settings on Windows 11
If the settings are not available after installing Windows 11 build 23466, you can enable the “Combine Taskbar buttons and hide labels” feature with these steps:
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Download the ViveTool-vx.x.x.zip file to enable the new File Explorer header design.
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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 the new File Explorer header design on Windows 11 and press Enter:
vivetool /enable /id:29785186
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Restart the computer.
Once you complete the steps, the Taskbar settings page should now include the combine button settings.
If you change your mind, you can revert the changes with the same instructions, but in step 10, make sure to run the vivetool /disable /id:29785186 command and then restart the device.