- Microsoft to bring back the never combine option to the Taskbar.
- The option ungroups apps and shows labels similar to the legacy feature.
- It’s unclear when the feature will be available on Windows 11.
Microsoft appears to be working on an option to bring back app labels in the Taskbar. Windows 11 features a redesigned version of the Taskbar. While it’s an interface rebuilt from the ground up with modern functionalities, it doesn’t include many legacy options, including the ability to show the app labels instead of icons.
On Windows 10 and older versions, you were able to use the “Never” option to ungroup and show the app labels or the “When taskbar full” option to never combine unless the Taskbar is full.
Although it’s unclear how the feature will be integrated into the system, according to a short video posted by @thebookisclosed on Twitter, Microsoft is building a way to show labels for apps in the Taskbar. The feature is still in development, and there’s no option to enable it from the Settings app, but it is accessible with the proper system modifications.
The ability to never combine apps and show labels is not the only feature coming back. The company recently also reintroduced the ability to show seconds in the Taskbar, and the latest preview of Windows 11 in the Dev Channel of Windows Insider Program includes an option to hide the time and date from the System tray.
According to the company, this is not the case where the development team intended to remove many of the legacy features. Instead, since rebuilding the Taskbar is a complex project, Microsoft decided to roll out the original version of Windows 11 with a Taskbar that was still a work in progress.
In addition to bringing back some of the legacy functionalities, the redesigned Taskbar also allows the creation of new features, as we have seen the new design optimized for tablets, which offers the “collapsed” and “expanded” modes.
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 14 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 20 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].