Taskbar

*** also see Microsoft's Taskbar page

The taskbar is the horizontal bar running across the bottom of your screen.  It is EXTREMELY important because it allows you to quickly open applications, see what is running, switch between running applications, etc.

An undocumented, excellent tip - drag the top border up, to make your taskbar twice the normal height, and it will contain two rows.  This allows you to add a lot of shortcuts to the "Quick Launch" toolbar, while still leaving room for your tasks (running apps) to show. For example -

As you can see, this taskbar has a ton of apps in the quick launch area, and still clearly shows all the running apps, as well as the system tray on the right.  You do lose a small amount of real estate on your screen, but you won't notice it at all.

To display the taskbar

• If the taskbar is hidden, right-click the Start button, click Properties, and then, on the Taskbar tab, clear the Auto-hide the taskbar check box.
• If you have temporarily hidden the taskbar by dragging the top edge down, drag the visible edge upward to redisplay the taskbar.

To hide the taskbar

1. Right-click the Start button, and then click Properties.
2. On the Taskbar tab, select the Auto-hide the taskbar check box.

 Note

• To redisplay the taskbar , point to the area of your screen where the taskbar is located.
• You can temporarily hide the taskbar by dragging the top edge down. To redisplay the taskbar, drag the visible edge upward.

To add toolbars to the taskbar

1. Right-click an empty area on the taskbar
2. Point to Toolbars, and then click the toolbar you want to add.
   • The Address bar lets you quickly go to any Web page you specify. Open the Address bar by double-clicking it.
   • The Links bar provides links to product information on the Web and lets you add Web links by dragging them to the toolbar. Open the toolbar by clicking the double chevron (»).
   • The Desktop toolbar places items from your desktop, such as the Recycle Bin and My Computer, on the taskbar. Open the toolbar by clicking the double chevron (»).
   • The Quick Launch bar displays icons you can click to quickly open programs, show the desktop, or perform other tasks.
   • The New toolbar lets you place a shortcut to a folder on the taskbar.

 Note

• You can resize the toolbar or move it to another location on the taskbar by pointing to the vertical bar on the left side of the toolbar and dragging it to the left or right.
• You can create a floating toolbar by dragging it from the taskbar to the desktop.
• To remove a toolbar from the taskbar, right-click an empty area on the taskbar, point to Toolbars, and then click the toolbar you want to remove to clear the check mark.

To lock the taskbar into position

• Right-click the taskbar , and then click Lock the Taskbar.

 Note

• When you lock the taskbar into position, it cannot be moved to a new location on the desktop.
• To move the taskbar to a new location, click Lock the Taskbar again to clear the check mark, and then drag the taskbar to its new location.

Taskbar button grouping overview

The taskbar can become crowded with buttons when you are working with multiple programs at the same time. For this reason, Windows provides a feature to help you manage a large number of open documents and program items.

The taskbar button grouping feature works in two ways. First, taskbar buttons for documents opened by the same program are always displayed in the same area of the taskbar so you can find your documents easily.

Second, if you have many documents open in the same program, Windows combines all the documents into one taskbar button that is labeled with the name of the program. A triangle on the right side of the button indicates that many documents are open in this program. The single button provides access to all the open documents.

To access one of the open documents, click the triangle on the taskbar button, and then click a document name in the list. To act on all the open documents at the same time, use the right-click menu. For example, right-clicking the triangle gives you a menu that lets you close all the open documents.

To group taskbar buttons by program

1. Right-click the taskbar , and then click Properties.
2. On the Taskbar tab, select the Group similar taskbar buttons check box, and then click Apply.

 Note

• When you open more than one document in the same program and then minimize each document so that it appears as a button on the taskbar, all the buttons for that program are grouped together on the taskbar.
• The button displays the name of both the document and the program in which it was created.
• If the name of the document is too long for the button, Windows fades the last letters on the right side of the button to indicate that there is more text. Point at the button to see the name of the document and the name of the program in which it was created.

To use grouped taskbar buttons

• Click the button on the taskbar , and then click the version or document you want to open on the menu that appears.

  For more information, click Related Topics.

 Note

• The grouped menus are only available when there are many buttons displayed on the taskbar and the size of the buttons is greatly reduced. When this happens, the information for all the opened documents for one program is combined into a single button on the taskbar.

Taskbar notification area overview

The notification area of the taskbar is where you usually see the current time displayed. This area can become crowded with notification icons that appear when certain events occur, such as when you receive e-mail or when you open Task Manager. Windows displays a notification icon when an event occurs. After a short time, Windows puts the icon in the background to simplify that area. You can access the icons that have been placed in the background by clicking a button in the notification area.

In addition, you can customize the behavior of notification icons on the Taskbar tab of the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box.

For more information, click Related Topics.

 Note

• To open the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box, right-click an empty area on the , and then click Properties.