Windows 11 was a major overhaul to the semantics and UI of its predecessor, Windows 10, if not in terms of features. The most prominent change is the one upfront; the taskbar. Windows 11 boasts a greatly different taskbar than Windows 10 which looks both cleaner and more pleasing to the eye – though it may be found wanting by some! Those of you who don’t have the PC requirements to upgrade to Windows 11 worry not. In this article, we will be discussing how you can customize your Windows 10 taskbar to make it look like it’s a Windows 11 taskbar. The major distinctive feature of Windows 11’s taskbar is the pinned app icons centered instead of aligned to the side, so that is what we will be focusing on achieving too.
How do you make the Windows 10 taskbar look like Windows 11?
There are 2 different ways in which you can make your current taskbar look like an upgraded one:
- By customizing the standard taskbar
- By creating two additional folders
1] By customizing the standard taskbar
The first thing you have to do is unlock the Windows 10 taskbar. By default, it is locked. You can unlock it by right-clicking on the Taskbar and clicking on the ‘Lock the Taskbar’ option. You’ll see a checkmark next to it by default which will be removed once you do so. Next up, right-click on the taskbar again, hover your mouse over Toolbars, and click on Links.
You’ll then see Links to the far-right side, next to the System Tray icons. Use the two vertical lines called the Divider to move the Links option to the left, next to the search bar. As you will move Links from right to left, you’ll observe that all the app icons will now be on the extreme right-hand side. Drag the divider towards Links so as to align the pinned Taskbar icons in a manner that they’re in the center.
You can make the Taskbar look something like the one in the picture above. You can ensure that these customized elements aren’t messed around by locking the taskbar.
Read: How to center Taskbar icons in Windows 10.
2] By creating two additional folders
While the first process is the quicker one, you can approximate your Windows 10 Taskbar to look even more like Windows 11’s. This process is a little lengthier, but works better and is a one-time measure. Here’s what you need to do.
Open your File Explorer and create two folders. Name them whatever you want (for our convenience, we’ll call them A1 and A2). Now, right-click on your Taskbar, go to Toolbars and click on New Toolbar. Repeat the process twice and select the folders you’ve just made.
Once you can see both these folders next to the system tray, all you have to do is move one of them to the left-hand side. This would bring all the icons in the middle and it is much more convenient to align them now using the same Divider lines we used in the previous process.
Another step towards making the Taskbar opaquer and like the Windows 11 one is to remove the names of these new folders. You can do so by right-clicking on the folders and unselecting the ‘Show text’ and ‘Show title’ options.
This is how the resultant Taskbar will look. As you can see, the result is, more or less, the same. The only difference, and it may not be evident to everyone, is the absence of any additional text on the Taskbar. You can make the divider lines disappear by locking the taskbar.
Read: Live Tiles not working in Windows 10.
How do I get the classic taskbar on Windows 10?
You may be someone who preferred the UI of Windows computers from the past and want to get the classic, retro taskbar on your Windows 10 PC. Don’t worry, since we’ve got you covered there as well. Using a tool called RetroBar, you can get back the look of any of the classic Microsoft Windows versions like Windows 98, Windows XP, Windows Blue, etc.
Can you make Taskbar vertical in Windows 11?
Yes, you can make Taskbar vertical in Windows 11. To do so, you have to modify Windows Registry. Windows Registry is the hierarchical database of Windows configurations and settings. Hence, any mistake while modifying the Registry can lead to serious errors in your system. Therefore, before you proceed, we recommend you create a system restore point and backup Registry.
Read: How to ungroup WiFi, Sound, and Battery Taskbar Icons in Windows 11
We hope this helps!
