Microsoft is planning to bring the “Never Combine” feature back for the Taskbar to ungroup apps and show labels again.
“Never Combine” was a Taskbar option that was first introduced on Windows 7 and allowed users to restore the legacy behavior of non-grouping the same app under one icon. But users today criticize the Taskbar experience as they don’t have the option to ungroup taskbar icons.
The “Never Combine” taskbar icons feature might come with the release of Windows 12
According to @XenoPanther, Windows 11’s Taskbar seems to be getting back the ability never to combine buttons and show all running app instances with labels. seemingly the codes in the recent Dev and Canary builds explicitly mention the upcoming features.
And what do we have here?
DesktopTaskbar_GroupingMode and DesktopTaskbar_ShowLabels pic.twitter.com/Agn3uCyZ9w— Xeno (@XenoPanther) March 9, 2023
Microsoft did add the ability to show running apps with labels and without grouping them as part of the Taskbar experience in a previous version of the operating system. However, on Windows 11, we were introduced to a revamped version of the Taskbar that didn’t include many of the legacy features, including the ability never to combine buttons or show labels.
It may seem like Microsoft released a simplified version of the Taskbar, which removed many of the legacy features but we should remember that with Windows 11. We received a completely rebuilt experience of the Taskbar.
So this may be a complex process, and bringing the same functionality will surely take a long time, however, this does not mean that every legacy feature will come back to the Taskbar.
Microsoft is expected to bring back some of the legacy features but other features might not be part of the Taskbar again, such as the ability to move the Taskbar to the top or side of the screen.
Furthermore, seeing the references available in the Canary Channel could mean that other legacy features may not come until the release of Windows 12, which is expected to roll out anytime in 2024.
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