How to Customize the Taskbar in Windows 10

This guide explains how to customize the Taskbar in Windows 10, with clear steps, practical tips, and important checks before you begin.

1. Hide the Cortana search box

By default, on Windows 10, the Cortana icon will be a long search bar on the Taskbar that takes up a lot of space.

To hide or minimize the Cortana search box, right-click the Taskbar, select Cortana and then select Hidden (hide Cortana) or Show Cortana icon (show the Cortana icon).

2. Hide Task View Button

The Task View icon also provides the ability to review open applications and windows. It also allows interaction with virtual desktops. However, very rarely we use this button, in addition, using the Windows + Tab key combination will be more appropriate than using the button.

To hide the Task View button, right-click the taskbar and uncheck the Show Task View button and you 're done

3. Pin the application to the Taskbar

Pin commonly used applications to the taskbar will help you open these applications faster.

For normal. exe application, right-click the icon and select Pin to taskbar

For Universal applications downloaded from the application store, right-click the application and select More -> Pin to taskbar

To unpin you, right-click on the application and select Unpin from taskbar

4. Hide application icon and system icon in the notification area on the Taskbar

To hide the application icon, right-click the taskbar and select Taskbar settings.

The settings window pops up and select Select which icons apear on the taskbar

In the new window you want to turn off the icon, switch to Off , turn on the icon and switch to On .

For system icons, select Turn system icons on or off

Then turn on and off the symbol as in the above step:

5. Minimize the Taskbar

Minimize the taskbar will make us feel more spacious screen.

To minimize the taskbar, right-click the taskbar and select Taskbar settings. Then in the setting window you turn on the Use small taskbar buttons mode from off to on.

6. Move the taskbar position

The default taskbar is located at the bottom edge of the screen, but if you want you can completely switch the taskbar to the left, right or edge on the screen.

To move the taskbar, go to the Taskbar settings section, find the Taskbar location on screen, then choose one of four options: Left (left), Top (top), Right (right), Bottom (bottom).

7. Show labels for the icon on the Taskbar

By default, on Windows 10, the taskbar will consolidate all the applications' windows into one and show no application labels.

To show the labels of your applications go to Taskbar setting find Combine taskbar buttons and select Never or select When taskbar is full (when the taskbar is full, it will hide the label)

8. Change the color of the Taskbar's transparency.

By default, the taskbar on Windows 10 will be black, not looking very nice. But we can completely change the color as well as turn on the blur effect for the taskbar to become more eye-catching.

To change the color of the Taskbar, select Color in the Taskbar setting window, and then select the Start, taskbar, and action center lines.

If you want to enable translucent mode then turn on Transparency effects to On

After enabling the above features, you can choose the color you like in the color palette as shown below:

Above are some tips to help us customize the taskbar to be more beautiful and suitable for each person's usage, hope you will find the article useful. Good luck!