Personalization Change Hover Time to Show Taskbar Thumbnail Live Preview in Windows 11


  • Staff
takbar_settings_banner.png

This tutorial will show you how to change the hover delay time to show a taskbar thumbnail live preview for your account in Windows 10 and Windows 11.

The taskbar is a horizontal bar at the bottom of your desktop in Windows 11 that shows the Start menu, Search, Task View, Widgets, Chat, File Explorer, Microsoft Edge, and Microsoft Store icons aligned to the center by default. The taskbar corner includes the notification area icons, Quick Settings (Win+A), and Notification Center (Win+N) with the clock and calendar.

When you hover the pointer over an icon on the taskbar with an open window, you will see the thumbnail preview(s) of the open window(s).

When you hover the pointer on the taskbar thumbnail preview, you will see a live preview (peek) of only that open window on your desktop.

If you like, you can change the hover delay time to how many milliseconds you want.

A shorter delay time will have a taskbar thumbnail live preview show faster when hovering on a taskbar thumbnail preview.

A longer delay time will cause a taskbar thumbnail live preview take longer before showing when hovering on a taskbar thumbnail preview. If you set a long enough delay, it will effectively disable showing a taskbar thumbnail live preview when hovering on a taskbar thumbnail preview.


If you disable Peek, it will also disable taskbar thumbnail live previews.



EXAMPLE: Taskbar thumbnail live preview

Taskbar_thumbnail_live_preview.jpg




Here's How:

1 Open Registry Editor (regedit.exe).

2 Navigate to the key below in the left pane of Registry Editor. (see screenshot below)

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

ThumbnailLivePreviewHoverTime-1.png

3 Do step 4 (change) or step 5 (default) below for what you would like to do.

4 Change Hover Delay Time to Show Taskbar Thumbnail Live Preview

A) In the right pane of the Advanced key, double click/tap on the ThumbnailLivePreviewHoverTime DWORD to modify it. (see screenshot below step 2)​

If you don't have a ThumbnailLivePreviewHoverTime DWORD, then right click or press and hold on an empty area in the right pane of the Advanced key, click/tap on New and DWORD (32-bit) Value, type ThumbnailLivePreviewHoverTime, and press Enter.


B) Select (dot) Decimal, type a number for how many milliseconds (1000 milliseconds = 1 second) you want for the hover delay time, click/tap on OK, and go to step 6 below. (see screenshot below)​

If you use a very long delay time (ex: 10000 milliseconds), it will effectively disable showing the taskbar thumbnail live preview when hovering on a taskbar thumbnail preview without having to disable Peek.


ThumbnailLivePreviewHoverTime-2.png

5 Restore Default Hover Delay Time to Show Taskbar Thumbnail Live Preview

A) In the right pane of the Advanced key, right click or press and hold on the ThumbnailLivePreviewHoverTime DWORD, and click/tap on Delete. (see screenshot below step 2)​

B) Click/tap on Yes to confirm, and go to step 6 below. (see screenshot below)​

ThumbnailLivePreviewHoverTime-3.png

6 Close Registry Editor.

7 Either restart the explorer process, sign out and sign in, or restart the computer to apply.


That's it,
Shawn Brink


 

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Does not work. No effect on hover. Is this how they work at Microsoft? People just walk up and stick their hands in your face while you're trying to do something? I'm sure no one working there puts up with this popup crap.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    win 11
Does not work. No effect on hover. Is this how they work at Microsoft? People just walk up and stick their hands in your face while you're trying to do something? I'm sure no one working there puts up with this popup crap.
Hello, :-)

Just to note, you do need to restart the explorer process or restart the computer to apply.

In addition, this only affects the hover time on the taskbar thumbnail preview to see the thumbnail live preview on desktop.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self build
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING (11GB GDDR5X)
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G75 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3 wall mounted
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gbps Download and 35 Mbps Upload
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Spectre x360 2in1 14-eu0098nr (2024)
    CPU
    Intel Core Ultra 7 155H 4.8 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB LPDDR5x-7467 MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated Intel Arc
    Sound Card
    Poly Studio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    14" 2.8K OLED multitouch
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    2 TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
    Internet Speed
    Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200 (2x2) and Bluetooth 5.4
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Malwarebytes Premium

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