Personalization Change Size of Taskbar Icons in Windows 11

Ghot · Aug 18, 2021

I used this method.... and so far it's still holding.

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

TaskbarSi DWORD

0 = Small <------- I chose this one.
1 = Medium
2 = Large

The only downside I've seen is that it shifts the Quick Settings and the clock, down, about 3-4mm.

Texas Gore · Aug 18, 2021

Almighty1 said:
Hard to say, easier to just use method 2 which does not require doing the registry. On my system with a 15" 4K 3840x2160 screen, the default is 250% and it already gets smaller at 225% and then 200% except the text is blury which was fixed with method 2 at 150dpi.

On my ultra wide 5120x1440 it defaults to 100% and cannot go any lower which is why I used the reg' edit method. No worries. Thanks for your help :)

Texas Gore · Aug 18, 2021

Ghot said:
I used this method.... and so far it's still holding.

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

TaskbarSi DWORD

0 = Small <------- I chose this one.
1 = Medium
2 = Large

The only downside I've seen is that it shifts the Quick Settings and the clock, down, about 3-4mm.

Yep, that's exactly the problem. The date almost drops off the bottom of the display and becomes illegible for me.

Ghot · Aug 18, 2021

Texas Gore said:
Yep, that's exactly the problem. The date almost drops off the bottom of the display and becomes illegible for me.

That's OK with me. I'm getting old, bet I still know what day it is.

The popup calendar still works.

I haven't tested it yet, but I would think clock/calendar gadgets would work on Windows 11...

Clock Gadgets Archives - Free Desktop Gadgets For Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7 and Vista

Texas Gore · Aug 18, 2021

Ghot said:
That's OK with me. I'm getting old, bet I still know what day it is. :)
The popup calendar still works.

I haven't tested it yet, but I would think clock/calendar gadgets would work on Windows 11...

Clock Gadgets Archives - Free Desktop Gadgets For Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7 and Vista

Heheheh yea, me too

A clock/calendar gadget would work, for sure. In fact I use wrt.Clock.Analog for when I need to be very aware of the time, but it remains minimised during normal use because I need the screen real estate for other things.

Almighty1 · Aug 18, 2021

Texas Gore said:
On my ultra wide 5120x1440 it defaults to 100% and cannot go any lower which is why I used the reg' edit method. No worries. Thanks for your help :)

Are you talking about custom scaling at 100% or the Display scaling at the main page? When I use the method 2 with 125% or 150%, the main page will always show 350%. I think 100% is the smallest because even with the utility for Windows 10 at Windows 10 DPI blurry / fuzzy text font fix - XP Explorer - the range goes from 100% to 200%.

Almighty1 · Aug 18, 2021

Ghot said:
That's OK with me. I'm getting old, bet I still know what day it is. :)
The popup calendar still works.

I haven't tested it yet, but I would think clock/calendar gadgets would work on Windows 11...

Clock Gadgets Archives - Free Desktop Gadgets For Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7 and Vista

I never use the popup calendar even though it works, sometimes I am writing things by hand and I like to look at the date without touching the computer. So it's more like just using it for quick reference when paying bills, otherwise I can always ask Alexa. LOL. Sometimes it's better with a screenshot in case of disputes with the creditor should they say they received the payment after cut-off time as it's happened a few times in the last 27 years.

Ghot · Aug 18, 2021

Almighty1 said:
I never use the popup calendar even though it works, sometimes I am writing things by hand and I like to look at the date without touching the computer. So it's more like just using it for quick reference when paying bills, otherwise I can always ask Alexa. LOL. Sometimes it's better with a screenshot in case of disputes with the creditor should they say they received the payment after cut-off time as it's happened a few times in the last 27 years.

Yeah, it doesn't bother me one way or the other. I'm not used to seeing the date down there anyway.
Like Win 10... all I see is the time.

Pretty much the only thing different since the XP days... is that I can finally have a clear taskbar. :)
Win 10 screenshot...

Win 11 looks exactly the same except the Quick Settings and the date/time are shifted down 3-4mm.

/edit

Here's a screenshot of Windows 11 taskbar, etc.
Looks like there's a bit more horizontal spacing on the Taskbar icons. (more suitable for touch, I guess)

Texas Gore · Aug 19, 2021

Almighty1 said:
Are you talking about custom scaling at 100% or the Display scaling at the main page? When I use the method 2 with 125% or 150%, the main page will always show 350%. I think 100% is the smallest because even with the utility for Windows 10 at Windows 10 DPI blurry / fuzzy text font fix - XP Explorer - the range goes from 100% to 200%.

Both. Minimum is 100% and default is 100%

Almighty1 · Aug 19, 2021

Texas Gore said:
Both. Minimum is 100% and default is 100%

View attachment 5866

On Dell XPS 15 9570 notebooks with 15" 4K UltraHD 3840x2160 displays, the Recommended and Default are both at 250% which has big icons and the desktop isn't that big for my needs. 225% and 200% worked better but the text is blurry for some apps.

SM03 · Sep 6, 2021

After applying the BAT for the small taskbar, the alignment for Network & Internet settings +Clock & Calender is not right as mentioned by other users, it's dragged to the downside like the attached screenshot & date isn't visible

Any workaround to fix this?

Almighty1 · Sep 6, 2021

SM03 said:
after applying the BAT for the small taskbar, the alignment for Network & Internet settings +Clock & Calender is not right as mentioned by other users, it's dragged to the downside like the attached screenshot & date isn't visible

View attachment 7217

Any workaround to fix this?

No fix for it as see post #13 in this thread which has a link to what Microsoft officially says about it. The best way to do small icons is to use custom scaling.

Ghot · Sep 6, 2021

SM03 said:
After applying the BAT for the small taskbar, the alignment for Network & Internet settings +Clock & Calender is not right as mentioned by other users, it's dragged to the downside like the attached screenshot & date isn't visible

View attachment 7217

Any workaround to fix this?

I also use small Taskbar icons. I just left it like that.
Win 10 didn't have the date under the clock anyway. And it all still works as it should.

My guess is, that after Win 11 is released mainstream (October 5th), enough people will complain, that MS will finally fix it.

Edwin · Sep 6, 2021

Geez!
Don't MS devs use their computers like we do!? They should notice stuff like this!
Too much stuff to fix!

Ghot · Sep 6, 2021

Edwin said:
Geez!
Don't MS devs use their computers like we do!? They should notice stuff like this!
Too much stuff to fix!

MS is probably running Linux on their computers.

SM03 · Sep 6, 2021

Remembering W10 in 2015. SO many glitches like this.
MS will take another 5 yrs to polish W11 & bring it to the current state of W10 I guess, until 2025, when W10 support will end.

Ekendraed · Sep 28, 2021

Worked perfectly. Thank you

Stigg · Sep 28, 2021

But does it change the size of the Taskbar as well, or just the icons?
There is no point in making the icons smaller if the Taskbar stays massive.
There is already far too much wasted space on the Taskbar and tray above, below and between the icons.

Ghot · Sep 28, 2021

Stigg said:
But does it change the size of the Taskbar as well, or just the icons?
There is no point in making the icons smaller if the Taskbar stays massive.
There is already far too much wasted space on the Taskbar and tray above, below and between the icons.

Both.
The horizontal spacing stays the same (proportionally), unfortunately.
I think MS wants it "touch friendly".

I have mine set on small on Win 11. Here's a pic showing a comparison of Win 10 and Win 11...
This is on a 30" screen.

Stigg · Sep 28, 2021

By the way, for those who play around in the Registry, I find Registry Workshop a valuable tool.
I've been using it for years. I think I could even say "decades".

It is so much better than using Windows Registry Editor.
Just a few features off the top of my head like a much faster find, better Favorites, easier exporting (both Registry items and Favorites), plus Undo, History and Compare functionality make it a much better Registry editor.

All the Registry tweaks that I use or have used, I save to Favorites and export and import them.
My guess is a lot of forum members already use it.