Personalization Enable or Disable Show Labels on Taskbar Pins in Windows 11


  • Staff
Taskbar_banner.png

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off show labels on taskbar pins for your account in Windows 11.

The taskbar in Windows 11 shows the Start menu, Search, Task View, Widgets, Chat, File Explorer, Microsoft Edge, and Microsoft Store buttons (icons) aligned to the center by default.

If you have more than one display connected to your PC, then you can show the taskbar on all displays instead of just on the main display.

The main taskbar is the taskbar with the clock and system tray icons on it, and is on your main display. Taskbars that show on other displays not set as your main display do have the clock (if turned on), but does not show the system tray icons on them.

Starting with Windows 11 build 23466 (Dev) and build 25915 (Canary), Microsoft brings you an early version of one of the most requested features for Windows 11, never combined mode. In never combined mode, you’ll be able to see each window of your applications on the taskbar individually, as well as their corresponding labels.

The Show labels on Taskbar pins allows you to turn on or off showing labels on all taskbar buttons of items open or pinned to the taskbar.

If you turn on Show labels on Taskbar pins, it will override the Combine Taskbar buttons and hide labels and Combine Taskbar buttons and hide labels on other taskbars settings to hide labels.

Starting with Windows 11 build 23521 (Dev) and build 22631.2199 (Beta), to make it easier to enable never combined mode on the taskbar, Microsoft has updated the settings by removing the Show labels on Taskbar pins setting. You can turn never combined mode on by simply adjusting “Combine taskbar buttons and hide labels” to always. And Microsoft provided a separate Combine taskbar buttons and hide labels on other taskbars setting for turning this on for other taskbars (multiple monitor scenarios for example).




Contents

  • Option One: Enable or Disable Show Labels on Taskbar Pins in Settings
  • Option Two: Enable or Disable Show Labels on Taskbar Pins using REG file


EXAMPLE: "Show labels on Taskbar pins" enabled and disabled

Show_labels_on_taskbar_pins.png

Hide_labels_on_taskbar_pins.png





Option One

Enable or Disable Show Labels on Taskbar Pins in Settings


1 Open Settings (WIn+I).

2 Click/tap on Personalization on the left side, and click/tap on Taskbar on the right side. (see screenshot below)


Show_labels_on_taskbar_pins-1.png

3 Click/tap on Taskbar behaviors on the right side to expand it open. (see screenshot below step 4)

4 Check (on) or Uncheck (off - default) Show labels on Taskbar pins for what you want. (see screenshot below)

Show_labels_on_taskbar_pins-2.png

5 You can now close Settings if you like.




Option Two

Enable or Disable Show Labels on Taskbar Pins using REG file


1 Do step 2 (on) or step 3 (off) below for what you would like to do.

2 Turn On Show Labels on Taskbar Pins

A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.​

Turn_ON_Show_labels_on_taskbar_pins.reg


(Contents of REG file for reference)
Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"TaskbarShowLabels"=dword:00000001

3 Turn Off Show Labels on Taskbar Pins

This is the default setting


A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.​

Turn_OFF_Show_labels_on_taskbar_pins.reg


(Contents of REG file for reference)
Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"TaskbarShowLabels"=dword:00000000

4 Save the REG file to your desktop.

5 Double click/tap on the downloaded REG file to merge it.

6 When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

7 You can now delete the downloaded REG file if you like.


That's it,
Shawn Brink


 

Attachments

  • Taskbar.png
    Taskbar.png
    11 KB · Views: 67
  • Turn_OFF_Show_labels_on_taskbar_pins.reg
    646 bytes · Views: 73
  • Turn_ON_Show_labels_on_taskbar_pins.reg
    646 bytes · Views: 64
Last edited:
I don't see the "Show labels on taskbar pins" option. I also didn't have TaskbarShowLabels registry key. I added the key and setting it to either 0 or 1 has no effect on the taskbar behavior. Microsoft finally enabled the ability to combine icons but now I can't turn off labels.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
I don't see the "Show labels on taskbar pins" option. I also didn't have TaskbarShowLabels registry key. I added the key and setting it to either 0 or 1 has no effect on the taskbar behavior. Microsoft finally enabled the ability to combine icons but now I can't turn off labels.
Hello, and welcome. :alien:

Unfortunately, this setting has been removed and no longer works.
 

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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