It only took five years.
When Windows 11 came out, one of the biggest complaints was the new taskbar. From the inside, it appeared to have been completely redesigned and reimplemented. From the outside, it added annoying features and took away popular ones… like being able to put the taskbar at the top or sides of the screen.
Five years later, that feature is back.
It’s implemented slightly differently than before, so I’ll show you how to make it happen.
Move the taskbar
Windows 11 finally lets you move the taskbar to the top or sides of your screen again. Open Taskbar settings, find Taskbar behaviors, and pick the position you want. If you don’t see the setting, install the 26H2 update first. Other old favorites, like resizing the taskbar, still aren’t available.
It’s a setting now
Right-click on the taskbar and click on Taskbar settings. In the resulting Settings window, scroll down to the “Taskbar behaviors” section.
Click the position you want the taskbar to occupy, and you’re done.
It’s as simple as that.
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If you don’t have the setting
This setting was added in a recent Windows 11 update, so make sure you’re up to date.
Specifically, the 26H2 update, which is basically a rollup of previous updates, should cause the setting to appear. Visit Windows Update in the Settings app.
You should see that 26H2 is available. Click Download & install to get it.
If you’re not sure whether you have it, type 
+R to open the Run dialog, enter “winver”, and click OK.
The version you’re running will be listed.
What’s not been fixed
Sadly, other common complaints about the taskbar have not been addressed.
- You can’t resize the taskbar to make it thicker.
- You don’t appear to be able to add a menu to the taskbar.
I used both of those constantly. You may have other annoyances that haven’t yet been addressed.
Maybe someday.
Do this
Move the taskbar to your heart’s content! Yay!
(I just did. It’s now on the side of my 3840 × 1600 display instead of taking up space along the entire bottom of the screen.)
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I would guess that all Windows users that really wanted thid feature have helped in the past years already with StartAllBack or Open-Shell. So I like many others now do not care anymore what Microsoft does.
I use Open-Shell but it doesn’t allow you to put the Taskbar on the side of the screen given that Windows 11 didn’t allow it. I hope to be able to do that now.
Thrilled to have the taskbar back on the left along with my Chrome tabs. Now if Chrome could just allow us to change fonts and increase their size without a global action. BTW, Changing the background color really helps it stand out.
Hoping this change due to feedback on the taskbar is a sign of more responsiveness to come.
I’m still wishing that they adjusted the file manager, so you’re quick steps. Shortcuts could be at the top, instead of in the middle below the OneDrive ones.
It’s nice to have the taskbar back on the side again but I feel the move is incomplete without also having the auto-hide function along with it.
I’ve always had the taskbar at the bottom of my laptop’s screen, but the form factor of this 15.5″ display wants all the vertical room it can get, so I’m giving a taskbar move to the left side a try. If all my years of muscle memory makes the change too much, I can always revert.
Now the true test of Microsoft’s sincerity about being more responsive will be if they also let us adjust the thickness to … but I’m not holding my breath just yet.
PCWorld.com has an article titled “The real reason your Windows 11 taskbar couldn’t move for 5 years”. Apparently, it was a complete software re-write, with a huge cost.
But all this should get much better and faster when Microsoft lays off 60,000 employees to replace them with AI.
What I really REALLY NEED and I know I’m not alone – is the ability to resize the borders of windows. (and change colors) It takes far too long to simply find that far too thin line and then grab it. THIS FACILITATES RESIZING, and was in all previous versions. Yes some 3rd party apps say they can but really dont make it possible.
Many thanks Leo.
Rick
Just curious, Is the dog the author of the post-it note “Can you believe up task herer?”
A little-known dialect: Corgese.
I still use Windows 10 and my task bar is along the bottom. Software has been changed to expect the task bar to be at the side and they use the line along the bottom for other things. My library had a function to “manage items” when you wanted to make changes to multiple items but it was on the bottom line. The feature disappeared and the IT department swore that the feature was still there. I read this article, dragged the task bar to the side and the “manage items” feature magically appeared. Out Weather Channel had a weather radar forecast map that had a timeline across the bottom of the screen. It became hidden behind the task bar so you had no idea when rain was going to start. Dragging the taskbar to the side resolved the issue. Now that Microsoft has allowed the taskbar to be moved back to the bottom, what will the application programmers do?
I don’t understand your comment. The Taskbar has always defaulted to the bottom. Windows 11 enforced that, but eventually relented.
The only way a program would lose its bottom row is if the program were poorly designed.
Well I guess that the software was poorly designed. In the case of the library, it used to be visible but then at some point became hidden behind the task bar. In the case of the Weather Channel, it was the case in Windows and Android and they rectified it so that the timeline appeared higher up on the display. Seeing that I am still on Windows 10, I didn’t completely read your topic and assumed that Windows 11 enforced the taskbar at the side. In any case, it is apparently poor programming in the application as you suggest.
When I got a new laptop it came with W11. I have put the taskbar on the left for years (likely more than 10) so when I couldn’t move it I looked for a solution. I use Start11 and it allows for not only the location preference but also resizing among a lot of other settings.