A few days ago, Microsoft released a new Windows 11 preview update on the Insider Beta channel that fulfills a promise made to the community. It introduces a long-awaited feature, allowing the taskbar to be moved freely to the edges of the screen once again.
Back in February, Microsoft announced that this feature would be coming after five long years of user requests. The implementation of a movable taskbar was said to be a “top priority,” but there hadn’t been much information on it apart from a dev leak in April.
Now, with build 26220.9022 of Windows 11, Insiders are able to try the movable taskbar for themselves. In Windows 10, it was taken for granted that users could freely choose whether the taskbar sat on the bottom, top, left, or right edge of the screen. In Windows 11, this feature was taken away and the taskbar was forced into a fixed bottom position.
Microsoft faced a lot of criticism for that decision, especially because there was no real reason why the taskbar had to be fixed there. It felt like a meaningless change that came at the expense of Windows 11’s personalization. Now, almost five years after the launch of Windows 11, this change has finally been reversed.
Once the option to move the taskbar is enabled, it can be changed under Settings → Personalization → Taskbar. The taskbar will also take up less space, as the devs have adjusted its height and the sizes of app icons. You’ll still be able to group them together. A few other limitations and issues—such as when using touch gestures or integrating Copilot—will likely be resolved in the next test phase.
When will it roll out to everyone?
Currently, the movable taskbar is only available to Windows 11 Insiders on the Beta channel. Microsoft usually rolls out changes from a Beta version to all general users within a month or so. Therefore, we expect it to hit regular Windows 11 PCs on September’s Patch Tuesday at the latest.
Until then, we can at least be pleased that Microsoft has kept its word and listened to the wishes of the Windows community—even if the implementation took a bit longer than one might expect.
Further reading: Microsoft’s next priority is making Windows 11 faster on PCs with only 8GB RAM
