7+ Taskbar Tweaker
7+ Taskbar Tweaker allows you to configure various aspects of the Windows taskbar.
Most of the configuration options it provides can’t be tweaked using the taskbar properties or the registry.
The tweaker is designed for Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.
Download
7tt_setup.exe (1.78 MB, changelog)
Latest version: v5.15.1
Note: The installer can be used to extract a portable version. Refer to the FAQ below for details.
Beta version
7tt_setup_beta.exe (1.79 MB, changelog)
Latest beta version: v5.15.1.2
More info about beta versions.
✖
Windows 11 Support Status
- 7+ Taskbar Tweaker doesn’t support the Windows 11 taskbar, and probably never will. See this blog post for more details.
- Some of the tweaks are available in Windows 11 as Windhawk mods. See here for the list of mods, and vote for missing mods that you’d like to see implemented. Read more about Windhawk here.
- 7+ Taskbar Tweaker works on Windows 11 with the old taskbar which can be restored with third party tools. See this blog post for more details.
Demo video
Here is a video that demonstrates some of the tweaks:
Source code
https://github.com/m417z/7-Taskbar-Tweaker
FAQ
Q: Which registry keys does 7+ Taskbar Tweaker modify? I don’t need extra processes in my system.
A: The only registry keys the tweaker modifies are its own settings. There are no registry keys for the options it provides. The tweaker does that by injecting a DLL to explorer, hooking/subclassing/some other methods of the dark side.
As for extra processes, the tweaker is a native program, and is very lightweight. It shouldn’t slow down your system, and uses an extremely small amount of memory. Also, you can hide the tray icon if you want.
In case you want to remove the tweaker’s settings from the registry, look for them here:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\7 Taskbar Tweaker
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run (“7 Taskbar Tweaker” value)
P.S. if you’re a programmer, you might want to take a look at the 7+ Taskbar Tweaking Library.
Q: My antivirus complains about 7+ Taskbar Tweaker.
A: It’s a false positive. I guarantee that the tweaker binaries (and any other files on this site, unless specifically noted) are 100% clean.
Also remember that the tweaker injects into explorer and modifies its memory, which is indeed suspicious.
Q: Can I Group/Combine/Label only some of the items on the taskbar?
A: Yes, use Taskbar Inspector.
Q: May I use 7+ Taskbar Tweaker in a commercial environment?
A: Yes, feel free to use it wherever you want.
Q: Where is the portable version?
A: When installing the tweaker, choose the Portable type of install, as shown on the image below.
The portable version will be extracted to the selected folder.
Note: If the tweaker is already installed on your computer, the option won’t be visible. You can launch the setup with the /portable command line switch to force a portable installation.
Q: I want to report a bug/suggest a feature! What is the best way to do it?
A: Post it on the UserEcho page.
Q: I want to translate 7+ Taskbar Tweaker to my language.
A: The archive below contains the files needed to be translated.
Please read readme.txt before proceeding.
7tt_translate.zip (758.63 kB)
If you are brave enough to translate the help file, contact me for the required software and files.
Tags: 7+ taskbar tweaker
Thnx for the marvelous program, you just made my day. 😀
Doesn’t work for me. Basically I want to group and unlabel just one application ID, and leave all other ungrouped and labeled.
When I select “don’t group” in windows native task bar options, the tweaker doesn’t group items even when I select “always group by application ID”. And if I select “always group” in a windows, I have to manually select “show labels” for every item other than the one I want to group, because in that case windows hides ALL of the labels. Very uncomfortable.
There is no “don’t group” option in taskbar properties (that’s what you mean, right?), there is “don’t combine”.
> Doesn’t work for me. Basically I want to group and unlabel just one application ID, and leave all other ungrouped and labeled.
– Use the “Never combine” option in windows properties.
– Use the “Don’t group” option of the tweaker.
> When I select “don’t group” in windows native task bar options, the tweaker doesn’t group items even when I select “always group by application ID”.
When you say grouping, maybe what you mean is combining?
Try the “Force combining grouped items” tweaker option.
Thanks! The problem was, because I use russian version of Windows, the “combining” and “grouping” are translated as the same word here 🙂 Now everything works like I want it to.
But, it would be very nice to have one more feature – the ability to decrease the delay of thumbnail preview. As of now it’s somewhere about 0,5-0,8 secs, I would like to have it reduced to zero 🙂
Thank you again for the awesome tweaker.
Oh hey, regarding my last suggestion about thumbnail preview delay, I found a registry parameter that can change this, but still it would be nice to have it in the tweaker.
Excellent program. Was wondering if an option could be added to either: prevent right-clicking all together, or read the HKLU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoTrayContextMenu entry and prevent right-clicking if set to zero. Am trying to find a way to prevent all right-clicking of the taskbar as was supported by Windows XP when setting that registry entry.
Thankyou
Very nice application indeed!
I use it for the “don’t group by application ID” so that I can drag instances of the same application away from each other.
But I wonder if I can do the following:
Say instance X of an application is open. I want to open a second instance Y. Because the “don’t group” option is on, instance Y is not placed next to X when I open it, but it is placed on the right of the task bar. Is it possible to make Y appear right next to X, without grouping them?
If not I think it would be a nice feature and would add it as a feature id. On the uservoice page.
Thanks
Roel
Nope, it’s not possible with the current version.
Yea I had the same thought, I added a uservoice feature request so go vote for it..
http://tweaker.uservoice.com/forums/73857-general/suggestions/1590321-new-program-instance-opens-directly-right-of-its-o?ref=title
To reorder your window order in the taskbar, check out Taskbar Shuffle. I use Taskbar Shuffle in conjunction with Taskbar Tweaker and it works like a charm!
http://nerdcave.webs.com/
Please, can you add check boxes for selection in Taskbar Inspector? 🙂
When I am browsing, I have 5 or 6 browser windows open each with lots of tabs. If I turn off thumbnails in the app, I see a vertical list of page titles, which I can select to maximize that page. There is no grouping of pages possible with that setting. If I turn on the thumbnails, all I see is a thumbnail for the selected tab in each open window. What I really want is a combination of both, where I can see the thumbnails of the selected tabs in each window, but above this be able to see a complete list of all the tabs for that window. Then mousing over the next thumbnail will show me the list of open tabs for that window.
When I have many windows open, the thumbnails are not displayed, only the list. Once the display flips to that mode, I would like to see a nested selection a bit like the XP start menu where you see an arrow which if you mouse over it shows you the next set of things to select – in this case the first set being windows and the next set being tabs. I am using Opera 11, and at the moment it takes much too long to find an open tab. Any ideas from the author or indeed anyone who has solved this would be appreciated
You, kind sir, are awesome. Thank you very much! I spent over an hour trying to figure this out, but I finally found it. At first I thought this software a virus, but it’s really just a gem waiting to be found. I think Google gives it low SEO because it thinks that this is a virus, even though it isn’t.
Heck, I don’t care if you want to use my computer processor to help find the largest prime number. That’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make to be able to hide the labels for some applications. Thank you!!!!
The left click option is missing in the 64bit version
What do you mean by missing?
my mistake, isn’t missing
Thank you so much ! I’ve been waiting for so long for a quick and effective way to disable thumbnail previews. I wish MS kept the simple setting in Windows 7.
Thanks again !
I accidentally found this software and by the looks of it find it very useful, however it doesn’t contain the option I was originally looking for – disabling application launch on left click for applications not currently open. Would it be possible to do that somehow? It occurs to me a tad too often that i try to switch by left clicking to an app different than the one I am currently using but by misclicking on a neighboring icon I end up running some potentially very slow at launching and memory consuming app like e.g. Word or Firefox with many tabs/windows set to load at startup, or some game I stupidly pinned on the taskbar etc.
Seems to me this is a problem everyone runs into and I am a bit puzzled how come nobody asked about it before in these comments or in the uservoice, so I thought I should ask if it does already exist or is registry settable, before adding such request in the uservoice.
Since middle click can retain the launching option and there is practically no chance to misclick another button, is it possible that left click does just nothing on non-fired items?
http://tweaker.uservoice.com/forums/73857-general/suggestions/1250869-double-click-pinned-program-to-start
thanks for this amazing app
WOW!!!! I hate how I can’t reorganise application tabs on windows 7, its really stupid, I don’t want to move a whole block, I want to move individual blocks!!!
Thank you very much for this tool, its perfect!!! 🙂
v1.8.1: fixed a bug with taskbar items disordering.
Thanks for the prompt update.
Customizable Jump Lists
Jumplist Extender is an open source program for creating custom jump lists. Sadly, it seems to have been abandoned by the author (all his websites and download links are dead) for almost a year now. From what I’ve experienced it’s very raw and buggy.
Customizing jump lists seems to be right down 7TT’s alley. Maybe you can integrate something into Taskbar Inspector?
Thank you for this program!
Love it. Hugs and handjobs to you good sir.
Thank you for this program.
Maybe you add option to hide “Show desktop” button? Please!
Excellent utility, thanks for your hard work.
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
🙂
Nice “tiny” program giving me back what I had before on Win XP (via Taskbar shuffle)
Really nice work, but please test and optimize it for vertical taskbars as well.
By example, the gap between pinned item is not removed when vertical taskbar is used.
Thanks in advance!
Hello, I’m using your program it’s very useful for me.
I just suggest if it’s possible to add Drag & drop behavior settings, for example to have default option, other to be “always copy/paste” I dont like if I drop some file over .exe file to start this application, other option can be “always move/paste” “disable”, or if you got another ideas. Well this ain’t only a taskbar tweak but a global, but still will be useful if can be implemented.
Nice looking program, I’m looking forward to playing about with it.
The specific tweak I was after (or problem I’m looking to solve) is with the taskbar when made vertical.
If you increase the height of a horizontal taskbar the icon line becomes two, and then three (etc) rows of icons.
If you increase the width of a vertical taskbar it seems that you are still left with a single column of icons. Frankly annoying. :/
fantastic tool!
with xp I used to work with taskbar shuffle, but now with win7 i was screwed.
With the new features you put on the tool, it is even more useful than taskbar shuffle – thank you!!!
Feature request.
Thanks for this tool, it’s a very good app.
However, I think that you could make this app really great
Windows 7 is not perfect without a little “change” in the taskbar…
It’ll be great if you can add an option to tweak the size/space of icons in the taskbar… It’s so difictult to make something like this?:
http://ludomatico.deviantart.com/art/Windows-7-Taskbar-Resizer-201760737?qo=0&catpath=gallery:ludomatico:25792352&order=0&offset=0
I leave you my email, I hope you can add this features in 7 Taskbar Tweaker!
Do you mean making them closer to each other?
This is tremendously useful. Thank you!
The files on your site are DIFFERENT from the clean and safe files on softpedia.com.
Are you falsely advertising that your files are clean?
// 7 Taskbar Tweaker.exe
MD5 (Softpedia): c2f9d5a1f32061f05d8ca9d71108c3b0
MD5 (rammichael): 133426524063d737b9f2267db222d1f0
Softpedia has version 1.8, while here it’s version 1.8.2.
Ok, ty.
Are there any notable changes in v1.8.2 ?
v1.8.1: fixes a bug with taskbar items disordering.
v1.8.2: fixes a bug with the “decombine on mouse hover” option being sometimes on when not checked.
Can you add a option to supress completly any orange taskbar “flashing” coming from new windows opened. i want keep the new windows on the taskbar rather than having them flashing and obscure my view at whatever i was looking at. there is this registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop with the DWORD value called ForegroundLockTimeout and ForegroundFlashCount, but they can’t completly disable this annoying orange flashing in the taskbar. i just want no orange and no flashing more.
Danke!Merci!Thanx!
Thanks, this is great application.
I was missing the middle click-close so much from Taskbar Shuffle in Vista.
is it possible to achieve the same results by modifying the windows registry ? I don’t like having programs running in background
No, read FAQ.
Absolutely amazing program! Thank you so much.
It enables me to tweak Windows like no other program or integrated setting would allow me to do.
Thank GOD for this! (or better: the autor..) I was really desperate. Win7-64bits is working so good and fast, but “Grouping by application” ruined it all. I spent hours before I found this app. (the topic is hidden behind the many links about “Combining”.) RaMMicheal, this is the best Win7-tweak I’ve seen. 🙂 (This Microsoft stupidity is just beyond comprehension.)
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!
You have just made windows a little more tolerable!
Windows 7 runs fast and smooth, but the interface is total garbage. I shouldn’t have to download and install 20 programs and change 50 settings just to make it friendly, but I guess thats micro$oft for ya.
I am not a geek….what do I need and where is safe to get it …to open a .rar file? I assume the one with the x64 in it is for 64 bit systems?
Thank you!
Brian
You can use WinRAR:
http://rarlab.com/download.htm
Or use an online service like WobZIP:
http://wobzip.org/
> I assume the one with the x64 in it is for 64 bit systems?
Yep
Thank you!!
Worked on Win 7 Ultimate x64. Not sure if has to be run for each session or is fire & forget. If is f&f then be looking for another solution.
Just ran the app and pops gone, didn’t reboot or logoff.
New system and none of prior methods stopped darn pop ups. So annoying when have many tasks listed. Thanks!
good application, I will try it!
The right click toggling within groups is just what I needed.
To make it wrap all needed features for the taskbar, I think customizing the button width should be added ;D
Afaik, there’s a registry option for it.
I just wanted to give you a big thanks for ‘unsticking’ the grouped taskbar buttons. Peace.
Hi, I am using the tool “Actual Multiple Monitors” to show a taskbar on my second monitor. Is there a way to make 7 Taskbar Tweaker also affect this second taskbar? At the moment it behaves exactly like the standard Windows Taskbar and only the taskbar on my primary monitor is tweaked.
Thanks
Thank you for this wonderful utility. I have been looking for something that will let me rearrange taskbar icons within groups for Win7. This does exactly what I needed.
Thanks mate – this is up there with wizmouse – an absolute godsend – bless you RaMMicHaeL
RightPaddock
Hey man,
Just wanted to drop a message and say thanks for the awesome work – middle click to close has made my day so much easier.
Hi, how I can open multiple files?
What do you mean?
Thanks for the useful tool. Version 1.1.1 works on Windows 2008, but 2.0 does not. 2.0 complains with “Windows 7 only” error message. I want the “Middle click on empty space” feature which 1.1.1 does not have. Any ideas?
I’ll fix that in next version.
Meanwhile, try to run the setup in compatibility mode for Windows 7.
Thanks, RaMMicHaeL, but unfortunately, I cannot see compatibility option for Windows 7 though I can see those for Vista(RTM,SP1,SP2), 2008(SP1), 2003(SP1), and so on. All of them cause “Windows 7 only” error of cource.
Anyway, I am looking forward to the next version.
Rightclick on the 7tt_setup.exe -> properties (or whatever it’s called, i’ve got a german windows here) -> compatibility has a “windows 7”-choice, at least on my Server 2k8-R2.
However, this does not solve the problem, i still get the “windows 7 only”-message.
Thanks for 2.1! It works well on my Windows 2008 R2.
Thank god for this….
I don`t use all the tools & options, but just to restore the original pre-w7 taskbar functionality.
Thank You! Loving this.
LoveLove!!!!
Is it possible for this to work on Windows Server 2008 R2? I have some users in a Citrix environment that don’t want the apps to be grouped by ther AppID. This seems to be the only program that can prevent this from happening.
Hi!
This one of the small, but very great application (what correct/workaround annoying windows awkward things). Big thx for made it!
Haha, excellent work! Thanks Rammichael.
Hi, after windows update this morning (Win7) its not possible to reorder items within a tab group in the taskbar (Tweaker 2.0) ??
I cannot reproduce that (I have all the updates installed).
Please, remove “stupid” check for the correct Windows version from the setup. Because now it’s not working on Windows Server 2008 R2, which is based on Windows 7. 🙂