How-To

How to Show All Taskbar Corner Overflow Icons in Windows 11

By Brian Burgess

Updated April 27, 2022

The Windows 11 taskbar will hide certain running apps in the taskbar corner overflow. To make all running apps visible, follow this guide.

Windows 11, by default, displays a few app and system icons in the bottom-left corner (known as the system tray). Not all icons are visible, however, with hidden app icons now appearing in the taskbar corner overflow area. This is made visible when you press the up arrow in that area.

Hiding icons creates a clutter-free taskbar, but you might want to show all icons in the taskbar corner overflow. If that’s the case, you’ll need to make some changes to your settings. If you want to show all taskbar corner overflow icons in Windows 11, follow these steps.

How to Show Taskbar Corner Overflow Icons in Windows 11

Most app and system icons in the system tray are hidden on Windows 11. You can find hidden icons by clicking the up arrow icon in the taskbar notification area.

The flyout menu that displays hidden icons is the taskbar corner overflow menu.

To make the taskbar display all of the app icons in the system tray, use the following steps:

1. Click the Start button or press your Windows key, then click Settings. Alternately, you can use the keyboard shortcut Windows key + I to open Settings directly.
2. In the Settings menu, select Personalization from the list on the right, then Taskbar on the left. Alternatively, right-click an empty area of the taskbar and press Taskbar settings.
3. Next, scroll down through the Taskbar settings menu and click the Taskbar corner overflow option. You’ll see a list of icons that are present—toggle the slider next to any apps you want to display on the taskbar.
4. If you don’t want the up arrow to appear on the taskbar, turn on all of the apps. Your notification area will then look like the one shown below.

That’s all there is to it. The icons you turn on will show up in the notification area on the taskbar. The ones you leave off will still reside in the Taskbar corner overflow menu.

How to Show Taskbar App Icons with Drag and Drop

Another way to display app icons on the taskbar is via the drag and drop method. You can drag items out of the overflow menu to make them visible.

To do this:

1. Click the up arrow icon to display app icons in the Taskbar corner overflow section.
2. Press and hold the app icon you want to make visible, then drag and drop the icon near other items on the taskbar.

The drag and drop method might be more effortless if you just want an app icon or two to show in the notification area. It means you don’t have to work your way through several menus in Settings.

Customizing the Taskbar in Windows 11

Using the steps above, you can customize the taskbar to show (or hide) all taskbar overflow icons on a Windows 11 PC. If you want easy access to any running app, make sure to show all of your icons, but only as long as you have the screen real estate to do so.

You can customize your taskbar further. For example, if you don’t like the new Start button position on Windows 11, you can move it to the left corner. If you’re not a fan of Widgets, you can remove the Widgets button from the taskbar entirely.