2 Ways to Alter the Size of Your Windows Desktop Taskbar

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Quickly make the taskbar bigger or smaller in Windows

Written by Rain Kengly

Last Updated: December 1, 2024 Fact Checked

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Using Windows 11

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Using Windows 10 and Earlier

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Is your Windows taskbar too big or too small? In Windows 10, you can easily increase or decrease the taskbar size with a simple drag. You can also change its position to the top or sides of the screen. While there was a registry hack that made it possible to change the size of the Windows 11 taskbar, that option is no longer available. This wikiHow will show you how to change the size of the taskbar in Windows 10 and earlier, and teach you about upcoming taskbar customizations options for Windows 11.

Changing the Size of Your Taskbar

On Windows 10, right-click the taskbar and uncheck Lock the taskbar. Place the mouse over the top edge of the taskbar, and then drag the taskbar up or down or make it larger or smaller. Alternatively, right-click the taskbar and click Taskbar settings. Toggle on Use small taskbar buttons to reduce the size of the taskbar.

Section 1 of 2:

Using Windows 11

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1
Currently, there is no way to change the size of the Windows 11 taskbar. While there was once a registry hack that made it easy to adjust the taskbar size, that hack was fixed in a recent Windows Update. Fortunately, Microsoft is making changes to the Windows 11 taskbar to restore many Windows 10 taskbar features. Upcoming updates will reportedly restore the ability to ungroup taskbar apps and add labels to taskbar icons.^{[1]
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Research source} While there's no official word that the next update will include taskbar resizing, there's a pretty good chance this feature will appear in a future update.
- If you're a power-user who doesn't want to wait until new features are released for all users, consider joining Microsoft's Insider Program. Becoming an Insider allows you to test the newest Windows features while they're still in development.
2
Consider adjusting the screen resolution and scale. Changing your resolution and scale will resize everything on the screen, not just your taskbar, so this workaround won't be right for everyone. But if you find a resolution that makes the taskbar the desired size but makes the text hard to read, you can adjust the text size independently in your Scale settings.
- To change your resolution, go to Settings > System > Display, then select an option under "Display Resolution." The higher the resolution, the smaller the objects on your screen. Just keep in mind that your video card and monitor might not be able to handle all resolution options in the list—the "Recommended" option is usually the best option for your screen.^{[2]
  X
  Trustworthy Source
  
  Microsoft Support
  Technical support and product information from Microsoft.
  
  Go to source}
- If you find a resolution you like but want to make the text larger or smaller, select Scale above "Display resolution," click Text size, and drag the slider to increase or decrease the font size.
- For example, if you set the resolution to 3072 x 1920 and it makes the text too small to read, you can increase the text size to make text larger.

Section 2 of 2:

Using Windows 10 and Earlier

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To alter the size of your Windows desktop taskbar, make sure that the taskbar is not locked. To see whether or not it is locked, right-click any empty space on the taskbar, and check there is no checkmark next to Lock the taskbar. If there is, click Lock the taskbar once to unlock it.
The pointer will turn into a two-headed arrow.
This will increase the size of the taskbar. Alternatively, drag the taskbar's edge down to make is smaller.
4
Reposition the taskbar. You can reposition the taskbar to the right, left, or top of the screen. Simply click and drag the taskbar to the top, left, or right side of the screen.
- This can be useful when the taskbar is blocking something at the bottom of the screen. You can temporarily move the taskbar out of the way.
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Turn off Auto-hide. Your computer may sometimes automatically hide the taskbar from view. If this is an annoyance to you, use the following steps to turn off auto-hide:
- Right-click any empty space in the taskbar.
- Click Taskbar settings (Properties on Windows 7 & 8) at the bottom of the pop-up menu.
- Click the toggle switch next to "Automatically hide the taskbar in desktop mode."
- Click the toggle switch next to "Automatically hide the taskbar in tablet mode."
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Make the taskbar icons small. If you want to make the icons in the taskbar small, use the following steps:
- Right-click any empty space in the taskbar.
- Click Taskbar settings (Properties on Windows 7 & 8) at the bottom of the pop-up menu.
- Click the toggle switch next to "Use small taskbar buttons."
This is in the lower-right corner. This displays all the hidden mini-icons in a pop-up box. You can adjust which icons you want to be in the taskbar or in the hidden icons box by clicking and dragging icons from the taskbar to the hidden icons box, and vice-versa. This allows you to move some icons off of the taskbar, creating more space in the taskbar.
At this stage, you may lock the taskbar again so you can keep your changes. To do so, right-click any empty space on the taskbar and click Lock the taskbar.

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How do I make the taskbar taller?

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Go right to the edge of the taskbar with your mouse. Your mouse should change icons to a double-sided arrow. Now, just click and drag the taskbar to as tall as you want.

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How do I make the taskbar shorter?

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Place your mouse just over the top edge of the taskbar and the cursor will turn into a two-sided arrow. Click and drag the bar down. If your taskbar is already at the default (smallest) size, right click on it, click settings, and toggle the setting called "Use smaller taskbar buttons". This will reduce the size of your taskbar icons, reducing the size of the taskbar along with them.

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Question

How do I make the taskbar icons larger?

Community Answer

Taskbar and start menu properties > Taskbar > Unclick the "Use small icon".

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