The Icon Clutter
In older versions of Windows, every application you opened had a distinct rectangular button on the taskbar featuring its icon and a text label indicating the window’s title. If you had three Microsoft Word documents open, you had three distinct buttons. Windows 11 completely overhauled this. By default, it automatically groups all instances of an application under a single, small square icon. While this creates a cleaner, minimalist aesthetic, it forces you to hover your mouse over the icon and wait for a thumbnail preview just to switch between two different spreadsheets, severely slowing down multitasking for power users.
Restoring the Labels
To dramatically improve multitasking speed and stop Windows 11 from automatically grouping your taskbar buttons, you must restore the classic “never combine” behavior and enable text labels.
Right-click on any empty space on the taskbar at the bottom of your screen and select Taskbar settings. In the Settings window that appears, scroll down and click on the section labelled Taskbar behaviors to expand it. Look for a dropdown menu specifically labelled Combine taskbar buttons and hide labels. By default, this is set to “Always.” Click the dropdown menu and change the setting to Never. Instantly, your taskbar will expand to show individual, wide buttons for every single window you have open, complete with the full text title, allowing for one-click switching between documents.