When Windows 11 originally launched, Microsoft completely removed the ability to “ungroup” taskbar buttons. If you had five Microsoft Word documents open, they were all forcefully collapsed into a single, tiny ‘W’ icon on your taskbar. For power users, having to hover over that single icon and wait for a thumbnail preview just to switch documents was incredibly frustrating.
Due to massive community backlash, Microsoft finally restored the ability to break apart these icons. However, the setting is buried deep within the Personalization menus. You can safely bypass the forced taskbar grouping and restore the classic Windows 10 behavior—where every open window gets its own wide, clearly labeled button on the taskbar.
How to Safely Bypass Windows 11 Taskbar Grouping
You must adjust the specific Taskbar behaviors menu within the Windows 11 Settings app.
- Right-click anywhere on the empty space of your Windows 11 taskbar (at the bottom of your screen).
- Click on Taskbar settings from the small pop-up menu.
- The Settings app will open. Scroll down to the very bottom of the page and click on the Taskbar behaviors section to expand it.
- Look for a drop-down menu labeled Combine taskbar buttons and hide labels.
- By default, this is set to “Always.” Click the drop-down menu and change it to Never.
The change is instantaneous. Look down at your taskbar: the single, compressed application icons have immediately expanded. If you have three web browser windows open, you will now see three distinct, wide rectangles, complete with the text title of the website, allowing you to instantly switch between them with a single click.