How to ungroup icons on the taskbar in Windows 11

Windows has changed a lot over the years and has lost some old-school features along the way. Window grouping on the taskbar is a relatively new feature, but Windows used to give you the option to get the old ungroup icon style. But can you do that in Windows 11? Here’s how to ungroup icons on the taskbar in Windows 11 so that you don’t have to downgrade to Windows 10.

Does Windows 11 have a ‘Never combine taskbar buttons’ feature?

Windows 11 made some significant changes to taskbar behavior. You can no longer resize the taskbar, and the taskbar now has icons centered by default. Windows 10 had a Never combine taskbar buttons option that let you move to the old style of taskbar icons (pictured above)

However, with Windows 11, the taskbar customization options are thin. You no longer get a Never combine taskbar buttons feature in Windows 11. There is no native way to enforce it either, so you’ll have to use a third-party app to ungroup icons in Windows 11.

How to ungroup icons in Windows 11

A third-party app called StartAllBack is designed to fix most annoyances that Windows users may have with Windows 11. Thankfully, it also lets you ungroup taskbar icons. After downloading the app, click the downloaded file to open the installer. Click Install for me or Install for everyone, depending upon your preference.

StartAllBack will install and automatically make some changes, like moving your taskbar to the left and bringing back the old-school start menu. The app will also launch automatically, but you can right-click the Start button and click Properties to launch it manually.

The launch screen will give you the option to pick your theme. You can select a theme if you like or leave it to the default Windows 11 settings. To proceed, click Taskbar in the left navigation pane.

Under Tweak behavior and superpowers, click the dropdown menu that says Always hide labels next to Combine taskbar buttons. Click Never from the dropdown menu.

If you want to use the new Windows 11 Start menu with the ungrouped icons, you can click Start Menu in the left navigation pane and click the toggle next to Use enhanced classic start menu.

That’s it. Enjoy your ungrouped taskbar icons in Windows 11. Here’s what they look like with the default start menu.

Note that StartAllBack will let you use all the features for free under the evaluation mode for only 100 days. To keep using it beyond that, you will have to buy a license, which costs $4.99.