How do I keep the icons on the left of the taskbar to stay where they are?

Anonymous
2011-04-12T11:56:38+00:00

I have little icons for Outlook, Firefox, and Word on the left side of my taskbar and I want them to stay all the way to left, even when I have one or more of the programs open-- like it used to in earlier versions.  For example, if I have Outlook and some word docs open, those little icons disappear and the Firefox icon will be floating in between the two sets of open programs.  I even have my taskbar locked.  How do I fix this?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Accessibility

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@CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2011-04-21T13:57:45+00:00

In your description, the icons do stay where they are.  For example, your first picture has Outlook as the first icon.  Then in the next picture, Outlook is open, but it has not moved.

So you actually do want it to move, or you want a duplicate to show up over to the right, while the original icon stays to the left?

Sorry, but neither of these are possible.  The icons will always stay where they are.  This way Outlook is always #1 (or wherever you put it).

This gives you some great benefits.  For example:

  • Outlook will always be the first icon, running or not.  Makes it easier to find, because it's always in the same place.
  • There is no duplication.  You don't have to have 1 button to start Outlook, then another button that is Outlook once it's started.  Less crowding on the Taskbar with no duplicate icons.
  • You only have 1 place to look if you want to start Outlook, switch to it if it's already running, or look for the little envelope icon that shows up when you have new mail (it shows up on top of the Outlook icon now, if you have large icons enabled so there is room)
  • You can use keyboard shortcuts.  Pressing Windows+1 will start (or switch to) the first button on the taskbar. In your case, this is Outlook.  If Outlook moved over after you clicked it, your number shortcuts would change randomly.

In short, the icons will always stay where you put them. If you put Outlook as the first icon, it will always be the first icon, even after you click it.

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  1. Anonymous
    2012-08-01T22:58:25+00:00

    I read through all of the nonsense on these replies and can't get over how seemingly intelligent people, who I'm sure really do want to help, can't get a simple understanding of the issue.  In any case, THERE IS A SIMPLE FIX, and Microsoft takes users step by step through it:

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/975784/en-us

    Essentially, the issue lies in the fact that people are simply confusing the Win7 taskbar, with "pinning" functionality, for the QUICK TASK taskbar, which was a given in previous Windows versions. Microsoft should have made this option much clearer, but the solution at least works.

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-04-21T03:34:33+00:00

    Ok, I'm apparently just really picky-- I want something in between the "never combine" option (what it's on now) and the "always combine, hide labels" thing.  I want to have the icons to the left so I can click on them whenever, but I also want the different pages to have their own space on the taskbar.

    I have a screen shot of how it was set up on my old computer, too-- that one had Vista.  But we all know how good I am at posting screen shots...

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-04-13T03:04:42+00:00

    Thanks, but these icons are already pinned to my taskbar and the taskbar is already locked.  They still move around.

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  4. Anonymous
    2011-04-12T18:33:32+00:00

    If you want these program icons to stay on the task bar you can go to each program and right click it and select pin to taskbar, to move them around in a certain spot, unlock the taskbar, drag them where you want them and then re-lock the taskbar,

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