Speaking of which... does anyone know if the Windows 11 taskbar fixes this issue? I'm guessing MS has no interest at this point in making enhancements to Windows 10, so that's probably our only hope.
Can you please change notifications and autohide taskbar behavior?
Ran across this locked thread about this. Basically you have to either nerf any application that notifies you or really, turn them all off to avoid the taskbar constantly failing to autohide because ANY application has notifications.
First, I think the primary reason this is so annoying is because the taskbar becoming visible with auto hide enabled does not behave the same way as when you have autohide disabled. When always visible it will NEVER obscure open windows. When autohide is on and it pops up it hides a strip of the desktop and any window portions being drawn in that area. This can cause some very awkward problems as many key elements like confirm, cancel buttons are often at the bottom of screens. One of the primary reason folks enable this is to maximize available desktop space for working so this means they are even more likely to face obscured GUI elements due to this behavior.
Second, and I think more importantly, something else that makes this very frustrating even for a very experienced power user is that when setting taskbar behavior in taskbar settings there is NOTHING that indicates to you notifications will be a part of this behavior. You turn it on and expect the thing to hide unless you need it then inevitably a few minutes later the damn thing is visible again even though you haven't moused to the bottom of the screen. Then when you go back to check the settings it is still enabled. There are no options on that interface settings page to give you a clue that notifications play a role in auto hide behavior. No note, not hot link to notifications settings. no option to control notification behavior with respects to task bar auto hide behavior etc... And it is not clear that the reason it is becoming visible is due to notifications other than through trial and error or googling to find out what the hell is happening.
Perhaps I am wrong but I think perhaps what most of us expect is that the taskbar will function the exact same in terms of application highlights etc... just that when we choose autohide we will only see that information WHEN WE CHOOSE TO VIEW THE TASK BAR. By selecting autohide we are telling the system to keep the taskbar out of view unless we mouse to the side of the screen it is anchored too.
TLDR - A) make the taskbar auto hide visible behavior match non auto hide behavior in that when visible it does not obscure any desktop information. B) add taskbar visibility behavior due to notifications as a part of the taskbar settings menu so that it is 1) clear notifications will over ride your request to hide the taskbar unless you disable notifications and 2) that you can control all elements rated to taskbar behavior from the TASKBAR SETTINGS menu C) allow a middle ground that maintains taskbar notification information when visible but keeps notifications from making the taskbar visible.
Windows for home | Windows 10 | Settings
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
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Anonymous
2021-07-01T01:01:59+00:00 -
Anonymous
2021-06-29T21:41:24+00:00 I'm so angry about this issue. I know it's "small", but UI is important, and autohide clearly isn't working properly. I've been trying to find a solution to this problem, and I feel like I'm stymied at every turn. I put the taskbar vertical, and the enforced minimum width is more than twice as wide as icons, which is absurd. Things don't snap to the taskbar even when I turn off autohide.. I understand that in Windows 11 the taskbar will be restricted to only appearing on the bottom.
Please, Microsoft, I'm stuck on your software for work, and I need at least a minimum of opportunity to control the user interface. I'm a design professional and use fullscreen all of the time with almost every application. We had a decent amount of control of the taskbar up to Windows 7; taking it away is a regression, not progress.
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Anonymous
2021-05-14T01:04:00+00:00 I can't believe Microsoft STILL hasn't replied to this thread. This is a massive program with their software that has no fix to date.
I bought a Windows PC specifically for gaming, and I use discord to communicate with my friends while I game with them. The taskbar is CONSTANTLY popping up OVER MY GAME with a discord notification, and I cannot re-hide it without alt-tabbing out of my game entirely to free my cursor. The only way to stop this? TURN OFF DISCORD NOTIS ENTIRELY, which is obviously not a plausible solution, as I still rely on HEARING the noti sound to know someone is entering my voice chat, or messaging me. There is literally no way I can fix this problem, and I've been trying for the past year, as it aggravates me beyond belief every single day.
Please, Microsoft, LISTEN to your customers. Ffs.
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Anonymous
2021-05-01T19:10:04+00:00 +1 please fix this microsoft pls.
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Anonymous
2021-04-20T05:42:37+00:00 +1 to this annoying issue! Microsoft: please address this need of power users.