How do I Ungroup Task Bar Buttons in Windows 11

Beyond just the "Never Combine" task bar buttons function that were offered in newer versions of Windows, older versions of Windows never even kept the File explorer or any App windows (from the same Processes/Apps) in the same grouping if they were opened in a random order . E.g. if I had many Windows open, as I usually would, since we are all expected to do so much in today's analytical/informational world, say if those were Word, File Explorer (3 separate windows), multiple "instances" of Excel, etc. If I were to open Word first, then Excel, then File Explorer, then a separate instance of Excel, and another File explorer - all these Windows would appear on the Taskbar in the order that I opened them (as typed above) AND NOT not be "grouped" together (e.g. All "instances" of Excel taskbar buttons being adjacent to each other, rather than, say, a Word or a File explorer taskbar button/window between the Excel taskbar buttons). I mean, IF I REALLY WANTED ALL WORD TASKBAR BUTTONS AND ALL EXCEL TASKBAR BUTTONS TO BE ADJACENT TO EACH OTHER, I WOULD HAVE OPENED WORD/EXCEL WINDOWS IN SUCH AN ORDER!!!! Back then, Word would open separate taskbar buttons to represent separate open windows on the desktop and stay in the order you opened them, even when there where multiple File explorer windows opened in between the Word document windows. Excel however, kept multiple windows within 1 "instance" and always had 1 taskbar button. BUT you could open a 2nd, 3rd, and so on windows for Excel in separate "instances", which can be easily done.

I remember this from old versions of Windows and it was great because it acted like a VISUAL CUE of OPEN WORKING WINDOWS based on my own precedence or like an order of importance.

HERE ARE 3 GIANT REASONS WHY MICROSOFT WENT BACKWARDS:

1. Not allowing "Never Combine" is one of the most "STUPIDEST" (excuse my French) things to do. In today's age of ever advanced graphics with higher and higher monitor resolutions, plus emphasis on efficiency and ergonomics, grahpics/images/text get smaller and sharper, and you can fit a lot more on the screen, WHY THE HECK would you NOT ALLOW "Never Combine" and END UP WITH A WHOLE LOT OF EMPTY/WASTED SPACE ON THE TASKBAR???? These guys at Microsoft are just brilliant!!!! I mean, if you FORCE COMBINING TASKBAR ITEMS, how many apps can you fit on the taskbar? 30? 40? Who the heck really uses 30 different apps??? Even a serious user will perhaps use 6 to 10 apps most of the time. AND EVERY SERIOUS USER WILL HAVE LIKE 10 OR MORE WINDOWS OPEN AT ANY GIVEN MOMENT, multi-tasking between apps and explorere windows.
2. Carpel Tunnel Syndrome. Yes that's right. Making us move or mouse and wrist more, making us do extra "mouse clicks", "mouse hovers" gives us more work, and each time we do that, although these tiny movements are marginal/nominal, over a prolonged period of time, it adds up to a MUCH MORE MOUSE DISTANCE TRAVELED AND MOUSE CLICKS PRESSED, which WILL CONTRIBUTE TO HIGHER RATES OF CARPEL TUNNEL.
3. Similar again to first reason, you can fit more taskbar icons (horizontally, across the taskbar) and NOT REALLY BE SACRIFICING ANY SPACE, given the resolutions are just getting finer/smaller/sharper. "Combined" Taskbar buttons take up EVEN LESS HORIZONTAL SPACE while they're already smaller due to super high resolutions. THIS IS LIKE DUMB AND DUMBER. The empty. wasted space is ludicrous. We need to see tons of info all the time, As the graphics resolution increases resulting in finer detail, Microsoft moves in the opposite direction by removing graphics from objects AND NOT TAKING ADVANTAGE OF GRAPHICS ADVANCES. you'd expect TO SEE MORE ON THE SCREEN and CLICK/MOVE LESS, but the result is just the opposite - WE SEE LESS AND WORK/MOVE MORE. They are just too BRILLIANT, for their own good.

MY GUESS IS ALL OF THIS BACKWARDS MOTION ON THE PART OF MICROSOFT is about moving away from keyboards to touchscreen technology even for the business warrior. THIS MAKES NO SENSE TO ME WHATSOEVER. Here's why, THE PRECISION OF A MOUSE AND A MOUSE POINTER AND THE FACT THAT IT CAN FOCUS ON A SINGLE POINT ON THE SCREEN is why would touchscreen will NEVER BE MORE EFFICIENT THAN A MOUSE POINTER FOR DATA HUNGRY, ANALYTICAL, BUSINESS USERS. THE MOUSE CAN FOCUS ON A SINGLE POINT WHEREAS YOUR FINGER FOCUSES ON A BIG OLE SPOT. The former can be precisely calibrated to hit a single point which TOTALLY MAKES SENSE WITH HIGHER GRAPHIC RESOLUTIONS AND FINER DETAIL IN THE INFORMATION AGE WHERE WE NEED TO SEE MORE AND MORE DATA TO GET OUR REPORTS/ANALYSES DONE. Whereas, the latter is just BLATANTLY INEFFICIENT WHEN YOU ARE TRYING TO HIT A SINGLE TINY POINT, but your STUPID FINGER IS COVERING UP EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT TO FOCUS ON (in the context of more numbers, higher graphic detail due to resolution advances, and the serious need to fit more info onto the screen.

HOW WILL MICROSOFT FIGURE THIS OUT? My guess is that the mouse pointer and the business user should be inseparable. I can't for the life of me see how touchscreen WITH NO MOUSE is MORE EFFICIENT THAN MOUSE POINTER/USAGE, in today's age.

Amen! My work trialed me and a few other random people with it on my work laptop to get feedback - no one could stand the taskbar. IT received multiple tickets asking how to "show the windows," "I can't see my excel file names in the bar now, how to I fix?" and other similar issues. It's over a year old with the same "We will look into your feedback" BS. I had Windows 11 installed for about a week when it became available for my home laptop - I figured after 6+ months of getting that feedback they would have at least let you select NEVER COMBINE...but nope. The best solution for "Advisors" are to install 3rd party software (which you can't do on company laptops) or to hack the OS (again, something you can't and shouldn't do on any laptop).

Here we are in 2023, and Microsoft is wanting to be like Apple OS and eliminate the best features of windows - multitasking.

I completely agree with Midnight_lightning. Absolutely maddening that it isn't possible to toggle to ungroup easily. I typically have lots of sessions open and need to switch between them constantly. The extra clicks and having to check with tab to switch to each time is soooooo frustrating.

If I want to view my Inbox and click on the Outlook application in the taskbar, it always takes me to the last open window from Outlook instead of its main screen (the inbox). So, it will pop up an open Calendar Event, a Reminder of an upcoming meeting, or something else, before it ever takes me to my Inbox.

I agree; this is the worst offender.

I know that an OS that has been around as long as Windows will always have to give up features that are important to some people in order to bring something new and, hopefully, improve the experience for other users. When I started using Windows 11 I was pulling out my hair about the grouped tabs setting, but I thought I'd give it a couple weeks to see if I could adapt to the change--maybe I'd even find the benefit. But after two weeks, I find myself continually losing time searching for windows. It's even worse if I try using multiple desktops (a feature I really am glad they added). Searching for a window while leading a video call today left me embarrassed.

So, au revoir, and wish me luck. I'm about to download a third-party solution and hope that nothing breaks!