How to Change Taskbar Color, Size and Position in Windows 11?

Taskbar is a crucial element in Windows interface from where you can access pinned and currently opened apps. Microsoft revamped Taskbar’s appearance in Windows compared to Windows 10. However, in that process, they also removed useful features like resizing by dragging the Taskbar. If you wonder how to change the appearance, here is how you can change its color, size and position in Windows 11.

Change Taskbar Color, Size and Position in Windows 11

In summary, you can change the color of Taskbar from the default Windows Settings app. However, there are no default options available for changing size and position. Hence, you need to modify registry entries or use third-party app for these purposes.

1. Method to Change Taskbar Color

Windows allows to change the Taskbar color only when you are using dark mode. So, if you don’t like the default color of your Taskbar follow the below steps to change it color.

• First, open Settings by clicking on the Start menu and typing “Settings” in the search bar. And then click Settings app from the results.

• Go to “Personalization” option from the left side menu. Find the “Colors” option and select it.

• Now scroll down to find the “Show accent color on Start and taskbar” option. This option will be greyed out if you are using the light mode in Windows 11. You need to switch to dark mode for changing this option.

• Scroll up on the same settings page and look for “Choose your mode” option. Click the dropdown and select “Dark” option.

• After choosing the dark mode, scroll down and turn on “Show accent color on Start and taskbar” option. You can select any color of your choice from the palette or click “View colors” button against “Custom colors” to setup a different color.

This is how you can easily change the color of your Taskbar and enjoy its new look.

2. How to Change Taskbar Size in Windows 11

Old Windows versions allowed to drag and resize the Taskbar which is no more possible with Windows 11. Unfortunately, you need to edit the registry for this simple purpose.

2.1. Using the Registry Editor

Before making any changes to the Registry, make sure to create a backup of your Registry. To change the size of the Taskbar you need to create a new key named TaskbarSi in Advanced Explorer settings.

• First, open the Run dialog box by pressing “Windows + R” keys and then type “Regedit” and press OK.

• Follow this path to go to the desired location:

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

• After reaching to the “Advanced” folder, right-click on the right pane and select “New > DWORD (32-bit) Value” option.

• Rename the newly created key as “TaskbarSi”.

• Double-click on it and set the value as “2” to make the size of the Taskbar bigger. If you want to make the size smaller, enter the value as 0 and press “OK”.

Now restart your system and check the Taskbar size is changed to larger or smaller.

2.2. Change Display Scaling

Sometimes the entire display is smaller or bigger including the text, icons, apps and Taskbar. In this case, you can try to change scaling percentage instead of editing registry.

• Right-click on the desktop and select “Display settings”.

• Now look for the “Scale” option and change it to a smaller value for making the Taskbar smaller. And if you want to make your Taskbar bigger, select a larger value than the recommended one.

3. Change Position of Taskbar in Windows 11

Windows 11 comes with a Taskbar positioned at the bottom and the app icons aligned at the center. There are two options if you don’t like this default setup – one is to change the icons alignment and other is to change the position of the Taskbar.

3.1. Change Taskbar Icons Alignment Using Settings

Follow the below steps to change the Taskbar icons to left like Windows 10.

• Press “Windows + I” keys to open Settings app.
• Go to “Personalization” option and open “Taskbar” settings.
• Click the dropdown against “Taskbar alignment” option and change the value from “Center” to “Left”.

3.2. Change Taskbar Position Using ExplorerPatcher App

If the bottom position is distracting your work, you can move the Taskbar to top or left / right side of the screen. You can do this with few steps using a free, open-source app known as ExplorerPatcher. This app will change the Taskbar to Windows 10 like interface and bring back the right-click context menu items.

• Go to official GitHub site and click the “Setup program” link to download the app.

• Open the downloaded file and install the app. Note that you need to have administrator access for this action.
• You will get a white screen for a few seconds, after that right-click on the Taskbar and uncheck “Lock the taskbar” option.

• Now, you can drag and move the Taskbar to any edge of the screen. If dragging is inconvenient, either select “Properties” from the right-click menu from Taskbar or search and open “Properties (ExplorerPatcher)” app.

• Make sure you are in “Taskbar” section and select Windows 10 for “Taskbar style”. After that click on the “Primary taskbar location on screen” option and select top, left or right as per your need. Click on “Restart File Explorer” link showing at the bottom left corner of the page.

• If you want to use Windows 11 Taskbar style, then you can only move to top position. Below is how the Taskbar on top position will look like on the desktop using this app.

Final Thoughts

If you do not like Windows 11 Taskbar, then use the ExplorerPatcher app to revert to Windows 10 like interface. You will get the right-click context menu and position alignment features. You can change the color by using accent color in Settings app and adjust the size using Registry Editor.