Windows 11 will finally allow users to move the Taskbar to the edge of the screen, and Insiders can already test the feature. The latest Insider build of Windows 11 brings this change, introduces the option to use a smaller Taskbar, and includes a number of other improvements.
When our Editor-in-Chief Zac Bowden first covered it Microsoft’s initiative to improve Windows 11The first feature he mentioned was the movable taskbar. It’s a much-requested feature, and bringing it back to Windows would earn Microsoft some goodwill.
See the full changelog ↴
Windows 11 Build 26300.8493
Taskbar
- Alternate taskbar position
- You can now reposition the taskbar on your screen. In Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors, you can choose which side of the screen you want your taskbar to be on: bottom, top, left, or right. In these other positions, tooltips, transitions, and animations will still come from the taskbar, and will work with most of the customization settings, such as the small taskbar and all places that never integrate taskbar icons.
- Support for touch gestures in alternate locations, the Search box, and Ask Copilot continues. Auto-hidden taskbar and touch-optimized taskbar are not yet supported.
- A smaller taskbar
- We’re introducing a smaller taskbar especially for users who want to maximize screen space on smaller devices. While the default taskbar remains unchanged, this setting provides a more compact experience with smaller icons and a reduced taskbar height, giving you more space for your apps. Key elements such as Start, Search, and the system tray are scaled appropriately to stay aligned and consistent.
- To change the taskbar size, go to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors > Show smaller taskbar buttons. When set to Always, both icons and taskbar height are reduced.
- We are also working on improving the taskbar settings to make resizing easier, these improvements are currently in progress.
- As we continue to make widgets less distracting, we’ve made a small but meaningful visual update to the taskbar icon. For those with a taskbar icon enabled, the icon color will now match your Windows accent color instead of always appearing red, reducing the feeling that something needs your immediate attention.
- We’re also experimenting with muting a user’s experience based on their engagement level. For example, a user who is highly engaged with Widgets will likely benefit from muting the experience with a taskbar icon, with settings set to what works best for them, compared to a user who barely engages with it.
- Share your feedback to let us know how these changes work for you, or if you run into any issues with your smoother Widgets experience.
Windows Search Box
- We’ve started making changes to make the Windows Search Box more convenient, starting with making it easier to find your files and programs:
- When your content has a stronger match, files and apps appear more reliable than web offers
Voice input and Voice recording
- Fluid Dictation is now available in Spanish and French for Windows Insiders! It automatically corrects grammar, punctuation and filler words as you speak, making voice-based dictation smoother and easier, reducing the need for manual editing. This experience is equipped with on-device small language models (SLM) to provide fast and private processing. You can try fluid dictation from Windows voice input or Voice Typing (Win +H).
Windows design
- Here are a series of solid (doughnut) spinners for key Windows scenarios, including Boot, Logon, Restart, Shutdown, and Update. This update replaces the old spinner visuals to provide a more unified and modern experience aligned with Windows design standards. Users will now see uniform spinner behavior in these streams with appropriate status text (eg “Restart”, “Working on updates”, “Welcome”), improving perceived reliability and visual consistency.
File Explorer
- Fixed an issue where Features were not correctly addressing the Trash and some other scenarios in the previous flight.
Run away
- Fixed an issue where the refreshed Run dialog would not go through your history if you pressed the up/down arrow keys on first launch.
Other
- This flight contains the first of a set of optimizations to improve login performance that we expect to fly in the Windows Insider Program over the next few months. Note that this is part of an ongoing effort – we plan to implement additional WIP access optimizations, measure real-world impacts, and use that data for further improvements.
- Improved reliability when switching between multiple desktops.
- This update improves the reliability of Simple Service Discovery Protocol (SSDP) notifications to prevent the service from becoming unresponsive.
- Improved reliability of dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth command.
- Improved the reliability of the computer that was sleeping before the update
When was the experimental channel created? Microsoft has overhauled the Windows Insider Program. Those in the Dev Channel are gradually transitioning to the Experimental Channel.
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