Taskbar Auto-hide - Turn On or Off

How to Turn Auto-hide Taskbar On or Off in Windows 7​

   Information

This tutorial will show you how to turn auto-hide on or off to either hide or show the taskbar from view on your desktop until you hover the pointer over it in Windows 7.

You could hide the taskbar to create more space on your desktop.

   Note

When auto-hide is turned on to hide the taskbar, it will remain hidden until you move the mouse pointer over the hidden taskbar location to have it temporarily pop-up until you move the mouse point away from the taskbar location. It will then be hidden again.

   Tip

Microsoft has made available a hotfix that will resolve a problem where the taskbar customizations are lost and reset to defaults when automatic logon is enabled in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

More details are available at: FIX: The Taskbar is reset to the default settings when you use the "Automatically Log On" feature in Windows 7 and in Windows Server 2008 R2.

EXAMPLE: Taskbar with Auto-hide Turned On and Off
NOTE: The right screenshow it with auto-hide turned off by default.




Here's How:

1. Right click or press and hold on an empty space on the taskbar, and click/tap on Properties.

2. Do step 3 or 4 below for what you want to do.

3. To Turn On Auto-hide Taskbar
A) Check the Auto-hide the taskbar box, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshots step)
4. To Turn Off Auto-hide Taskbar
A) Uncheck the Auto-hide the taskbar box, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshots below)





That's it,
Shawn

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---

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[rats]

Hello

I'm running win7 evaluation version.
The Taskbar Auto-hide works at higher resolutions,
but does not for 640 x 480, which i need.

Does Auto-hide work in either OEM or full retail
at 640 x 480 ? If not it is a deal breaker for me.


Edit by Rats: When logging in as Administrator pop up complains of a missing file.
So I now suspect a problem with the integrity of the .iso file. No way to check
if it downloaded error free as no Md5 checksum is provided by Microsoft.
I did verify the burned DVD against the downloaded install .iso.

Cheers:

 

[YippieYeah]

How do I disabled the Auto Focus when the taskbar is in Auto-Hide?

For example Instant messenger always take focus and the Taskbar appears and doesnt stay autohidden...

 

[Brink]

Hello YippeYeah,

Could you post a screenshot of this?

I'm not having that issue with Windows Live Messenger. You might see if toggling Auto-Hide off and on again may help, or restarting the computer.

Hope this helps for now,
Shawn

 

[YippieYeah]

hello brink,

Im using trillian, but i will test windows live messenger and report back.

 

[Brink]

Ok.

 

[Old Guy in NJ]

I have the taskbar set to Auto-Hide, but after a while it "sticks" in the raised position and will not disappear. I have to reboot to get it to hide again.

Yes, I have tried quitting all running applications.

 

[Brink]

Hello Old Guy in NJ,

Does it happen often?

You might see if toggling Auto-Hide off and on may help to get it to work again and hopefully avoid having to restart instead.

 

[cclloyd9785]

Now I knew how to do this easily , but is there a registry hack to edit the time it takes to slide the taskbar up/down?

 

[Brink]

Hello Michael,

If there is, I have not found it yet.

 

[cclloyd9785]

Then I shall go searching!

 

[Brink]

Happy hunting.

If you find out how, it sure would make a good tutorial for you to create one for.

 

[cclloyd9785]

So far, after a bit of searching, it looks like its probobly going to be in a taskbar dll file instead of the registry.

And another question. Is there something I can use for a system tray that can still show up with the taskbar hidden?

 

[Brink]

Michael,

Not on the taskbar itself, but maybe with using something like the free program Fences.

 

[joearchersr38]

Windows 7 Taskbar ALWAYS on top, problem solved 17 oct 2011

17 oct2011_ i had the problem with the Windows 7 Taskbar ALWAYS on top. Couldn't get it to hide auto. even though i had clicked the auto hide....

after a lot of searching, some of the "solutions" said it stayed up possibly caus an application needed action>

i solved the problem by looking at the icons in the taskbar.

found a "little white flag" and when i moved mouse over it,
it said "action center" you need to do this for win 7 to operate properly.

so, i clicked the flag in the taskbar and it said.. you need to install an update for office 2007..

i said to myself, go for it..

as soon as i said , do the update.. it did the update to visio and then, the action required by the "action center" was completed.. no more action items.

then, after there were no more action items, the "action center" was not trying to advise me of a required action.

and it turned loose the task bar. it then did the auto hide like it was designed to be done.

so, all of those other "experts" who tried to fix it were not accurate.

this is the real solution.. it would have been nice if ms had had a "pop up" to tell u to the action recommended by the design of win 7 action center ..

Not many users are going to look at the "little white flag" in the task bar..

joe archer sr san diego

 

[Krystal124]

I have auto hide off but it's still not showing for me.

 

[Brink]

Hello Krystal, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Is the taskbar not showing in certain situations, or everywhere (ex: desktop) ?

 

[Krystal124]

in some places it's above the bottom of an app so i can't see the stuff under which is not usual. but it some cases it's completely covered but it shows on the desktop.

 

[Brink]

In that case you may be in full screen mode when you cannot see the taskbar. When this happens press F11 to toggle the window you have open back to normal mode to see if that may be it.

Full Screen F11 - Enable or Disable Auto-Hide

 

[Krystal124]

i already tried that before but it didn't work