Taskbar List or Thumbnail Previews Mode - Change

How to Change Taskbar Thumbnail and List Mode Threshold in Windows 7 and Windows 8​

   Information

By default, the taskbar will show thumbnail previews of open windows and programs when you hover the mouse pointer over it's taskbar icon while using a Aero theme.

When you are using a Basic or High Contrast theme, the taskbar will only show a list of tabs (list mode) for the open windows and programs (ex: Internet Explorer) when you hover the mouse pointer over it's taskbar icon, and never any thumbnail previews.

While still using a Aero theme, this will show you how to change the number of thumbnail previews that will display for a icon on the taskbar before it switches to list mode instead in Windows 7.

   Note

If the taskbar thumbnail previews of multiple windows/tabs opened for a icon go past your screen's edge, then they will automatically be displayed in list mode instead of thumbnail preview mode.

For example, if your screen resolution is 1200x800, and say you have more than 15 tabs open in IE, then it will display in list mode when you hover over IE's icon on the taskbar.

Limits before list mode examples:
1920x1080 = 15 tabs or windows open for a icon
1200x800 = 10 tabs or windows open for a icon

EXAMPLE: Taskbar Thumbnail Previews Mode

EXAMPLE: Taskbar List Mode

OPTION ONE

Change Taskbar Thumbnail and List Mode Threshold using REG File

1. To Always Have Taskbar List Mode
NOTE: This sets the NumThumbnails value to 0 in OPTION TWO below.
A) Click on the download button below to download the file below.
Taskbar_Always_List_Mode.reg

Download


B) Go to step 3.
2. To Have Taskbar Thumbnail Previews Mode
NOTE: This deletes the NumThumbnails value in OPTION TWO below. This is the default setting.
A) Click on the download button below to download the file below.
Taskbar_Thumbnail_Previews_Mode.reg

Download


3. Save the .reg file to your desktop.

4. Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

5. If prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

6. Log off and log on, or restart the computer to apply the changes.

7. When done, you can delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.

OPTION TWO

Change Taskbar Thumbnail and List Mode Threshold in Registry Editor

1. Press the Windows + R keys to open the Run dialog, type regedit, and click/tap on OK.

2. In regedit, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below step 3A)
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Taskband
3. To Change Thumbnail Previews Threshold Before Switching to List Mode
A) In the right pane, right click on a empty space and click on New and DWORD (32-bit) Value. (see screenshot below)

B) Type NumThumbnails and press enter. (see screenshot below)

C) In the right pane, double click on NumThumbnails. (see screenshot above)
D) Type in how many thumbail previews you want to have display so that it will switch to list mode after this number, then click on OK. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: Typing in 0 will result in always being in list mode.

E) Go to step 5.
4. To Restore Taskbar Thumbnail Previews Mode
NOTE: This is the default setting.
A) In the right pane, right click on NumThumbnails and click on Delete. (see screenshot below step 3B)

B) Click on Yes to confirm. (see screenshot below)

5. Close regedit.

6. Log off and log on, or restart the computer to apply the changes.
That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Enable or Disable Taskbar Thumbnail Previews in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Change Taskbar Thumbnail Live Preview Delay Time in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Change Taskbar Thumbnail Previews Display Delay Time in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Enable or Disable Taskbar Button Grouping in Windows 7
• How to Allow or Prevent Taskbar Button Grouping in Windows 7
• How to Enable or Disable Internet Explorer Individual Tabbed Browsing Taskbar Preview Windows
• How to Change Size of Taskbar Thumbnail Previews in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Change Space Size Between Taskbar Thumbnail Previews in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Change Margin Size Taskbar Thumbnail Previews in Windows 7 and Windows 8

 

[juanantoniod]

You are very talented, Brink! How did you learn to do all this stuff? Is there any video training available so that I can learn some "programming", particularly VB Scripting for Outlook? [I need video training, becaue I have a cognitive deficit which makes it hard for me to read and learn things.]

Thank you so much for doing this! You're awesome!

~Antonio

 

[derekimo]

Another amazing tutorial Shawn, Thanks.
Derek

 

[Brink]

Thank you guys, and you're both most welcome.

From what you had posted here Antonio, I had just picked it up from there to make it easier for everyone to do. There's all sorts of training available out on the net for programming and scripting, but I'm afraid that I'm not much of a programmer and do not have anything that I could recommend.

 

[juanantoniod]

Brink,

Thanks for the reply. As I said, I appreciate the great formatting job you did with the instructions. Did you use HTML, or another language or something else? THAT is what I would like to learn. As well, I would like to learn a common programming language, but I do not know where to start. Is Visual Basic a good place to begin learning application programming?

Best,

~Antonio

 

[Brink]

I had just used the built in BB codes for vBulletin that's based on HTML.

Vista Forums - BB Code List

 

[Laurus12]

Thank you very much for this one too Brink

By the way. I miss a "Thanks" button for posts in the forum.

Laurus

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Laurus.

 

[kathleen956600]

It doesn't work for me

 

[Brink]

Hello Kathleen, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Could you give more details and screenshots of what you are trying to do and what's not working with it?

 

[ackmanx]

By default, the taskbar will show thumbnail previews of open windows and programs when you hover the mouse pointer over it's taskbar icon while using a Aero theme.

It should be noted that this only applies if you have the taskbar setting enabled to group similar windows (default Windows 7 behavior) and there are more than 1 in the stack. I was hoping this would get rid of the thumbnail on hover for when there's only 1 window.

 

[Brink]

Hello ackmanx, and welcome to Seven Forums.

That's what the first "By default" is for in the quote.

If you like, you could use the tutorial below to disable taskbar thumbnail previews. However, this is an all or not setting. It will enable or disable them completely and not just when you only have 1 window open from the same icon.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/52265-taskbar-thumbnail-previews-enable-disable.html

Hope this helps some,
Shawn

 

[ackmanx]

Hello ackmanx, and welcome to Seven Forums.

That's what the first "By default" is for in the quote.

If you like, you could use the tutorial below to disable taskbar thumbnail previews. However, this is an all or not setting. It will enable or disable them completely and not just when you only have 1 window open from the same icon.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...e-disable.html

Hope this helps some,
Shawn

Thanks for the reply. The registry edit at the bottom of your link was exactly what I was hoping for. This site is amazing. It's like the one-stop place for doing something Microsoft didn't put in or hasn't made easy.

 

[Brink]

You're welcome. I'm glad that it was able to help.

 

[phinds]

sorry to necropost this old thread but I had the same problem, found this solution (which is very clearly explained, thank you) and implemented it but it did not work. I thought perhaps since I'm running a 64 bit system, I should use a 64 bit number instead of the recommended 32 bit number but that did not make any difference.

I tried setting it to 0, tried setting it to 10 and then 12. No luck. Just doesn't work

NumThumbnails.JPG

 

[Brink]

Hello phinds,

Yeah, it should work as is in the tutorial in both 32-bit and 64-bit.

Just to verify, did you restart the computer afterwards to see if it may fully apply?

In addition, do you have any 3rd party all-in-one tweaking type program installed that may have set this instead and overriding what's in the tutorial?

 

[phinds]

Yes, I restarted AND turned the computer off and on again. Neither helped.

this is a very recent new build and has no added software other than a few utilities such as WINZIP, Notepad++, amd Norton Security. Nothing at all funky.

What's in the tutorial is a registry entry and if it had been overridden, wouldn't that show up in the registry entry that I posted the screen shot of?

Thanks for trying to help. I'd really like to get this fixed. I've been annoyed for years that the magnifier is just unfixable in my laptop and I was looking forward to getting it back with the new workstation and was happy that it worked just fine right after the build.

 

[Brink]

What are you seeing happen instead? Is it still showing list mode after 10?

Would anything in the info and note box at the top of the tutorial apply?

 

[phinds]

What are you seeing happen instead? Is it still showing list mode after 10?

Would anything in the info and note box at the top of the tutorial apply?

It shows list mode regardless of what I do. If I have the number set at zero, it shows list mode regardless of how many windows explorer windows I have open and the same is true if I set the number to 5 or 10 or 12 and have 1 window open or 15 windows open.

Nothing seems to be able to get it off of list mode.

I'll go back and look at the tutorial again.

 

[Brink]

In that case, double check to see if you may have disabled taskbar thumbnail previews using option 1 or 3 in the tutorial. Either could cause this.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/52265-taskbar-thumbnail-previews-enable-disable.html